10) Bat Day 1

Brain Development in Children Through Music and Movement

Together:

Music Hello, Music Hello, Music Hello

Melodies flow, Melodies Flow, Melodies Flow

G: How are you boys? We’re doing fine. How are you girls? We’re doing fine. How are you folks? We’re doing fine. How are you everyone?

B: I’m Peter

G: Hello Peter! I’m Christy

B: Hello Christy

G: I’m Carol

B: Hello Carol. I’m Ryan

G: Hello Ryan!

B: I’m Michael

G: Hello Michael!

B: I’m Eric

G: Hello Eric! I’m Linda

B: Hello Linda! I’m Johnny

G: Hello Johnny! How are you boys?

B: We’re doing fine. How are you girls?

G: We’re doing fine!

Together: How are you folks? We’re doing fine. How are you everyone? Music Hello, Music Hello, Music Hello

Sing the Hello Song

Time had flown by! The 10th and final week of training had come. What Musical Health Gift will the Children’s Health Guides send this time? Peter tried to guess. Suddenly, he heard a loud squeak. He barely had time to comprehend where this squeak came from, when a real live Bat flew into the room.

“Hello, Peter!” squeaked the Bat, flapping its wings. “I’m here to teach you the magic movement of ‘Flying’, with the magic of flying you will learn to move freely in space, just as the birds do. To move quickly, and be responsive to signals – you need good reflexes. These are the qualities that I engage during my night flights, so I don’t touch other objects in the dark. I navigate in the dark with ‘echolocation’. This is my ability to direct a very high sound – an ultrasound – to different objects, and then when it returns, or ‘echos’ back. I can estimate the distance of that object. You seem like you have big eyes and ears for estimating distance.

Let me see your visual response. Sit comfortably, put your hand on the table, so that this brush is behind the table. Open the brush. I will hold a stick over your brush, then suddenly let it go. You will need to catch it. The faster you grab the stick, the smaller part of the stick will fly down. Ready? Let’s start.”

Peter tried very hard and caught the stick almost immediately.

“You have very good reflexess!” Squeaked the Bat, “but reflexes are not enough to master movement. You also need to master the technique of visualization – this is a special area of ourselves that can help you to free and focus your mind. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and imagine that you are flying like a bird.”

Peter settled down on a soft sofa and imagined himself as a seagull flying high above the sea.

“Now open your eyes, and try to perform the same movements with your eyes open.”

After the visualization, Peter really felt an amazing lightness in his body, opened his arms like wings, and really felt he was …flying!

“The kind of visualization you’ve just done is often performed by real athletes. This is how they set themselves up for big tasks and complete them. Now try to make the highest pitched sound you can.” Instructed Mr Bat. Peter tried to make the highest sound possible, but the sound turned out to be much lower than the one with which the Bat made.

“We will train, and develop not only the body, but also the musical ear and voice, in order to sing very low notes that other animals teach you, and the very high ones that I make.”

Having calmed down a little after singing, the Bat turned to Peter and just then Viola appeared. Viola – the daughter of music announced,

“This is the last task. I will now introduce you to the tenth magic of music, The Magic of Musical Theatre. You have already gone through nine magical musical transformations, getting acquainted with musical rhythm, melody, harmony, musical word, musical image, musical movement, singing, musical orchestra and musical scenery. It’s time to bring together all of the kinds of musical magic and create a musical theatre performance. Could I ask you, with the help of your family, to prepare a musical performance from all 10 songs that you learned in this Joyful Childhood school. To do this, you will have to compose your own musical and theatrical fairy tales about all the animals you met.” Viola winked

“I would love to do that!” Peter exclaimed.

“Then go do it! If you could do it by the time we play our Healthy Games in Autumn that would be grand! Your family should have time to learn their roles before you perform it there. That’s when the tenth magic happens! Good luck!” Viola dashed out of the room.

The Bat turned out to be very chatty but pleasant to talk to. To develop his hearing, the Bat gave Peter a whistle that made such a high sound that it blocked his ears. When the Bat flew away, Peter made a homemade “Bat”, attaching some soft toys to a rope, and he then began to rush around the house, frightening everyone around with the sound of the high pitched whistle. Of course Peter did not forget to make a drawing of the Bat and add it to his now glorious Book of Musical Health.