SOUND ART with Children

Creativity, productivity and curiosity come naturally to children. Children are interested in different sounds and experimenting with sounds, if they are given the opportunity to do this. Although it is easy to sense sound, it can also be challenging in its intangibility. Children can have all manner of questions and sources of wonder related to sound. It is great when children can be inspired to show interest and ask questions. Often, there are no unambiguously right or wrong answers to the things children think about, and new things can be learned in conversation with them. Many children find sound a fairly difficult phenomenon to deal with because they “cannot take grab on to sound or pick it up”. In addition, sound is often gone in an instant. The ears cannot be closed like the eyes, so we are forced to listen to annoying sounds as well as pleasant ones. Sounds are also difficult to locate: they are some- where “in the air, all around, inside, in the head, in the ears, in the legs and in the tummy”, as one six-year-old said. Some children also find sound difficult to draw. This is understandable: how can such a three-dimensional thing be depicted in two dimensions? Sound art is a new source of content for children’s arts education and children’s artistic activity. For example, if music education focuses mainly on various pieces and works of music, it could be that children miss out on all of the fascinating aspects of sound as a modality and sound-related phenomena. In such cases, children may only develop a limited understanding of the diversity of sounds and the means of creating them. This would also exclude an entire area of art – sound art – from arts education. It is a good idea to begin familiarising yourself and children with sound art by sensing, perceiving and listening to sounds together and by experimenting with different ways of creating various sounds. Moments of inspiration could include listening to various sound samples and experimenting with materials, such as shells, ear trumpets and magnifying glasses, to take the first steps on the journey towards the fascinating world of sound