Class Descriptions
WHY... should you join a babies Music class?
- All babies are born with music aptitude.
- Babies absorb the sounds of music in the same way they absorb the sounds of their spoken language.
- Recent studies have shown that music affects the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of babies and strengthens cognitive and sensory development.
- Patterns heard in class feed the ear-brain connection and start to form the language of music. Before long they will be imitating those patterns, developing for life their sense of pitch and rhythm.
Who joins music classes for Babies?.Who is this for? How old does the baby have to be? This class is for any baby, at any age, up to about 16 or 18 months. Some moms have signed up for the class before the baby is born, then come back later with baby in tow!
What happens in a babies class? Lots of singing, dancing, rocking, steady beat, instruments, scarves, rhymes, finger plays, lullabies, and games. All designed to introduce little ones to the language of music, while at the same time equipping parents with songs and rhymes for every occasion! This class developmentally addresses your babies needs, and provides bonding moments for caregivers.
What is the Home Material? You will receive recorded music from the program in CD and Downloadable format, a parent handbook with all the lyrics to all the songs we sing in class (and lovely explanations of the movement we include at every class) and a cloth instrument bag that holds a set of sticks, a wooden rattle and a soft scarf for your babies exclusive use. No need to share germs!
Note: The home material for the Fall Session is Family Music for Babies I and the home material for the Spring Session is Family Music for Babies II, all new activities and recordings.
The Home Material is filled with a wealth of new music to share with your baby and your growing family.
So plan to join us for music class devoted to your baby all year long!
| Materials: | Family Music for Babies II Home Material and classroom instruments |
| Total: | $425 |
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New Friends is this sessions unit of for all our Toddler music Classes. We will delight in the endless energy of your children, their joy in bouncing, rocking, and dancing with you, and in seeing them develop in this wonderful, musical environment! As we watch them grow, we can imagine them singing in the choir, playing in the band, or playing songs on the piano for a family gathering in just a few years. As we sing, bounce, rock, dance, and play instruments together we are laying the foundation necessary for success in music, regardless of which path your toddler takes in the future.
Our 2 and 3 year olds are always moving! In fact movement is not only your young child’s favorite new-found skill, it is your child’s most effective way to learn. Although children eventually have to learn to “sit still and listen” they can not do it yet, and engaging them in purposeful movement activities is the perfect preparation for this all-important skill.
| Materials: | New Friends Home Material |
| Total: | $415 |
This music and movement program gives your child a solid music making foundation in a fun music filled environment. We focus on your child's fascination with nature and love of instruments. The program provides a developmentally sound approach to music literacy that builds symbolic thinking, concentration, memory and self-expression, introduces orchestral instruments and ensemble play and focuses on building a child's aural (listening) foundation which leads to long-term success with voice, enhancement of self-discipline and social skills, first steps in reading music.
Material for Session 1: My Home Place and Woodlands
The first session home material includes:
1. Red Tote bag
2. Music Makers Album
3. Material for My Home Place and Woodlands (see images below)
The Units, My Home and Woodlands each contain:
- a Poster folder (10" x 15") and game pieces
- a CD and a code for downloadable recordings
- a Parent Booklet
Material for second Session: 2 (starts in January): Marshes and Meadows
| Materials: | March and Meadow Unit Material |
| Total: | $516 |
Music Makers: At the Keyboard is a comprehensive approach to learning music. Learning music comprehensively is much more than being able to name notes or being able to differentiate between quarter and half notes. Comprehensive musicianship leads a child to music literacy, or the ability to hear in one’s head music that is written on the page. Conversely, the musically literate person will be able to figure how to play the melody, harmony, and rhythm of a piece s/he hears, without needing to see the written music.
Music Makers: At the Keyboard is a group method. By studying the piano in a group setting, singing games and movement activities are naturally a part of the experience. These are the very things that nurture the musician inside each child, making success at the keyboard possible. The group also allows children to learn from each other and overcome performance anxiety. Most importantly, the group setting keeps the fun in music-making.
Music Makers: At the Keyboard is an aural approach. Years of experience have shown us that children learn to read and understand musical notation only after they have a strong aural foundation in place. In Music Makers: At the Keyboard, keyboard skills are layered on at the appropriate time and at an appropriate pace, thereby allowing the aural foundation to be established and reinforced. But that doesn’t mean that the children won’t be playing very much. The fact is that in the first year, they will be taught to play more than 25 songs in the keys of C, D, E, F, and G Major and c, d, e, f, and g minor. Additionally, the children will be playing I, IV, and V7 chords in multiple keys with both hands!
Music Makers: At the Keyboard lays the groundwork for keyboard success! Through the variety of activities in each class the children become independent musicians. They have both a love of music and a love of a specific repertoire, both of which are major incentives for practicing. In addition to playing the keyboards, the children will be involved in drumming and dancing to nurture their rhythmic development, singing to nurture their tonal development, and echoing patterns to nurture their aural development. And composing and musical dictation activities lead the child to music literacy.
Children who complete Music Makers: At the Keyboard not only possess a strong desire to make music, they have the aural and keyboard skills that will enable them to do so. It prepares children for future piano study, as well as whatever musical adventures the future holds!
Material for Book 1 Classes:
Book 1 Student book
2 CDS (a listening CD and a special Practice CD)
A notebook to hold their weekly assignments
A parent booklet that provides information to make this program more successful at home.
(new students entering the program at this level will also need a red Musikgarten Bag to help them bring their books each week)
A Musikgarten Tote Bag (included only if student is new to the Music Makers program)
We all enjoyed your program so much! What is truly amazing, is the fact that they all walked into the class and didn't know one thing about music. And look at them now. You did an amazing job!
- comment from a happy a parent finishing book 4 of the Music Makers at the Keyboard Program
| Materials: | included in cost |
| Total: | $625 per session |