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2009 Julie Wylie Article

JULIE WYLIE'S MUSIC PHILOSOPHY

My musical philosophy and passion has been shaped to a large degree by my work with children. Music is a language of the emotions. The unborn baby responds to the musical elements of their mother's voice and the rhythmic stimulus from the mother's body from 20 weeks after conception.  All the babies in my music school delight in joining in with singing the “blues” bouncing in time to the steady patted beat, singing their own vocal effects and are obvious proud performers. The children understand and learn to use the language of music in their every day play.

The voluntary organisation Musical Parenting which I founded in 1992 resulted from my work as a music advisor for the Ministry of Education. I saw how music gave parents permission to play, and how music is a part of every culture providing a safe nurturing environment for parents to enjoy interacting with their children in profound and playful ways. It is impossible to be angry when you are singing a song. As a result of post-graduate research I then developed music training programmes for parents. Now there are musical parenting groups all around New Zealand and as far away as Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Korea and the UK.

Children inspire all my songs  and constantly amaze me with their insights into how to play musically.  Parents who thought they weren't musical, composed their own beautiful songs and lullabies for the Musical Parenting CD “Rock-a-Bye Blues”. I have also developed specific musical play strategies through my work with psychologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists and play specialists at the Champion Centre. I compose or select my songs, arrangements, musical play activities using all the elements of music on the basis of their impact on the developing brain and the young child's learning.

As children learn to analyse, explore and respond to the elements and expressive qualities of music through such activities as listening, moving, singing, and playing together, they develop fluency, musicianship, and interpretation skills through their own musical play. They learn to paint musical pictures, to choreograph their own dances, to understand the power and use of music for enhancing their own dramatic play. Families learn to use songs in playful ways and to change the words to fit their own daily routines such as meal-time, bath-time and bed-time. They learn to use music for calming or stimulating. In other words, through my music philosophy, children and their families learn to play musically. 

About Julie Wylie

Julie Wylie, B.A.  Mus. B. (Hons. 1st class) A.T.C.L. Dip. Tchg. is senior pediatric music specialist at the Champion Centre, Burwood Hospital Christchurch and founder and patron of the New Zealand Musical Parenting Association. She is an author and composer of a wide range of original music for early childhood, and winner of the 2005 international Children’s Music Web Award for her CD “Bean Bag Bop”.

Julie received the 2002 Vernon Griffith’s Music Award for music leadership from the University of Canterbury. Julie is in constant demand as a consultant and workshop presenter to audiences throughout New Zealand and worldwide, as well as conducting her own music classes for young children. She has presented music workshops and papers worldwide including Australia, Singapore, the UK, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia, Korea, and Japan. She has been invited to present at the ISME conferences in Bologna and Rome in Italy this July 2008.