| Phonemic awareness (PA) is described by reading specialists as the ability to hear and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of language. Prosody, a function of fluency, focuses on the ability to put words together into natural speech rhythm, inflection and flow. This paper discusses the interaction of vocal music skills within phonemic awareness and prosody training in kindergarten language arts instruction. Research is discussed regarding auditory processing, music perception, audiation, acoustics, speech articulation, phonemic awareness and prosody as related to language arts instruction of kindergarten, grade one and English Language Development students. The relationship of music education to government initiatives "No Child Left Behind" and "Put Reading First" is extrapolated. The California State educational standards for kindergarten and grade one language arts and music are given application using vocal music instructional strategies. The music-related curricula within a state-approved kindergarten language arts textbook are critiqued. The conditions necessary for teachers to provide developmentally-appropriate music modeling are defined, and a program model for collaborative staff development between music teacher and classroom teacher is outlined. |
