Discover Ella Jenkins, grab your instrument and let's make music
" There should be music in the child's environment, just as there does exist in the child's environment spoken speech. "
Dr. Maria Montessori
In a Montessori Environment, musical education is part of our daily language and the Montessori Sensorial Curriculum.
Music education provides many opportunities for building self-expression, refining the auditory sense, appreciating musical components, and learning language. With music, children also enrich their vocabulary by categorizing instruments as well as learning parts of an instrument or its history.
Children under the age of 6 are in the sensitive period for refining their senses. They are naturally driven to educate and refine their senses, already alert and ready to be developed to their maximum. When exposed to rich sensorial perceptions, one of them being musical, children can perceive the slightest variations.
After the developmental window of 0 to 6 years old, a child will still have the ability to develop musical sensitivity, but it will take much greater work and a voluntary effort to do so.
Ella Jenkins was born August 6, 1924 and is an American folk singer and actress.
When she was a child living in Chicago, her family frequently moved around the south side and, as she moved to different neighborhoods, she learned new children's rhythms, rhymes and games. Jenkins began writing songs for children while volunteering in recreation centers.
While working at the YWCA, she was invited to perform on the Chicago public television show, The Totem Club. She was soon offered a regular job as the host of its Thursday program, which she entitled This is Rhythm. She invited guests from diverse cultures to share their music's rhythms on her show. She began her career as a children's musician touring school assemblies in the United States.
Jenkins' favorite people are children. She sees them as genuine, down to earth people who should be listened to and recognized as having much to offer.
Through her songs, she hoped to develop greater intercultural understanding and rhythmic-consciousness, and to help people discover the joy of singing and communicating through active participation in songs.
Jenkins' repertoire includes nursery rhymes, holiday songs, bilingual songs, African-American folk songs, international songs, rhythmic chants, and original songs. Drawing from cultures all over the world, she sings in many languages, exposing her audiences to diverse cultures and promoting greater cultural awareness.
By encouraging active participation, she promotes the development of a warm group feeling, cooperation among the participants, greater attentiveness, an enjoyment of singing, and a desire to sing. She also encourages children to lead songs, make up their own variations of songs, and experiment with fun and silly sounds. This allows children to think independently, develop leadership skills, and improvise, resulting in increased self-confidence.
One of our favorite Ella Jenkins’ songs is: Who fed the chicken???
Listen with your child to the Smithsonian recording of this anticipatory song that shares three farm chores and exercises a few pronouns. What a great language exercise to do with your child!