“Video Killed The Radio Star”: Creative Digital Drawing In The Early Years 

This current 6-part series of early years music articles features a new activity each month from a number of arts activities trialled for 1 and 2-year-old children, along with musical suggestions, with recordings on You Tube.

In our last article, I commented on the passions of individuals leading to change, specifically technology gurus Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Not only are they known for their passion but they are also for their influence and progress on technology.

Technology has changed so many aspects of life, with far-reaching and sometimes unexpected results. For a start, the way we communicate and stay in touch with people has become so much quicker and more immediate. Two clear effects is that this has reduced a lot of privacy that we used to take for granted, and made people feel obliged to be available and accountable more than ever. Surprisingly, it has also resulted in reduced teenage births, increased access to education, and greater global awareness in new generations.

Other aspects of life, like shopping, banking and health, have also become much quicker and more available. Managed properly, this should allow us to spend less time in queues and more time doing the things we enjoy. Interestingly, we often end up using that free time on … technology, and that is either on shopping or social media!

Music has been affected through technology, too, with interesting results. Depending on where you live or the types of instruments used in performances, the note A may be tuned to different frequencies and there has been some debate that tuning to 432Hz (instead of the standard concert 440Hz) is more natural and pleasing – it actually sounds just a little lower than 440Hz. This has led to some debate in different fields, with claims of “432” music being more calming for different thinkers or more natural, and a medical study (Calamassi and Pomponi, 2019) found that heart rate was reduced, with breathing and blood pressure slightly reduced, and people feeling more focussed and satisfied by listening to music set at the lower frequency – similar findings were identified with using 432Hz music with spinal patients (2020) and covid emergency nurses (2022). So it was only then a matter of time before the art world was affected by this trend to not only share old works but also create new works.

These were the 6 ideas that the Finnish study by Lehikoinen  used to involve 1- and 2-year-olds in creative activities by getting them to participate:

• Dance-painting – paint feet, move to song (part 1)
• Magic dough – create playdough objects from songs (part 2)
• Digital drawing – digital communication (part 3)
• Musical drawing 10
• Balloon painting 11
• Snow-painting 12

This month, we are focusing on digital communication. The songs below all include suggestions of incorporating technology in a teacher-led environment, but this can easily be flipped on its head to become child-led. By leaving children with technology, they could take pictures with tablets or phones, and explain the importance of the item they pictured. Alternatively, technology can be used in “painting” programmes, where different shapes and colours may be used to express ideas or feelings about songs.

Aiken Drum

There was a man lived in the moon
Lived in the moon, lived in in the moon
There was a man lived in the moon
And his name was Aiken Drum 

And he played upon a ladle
A ladle, a ladle
And he played upon a ladle
And his name was Aiken Drum

And his hat was made of good cream cheese …
And his coat was made of good roast beef …
And his buttons made of penny loaves …
And his waistcoat was made of crust pies …
And his breeches made of haggis bags …

This “other world” song about the Man in the Moon can have any suggestion included in how his clothes were made – his hat was made of Samsung phones, his coat was made of Google Glass, his buttons made of iPads … now imagine the pictures, videos and drawings children would take!