A programme for children under five
Nursery rhymes, stories, and music
Apparently, one of the most popular of the pieces we have so far selected as opening music for these programmes has been the Chinese Dance, from Tchaikovsky's ' Nutcracker Suite,' and those children who have asked to hear it again will have their wish this week.
This subject of music is an absorbing one, for we have so little certain information about its effect on very small children that we feel our choice for the under-fives must be in the nature of experiment. We were reminded, for example, how differently from ourselves a child may hear a piece of music, when we learned of the little boy who called this Chinese Dance ' my train music,' and rushed round the room being a train whenever he heard it. And, after. all, appreciation of the character of this music as indicated by its title is dependent upon a background of knowledge and experience which no under-five is likely to possess; nevertheless, for this little boy, the piece had something immediate to say, something which he linked up unhesitatingly with a part of his own experience which he did know and understand. Elizabeth A. Taylor