Songs to help things happen
One of the most powerful aspects of singing with young children is the way the effect it has on both adult and child can make things happen. My recent research on singing to babies suggests that carers use a variety of ways to engage their babies' attention, playing with sound effects, and different patterns of sound and silence. These vocal 'doodles', which sometimes also include snatches of TV tunes or the baby's name, often absorb both adult and child in a mutually satisfying communicative game. Sandra Trehub's laboratory research on mothers and babies has shown that babies look more at images of their mothers during singing than during speech that is directed towards them.
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