Montessori music for kids: how the bells work

The Montessori bells are a set of 26 small bells on wooden stands, used in Montessori classrooms for children of about three to six. Half of them are a fixed guide, and half are for the child to move. A child strikes a bell, listens, and finds its match. Later the child puts the bells in order from low to high. The bells train the ear before any note is named or written.

What the set looks like

The set holds 13 pairs of bells. Together they cover every note from middle C up to the next C, including the sharps and flats.

The guide set. Thirteen bells stand at the back on white and black bases. The white and black bases are laid out like the keys of a piano. These bells stay in place.

The working set. Thirteen more bells, with the same notes, stand on plain wood bases. Teachers call these the brown bells. The child moves these.

All the bells look alike. A child cannot tell them apart by size or shape, only by sound.

The set comes with a small mallet to strike the bells and a damper to stop the ring.

The steps a child takes

Montessori lessons with the bells follow the same order as other sense materials: notice a contrast, match pairs, and then put a series in order.

1. Carry and strike one bell. The child learns to carry a bell by its base with two hands, strike it once on the rim, listen until the sound fades, and stop it with the damper. This lesson in care comes before all the others.

2. Match two or three pairs. The teacher mixes a few brown bells. The child strikes a white bell, then tries each brown bell until one sounds the same, and sets it in front of its partner.

3. Match all eight. The child pairs the eight notes of the C major scale.

4. Put them in order. The brown bells are mixed. The child finds the lowest, then the next, and builds the scale by ear. The white bells behind serve as a check.

5. Add the black bells. The five sharps and flats join in, and the child matches and orders all 13 notes.

6. Name the notes. The teacher gives the note names, sung with the bells.

7. Read and write. Much later, the child places note discs on a staff board and plays what they have written.

A teacher can give most of the lessons with only the eight white bells and their brown partners.

Why the bells work this way

One thing at a time. The bells differ only in pitch. Nothing else distracts the child.

The child checks the work. A wrong match sounds wrong, and the guide set shows the right answer. No adult has to say “no.”

The hand comes first. The child learns by carrying, striking, and placing, before any talk of theory.

Silence matters. A child must be still to hear a bell fade. The silence game, a Montessori class exercise, builds the same stillness.

Music in the rest of the classroom

The bells are one part of Montessori music.

• Sound cylinders. Sealed tubes that rattle from soft to loud. Children match and order them before they meet the bells.
• Singing. Songs at group time, every day.
• Walking on the line. Children walk on a line taped to the floor, in time to music.
• Rhythm instruments. Drums, sticks, and shakers for group play.
• Tone bars. In the elementary years, a larger set of bars lets children build scales and study how they work.
• Listening. Recordings of many kinds of music.

What to do at home

A full set of Montessori bells costs a great deal, and few homes have one. The same ideas work with simpler tools.

Match sounds. Fill pairs of small jars with rice, beans, sand, and bells. Your child shakes them and finds the pairs.

Two bells or chime bars. Buy two pairs of matching bells or chime bars. Mix them and match them by ear.

Order three notes. Play three notes on a piano or a xylophone. Ask which is lowest and which is highest.

Strike and listen. Strike one bar or one glass. Listen together until no sound is left. Raise a hand when it is gone.

Walk the line. Tape a line on the floor. Walk on it to slow music, then to faster music.

Find the match on a piano. Play a note. Your child, eyes closed, listens. Play three notes and ask which one was the same.

How it compares with other approaches

Montessori music is close in spirit to Orff, since both let a child try out sounds with the hands, and to Kodály, since both train the ear before reading. It differs in that the child works alone and chooses when to work.

The bells do not teach a child to play an instrument. A Montessori child who wants piano or violin lessons takes them in the usual way. The ear training carries over.

Questions to ask a Montessori school

• Do you have a set of bells, and do the children use them?
• Has the teacher been trained to present them?
• How often do the children sing?
• Is there a music specialist?

Sources

Checked in November 2026.

• Nienhuis Montessori. Bells set.
• Montessori Services. Sensorial sounds.
• Montessori Academy of New Jersey. Materials spotlight: the Montessori bells.

Next steps

For bars a child can play at home, read Orff instruments for home. For the notes the bells cover, see the piano keyboard chart. For all the approaches side by side, read music teaching methods for kids compared.