TRAINING THE EAR
This is a very important sense; consider its relation to memory and how your decisions and judgments are based upon things you have heard or thought you heard.
Psychological tests have revealed the fact that the ear of the average person is mistaken thirty-four per cent of the time. Think of it—one-third of your ear impressions are mistaken. The resulting memory, judgment and action must suffer. This is true largely because of lack of a conscious effort to develop this important sense.
Have the child stand across the room and listen for the tick of a watch which you hold in your hand. If he cannot hear the tick, advance slowly toward him and keep track of the distance at which the child first distinguishes the ticking. It will be interesting to test each ear separately. Any physical defect in the child's hearing can be found by this test. Encourage him to make a deliberate effort to hear the watch. Do not be too hasty in moving towards him as he will have to concentrate his attention before the tick can be heard. This exercise isa good one for the development of attention. Practice with this yourself. You will find as your attention wanders that you will lose the consciousness of the ticking of the watch.
Have the child stand across the room or several feet away. Whisper a word and see if he can repeat it. Encourage him to try a little more and to be more quiet; then whisper the same word but no louder. Work with this exercise, increasing the tone gradually until the child distinguishes what is said. Then whisper other words and sentences. This exercise can be lengthened and is excellent for the development of attention and memory as well as of hearing.
Sit at a table and with a pencil or your finger tap upon it a certain number of times, during which there are irregular intervals, for example—four taps—interval—two taps—interval—five taps—interval—one tap.
Now see if the child can reproduce the correct number of taps and intervals. This can be varied in innumerable ways. For older children tap a familiar tune and see who can recognize it. Let the winner tap a tune for the others to recognize.
Blindfold one child and have the others sit or stand around him in a circle. Turn the blindfoldedone around a few times and let him point to anyone, saying: "Speak and I'll name you." The child designated, in a natural voice says, "Yes, sir." The one blindfolded has two chances to guess from the sound of the voice who the person is. If he guesses correctly he is released, if not, he must pay a forfeit. The person pointed out must be blindfolded and take the next turn. Forfeits may be redeemed in any manner desired. The game "Ruth and Jacob," familiar to everyone, is a good game of sound.
For developing self-control and relaxation, have the children practice silence. Have them relax and show them that the movement of a foot or a hand makes a slight noise. Have them listen to their breathing, and then breathe just as quietly as they can. Drop a pin and have those who heard it put up their hands. Let them become perfectly quiet again and drop several pins for them to count. See who is the most accurate. In all your instructions to them only whisper. Do not allow them to talk or whisper at all during this exercise. As you use it prolong the periods of silence and attention to one sound or idea. This is a wonderful exercise for the development of the power of concentration and should be played often.
Have the children sit quietly in a room; have several different articles in your hands and drop themone at a time, on the table. Have the children sitting with their backs to the table and determine by the sound what you have dropped. For this exercise you can use a bunch of keys, coins, pencil, knife, books, ball—anything that is available.
After they have become somewhat acquainted with the articles by sound, drop the different objects in different places, moving quietly about so that the children can only determine from the sound what you have dropped, and where you dropped it. For example, drop the book on the rug, the keys on the floor, the pencil on the tiles of the hearth, the coin on the table, the keys on the mantel. After each object is dropped, see which child can tell what was dropped and where. This will teach them to recognize the object and its location by sound. Do not overlook the value of competition—keep a score.
The child should be taught to recognize tones, and the spaces between tones of the scale. Have him stand with his back to the piano and learn to tell the difference in the tones that are played. First, use the octave, then the one-five-eight. Next the one-three-five eight; then the one-two three, etc. Then introduce the half-tones. This exercise can be made more difficult according to age and musical ability.
Have the child blindfolded and sitting quietly on the porch and tell all the sounds he hears. Theblindfold will add to the interest and fun, at the same time insure his dependence upon the sense of hearing. Let him tell what is approaching; if persons are walking, how many? If a vehicle is coming, how many horses, and what kind of a vehicle? Let him learn to distinguish automobiles by sound, large cars from small ones, trucks from pleasure cars.
Strive for recognition of the slightest sound, a distant bird, etc. Try to estimate the distance from which the sound is coming.
Take the child into the woods, teach him to distinguish the sounds of the different animals, and if possible to locate the distance and to estimate the location. On the ground, in a bush, or up a tree?
Anything which stimulates the child to hear keenly and accurately is of value. Let the exercise be adapted to the time and place. When he remarks "How quiet it is here," it is a good time for him to realize how many sounds are actually going on around him.
Give each child a pencil and paper and have them sit in a row or in different parts of the room equally distant from the spot selected for the "operator."
Make a list of words; later on short sentences can be used; have the operator take these and sit about twelve feet from the children. Let the operator whisper "Hello," just loud enough for the children to hear distinctly. The children can raise their hands when they "get the connection," or hear the "Hello,"but should not be allowed to speak during the game.
The operator will then whisper the words in the list slowly, using the same volume of sound as in the "Hello," giving time between words for each child to write them. At the conclusion correct the lists, each child being scored for the number of words heard correctly. During this game all instructions should be given in whisper, and perfect quiet maintained among the children.
Have all the children sit quietly in one room while some one takes a small bell and goes to some other room, hall or any other part of the house and rings the bell softly, just loud enough to be heard in the room where the children are seated. See which child can tell most accurately the location where the bell was rung. Allow the child making the closest guess to go out and ring the bell.
Place a table in the center of the room, preferably one with doors on two sides, or at least more than one door. On the table place a bell, bunch of keys or other article difficult to pick up without making a noise.
Have all but one of the children blindfolded and seated at the end of the room farthest from the doors. The child not blindfolded is the Thief and leaves the room. When everything is perfectly quiet the Thief tries to enter the room, get the article fromthe table and get out without being heard.
If a child hears the Thief, he calls "Stop Thief," and if he accurately locates the position of the thief he takes his place.
This game will teach the children to move quietly as well as to improve their hearing.
After the meal and while enjoying a few minutes around the table have the children close their eyes while you take a spoon or fork and tap softly upon some dish or article on the table. See who can tell by hearing what the article is and where it is. See who is most accurate in locating the spot where the sound is made.
Other interesting games to be played at the table will be found under the sense of Sight and faculty of Observation.
Remember it is the effort that counts—just to listen will tend to sharpen the sense of hearing. Well developed senses are the result of repeated efforts upon the part of their possessor. Try—keep on trying.
Teach the child to respect and value the sense organs as possessions of great worth and to care for them properly. Do not allow any kind of abuse, especially of the ears and eyes. Do not try to wash too far into the ears, the inner ear is fully protected by nature and does not need cleansing. Wash as far as the child's finger will reach and no farther.