What We've Been Up To At Journey Montessori

/

I love teaching for Journey Montessori and it's because of the atmosphere that Director Laura Self has built for the school.  The kids who attend school there are truly fun to teach.  If you have met me before you know I never really grew up and I like to teach through playing.  The rule when the kids get an instrument in their hands is to try it out first.  Who wants to get an instrument and hold it still?  We play, make some crazy noise, and then focus that into a purposeful beat and change it into making some music!

During the first semester we work on keeping a steady beat (but I never really tell the kids that, to them I think we are just playing with music).  We do not put rhythm patterns in our hands or feet, only steady beats on eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, whole notes.  This is the same way we learn in Music Together.  We will never put the rhythm of a song in our bodies in Music Together class.  Keeping the beat in your bodies and the rhythm in your voice is essential in basic rhythmic development.  

By the second semester we begin to move into putting rhythms in our hands and feet as well as our voices.  Some children will still need to work on keeping a steady beat in their bodies too.  This is an area you can help them with at home.  Play your favorite music and find as many ways you can think of to keep a beat to it (clap, pat, stomp, play on pots and pans).  In class we are beginning by simply clapping the syllables of our names in time in a song.  Not all of us have the same number of syllables in our names, but in the song we are using we need to fit each name into the same amount of space.  Again, an easy activity to play with at home as well.  

First semester we worked on identifying different voices; singing, speaking, whispering, shouting, and how to get a good singing voice out.  Because it was the Star Spangled Banners 200th birthday we learned to sing it and what the words mean.  This is not a typical song to expect small children to sing.  The vocal range needed is not what little voices are expected to sing, but the kids were so excited to learn it and sing it!   We used this book by Scholastic to study the song.  You can find it on

Amazon

.

We also accomplished singing the African Noelle in two parts at the same time in December.  You can find a lot of versions of that song on

Amazon

too.  I was so proud of the kids for being able to hold their own simple part!

This semester we will build on those amazing tonal accomplishments as well as take a look at instruments and what families they belong to.  Up until now we have only looked at non-pitched percussion instruments (sticks, shakers, wood block, etc.).  This semester we will explore the ones that make different pitches, like our voices do.  We will use the book

Zin Zin A Violin

and The

Carnival of the Animals

for this quest. 

Music Together - Beginning of the Winter Session

/
I was excited to see both familiar faces and new families this week in my Music Together classes.  I am blessed to have involved and loving adults in all of my classes.  There are times when it can takes weeks to convince adults in a class to participate.  It can be especially hard to participate when you have a toddler who just wants to enjoy toddling, or a baby who is too little to stand and dance on their own.  Thank you to everyone for singing, playing, and dancing no matter what stage your child is in!  Children reap the benefits of class when they see the adults they love enjoying the activities themselves.  



Music Together has nine collections of music.  This nine week session we are using the Bells collection of songs.  The nine collections of music are designed to take you and your child through three full years of Music Together classes.  I can see a lot of musical growth in children who take multiple sessions in a row.  They know the routine of class, clap to the beat with the Hello and Goodbye song (which is important because just in those two songs they now can feel both duple and triple meters), and interact quicker with other songs.  Being in a class with families who have taken classes before helps new parents and children feel the routine of class and participate.  If you are new this session this is something you can look forward to blessing other new families with in the future!

The bells collection is the first collection of song I ever taught.  I have taught it several times now and my children still love to sing the songs from this collection with me.  Now that my children are school aged we can improvise by changing parts of speech in a song (change the verb trotting to jumping, change the noun kitty cats to bugs)!  

I can't believe I started this blog 5 years ago.  It really feels like I just started it last year!  But since it is five years old I have blog entries from each of the Music Together collections hidden on here.  In 2012, the last time I taught this collection, I had just started teaching again after having our son.  If you venture back that in the blog that far you can get a small glimpse of some of the fun musical concepts we will be working on this session.  


We tiptoed and glided along with the song Hopping and Sliding and worked on feeling contrast between staccato and legato.  We will use this song to feel other musical contrasts this session!
"Children learn by noticing differences - they are especially alert to contrast.  By juxtaposing duple and triple meter as well as staccato and legato within one activity, we're giving children the opportunity to hear and experience these qualities.  For children, putting these meters and articulations into their bodies is a powerful and direct way to learn about them."

Play around with musical contrasts this week.  
Fast/Slow
High voice/Low voice
Staccato (bouncy, detached, separated)/Legato (smooth, connected)


We also explored mixed meter by enjoying the rhythmic piece Snowflakes.  It has a 5/8 time signature.  If you didn't fully embrace your inner Elsa with this piece yet hopefully you will soon!  The temperature outside this week was perfect to go along with snow, now all we need is the snow!

Norman Rockwell Lesson

/

Each week in Classical Conversations we have a 30 minute segment of music or art.  We are currently studying American artists.  This week we will study Norman Rockwell and attempt to create art in the same style.  

The students are going to be asked to base their artwork on a funny story.  Some tutors have requested that the students personal presentations also be a funny story to help prepare them for art.  If you just can't think of a funny story for your child to present this week use this idea!  Give them a picture and have them tell you the story about what they think is happening.  Print the picture and let them use that as a prompt for their presentation in class.  Or for older kids have them write their funny story out before class and bring that to show for presentation too!

Here are some possible prompts! 

Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Week 13

/

I have not added much about our homeschooling journey on this blog before so I will try to add some small pieces about what Classical Conversations is, and why we love the way we are learning in each post.  CC is divided up into three programs, Foundations, which is elementary school, Essentials, which is added in upper elementary school, and the Challenge programs, which are the middle and high school programs.  Our children are in the Foundations program so that is most of what you will hear about on this blog.  I am personally trying to learn ahead of them as much as possible so I will be ready to teach them when we get to Essentials and Challenge. 

The Foundations program is the grammar stage of learning in a Classical curriculum.  The grammar stage contains a lot of memory work.  At this age the kids brains are ready to soak up and retain a lot of information.  We want them to have a good foundation of memorized knowledge to build on.

Math

Our family always has a lot of fun in week 13 when we get to memorize liquid equivalents!  We clean off the counter and cover it with a towel, get out the measuring cups and canning jars and pour water.  This entertained my three year old for hours (which helped me get work done with the girls).  My daughters were ready to use measuring to create something bigger so we made applesauce from scratch following this recipe http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/10/homemade-applesauce/.  My oldest then used it as a writing activity and rewrote and illustrated the recipe on her own.

Science

We memorized what the atomic number means this week for science.  I admittedly didn't pay attention in chemistry growing up so please pardon any incorrect way to teach chemistry that might show up in the next few weeks.  I'd love to learn more!

As we said the memory work we enjoyed adding protons and electrons to our atoms.  My oldest then read the science card and outlined a little bit of it.

Since the science project we did at school was a little hard to see (my class did a few extra to help see the point better) we did some extra projects at home this week.  You can see them here:

My oldest must have gotten the point because when she went to double her muffin recipe this morning and she needed 1/2 cup of milk twice I said, "A half plus a half equals a whole," and she replied, "Not always!"

We had some fun with geography review by piecing together and coloring a large map of the United States.  I found the pack at Target at the end of last Summer.

We just listened, reviewed, and discussed History, Latin, English, and Timeline

All In One Place

/
For awhile I was great about sharing what we were doing in Music Together and at Journey Montessori on here weekly.  I was also sharing homeschooling ideas on a homeschool blog for families in our Classical Conversations group.  At some point I began to sorely neglect all things blogging.  I think it will be easier to keep up with it if I share it all in one place.

The name of the blog will stay the same because music doesn't stop when we walk out of the music classroom.  The homeschool curriculum we have chosen teaches history, science, math, timeline, English grammar, and Latin all to music.  I'm continually amazed at how quickly my children are able to memorize facts, dates, places, and translations simply by singing them.  I'm so glad we gave them a good musical foundation at an early age so they can now use their ability to sing and keep a beat to aid in learning anything.  If you have not given your child a good musical foundation to build on yet its OK!

Music is an amazing gift we are all given.  Some people are born with slightly higher musical ability, but we all have musical ability.  The ability to understand and make music can be shown on a bell curve.  This means that only a few people have an exceptionally high or low ability.  Most of us are perfectly able, we just have to be taught.  I've found the same is true with math and science, I'm not as bad as I though, I just needed to be taught properly!  You are never too old to learn the basic musical concepts of pitch and rhythm, and once you have those concepts down you can use those abilities to aid in learning so many other subjects.  My daughters are using duple meter to learn trotting in their horseback riding lessons right now.

I will tag my future posts with Music Together, Journey Montessori, or Classical Conversations.  These are the three programs I teach with/for.  Below is a brief description of each so you can read more about each program if you would like.

Music Together is an early childhood parent/child music class for children ages birth-5 and the adults who take care of them (Mommy, Daddy, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Nanny's, etc).  Children learn musical concepts through playing with their adults.  They are exposed to a huge variety of meters and tonalities so they can fully develop tonal and rhythmic ability.  A child can reach basic music competence (singing full songs in tune and keeping a steady beat by themselves) as early as age three, but there is no set age.  If adults have not been properly exposed to music they may still be working on reaching basic music competence, this is were I am with math!
I teach with the Music Together of Charlotte group.  I am blessed to work with such a talented group of music teachers!

Journey Montessori is an amazing preschool for three and four year old children in Charlotte.  I have been blessed to be their music teacher since they opened.  I teach one music class a week to the 20 preschool children enrolled there.  We work on basic music skills in the first semester, how to sing properly and how to keep a steady beat in our bodies and on non-pitched percussion instruments, through lots of fun songs from around the world.  In the second semester we begin more complex skills of putting rhythms in our bodies, we explore musical instruments and their families, and learn Peter and the Wolf or Carnival of the Animals songs.  The children accomplished learning how to sing a simple African song in two parts in December!

Classical Converstaions is a private Christian home-school group for children age 4 through high-school.  Students go to school one day a week and a tutor presents the material to be learned at home that week.  Elementary students also enjoy doing science experiments, art projects, playing music and review games together during their school day.  I am a tutor for the abecedarian class in the Fort Mill-Regent Park group.  Abecedarian means new learners, I have 4, 5 and 6 year old students in my class.  Having a good, set curriculum for my children and being able to go to school once a week with other amazing homeschool families is a wonderful experience for our family.  We love our classmates and my husband and I have learned so much ourselves in teaching our children!

Happy Birthday Star Spangled Banner

/

Last week we sang and played along to the Star Spangled Banner.  This year is the Star Spangled Banner's 200th birthday.  It was written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key.

"

The Star-Spangled Banner

" is the 

national anthem

 of the 

United States

. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort M'Henry",

[1]

 a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet 

Francis Scott Key

 after witnessing the bombardment of 

Fort McHenry

 by British ships of the 

Royal Navy

 in the 

Chesapeake Bay

 during the 

Battle of Fort McHenry

 in the 

War of 1812

.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by 

John Stafford Smith

 for the 

Anacreontic Society

, a men's social club in London.

If you want some more information about the National Anthem here is a video giving some history.    

This week in class we are singing parts to Ding-a-Ding and adding an ostinato to Hotaru Koi.  If you want to work on part singing with Ding-a-Ding on your own play the CD, begin singing with it, keep singing that first part through the whole song.  When this gets easy pick one of the other parts and sing it the whole time you listen to the song.  There are a lot of repeated parts to try!

Here are our dance songs from last week and this week.

Ostinatos, Call and Response, and Suggested Books

/

Tomorrow begins the third week of Fall classes.  Here are a few things we have already accomplished this session!  Week one we sang

ostinatos

(a repeated melody or rhythm) along with the Canoe Song and Train is A Comin.  I encourage you to continue to sing these with your CD and then with other family members this session.

The Canoe Song ostinato is, "Dip, dip, and swing."  After you hear it on the recording just keep on singing it while the recording sings the other part.

The Train is A Comin ostinato is, "Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga Choo Choo."  You also hear this on the recording.

Last week we did a call and response with Train is A Comin.  I sang, "Train is a comin" and you responded, "Oh yes!"  I encourage you to try this.  Call and see what your child responds with.  It may not be the exact words, but they will quickly learn to respond with the correct pitches.  If this song is not familiar yet try a call and response with something you already sing a lot.  Maybe twinkle twinkle little _____.  Wait for that last sound from your child!

We also looked at a fun book put out by Music Together last week, Ridin in the Car.  Music Together has several wonderful books to go along with songs now.  You can enjoy them on their YouTube channel and purchase them at

musictogether.com

.  

Over the past two weeks we have also begun to put different beats in our feet.  We have done a lot of tip toeing!  Last week we tip toed to Walking in The Woods.  The week before was the Can Can.  You can enjoy tip toeing, wiggling, and kicking to the Can Can at home by clicking on the link below.

Songs From the Summer Session

/

I encourage all of you who took the Summer session to continue playing with the Summer collection over the next month.

In class we worked on call and response with Obwisana and Singin' Every Day.  Continue playing with this concept by singing a little bit and waiting for your child to the next part back to you.  Once you know a song really well this is a fun game to play.  If you are not comfortable trying call and response with these songs pick a song you and your child both enjoy and try the game.

We also worked on singing a simple round.  In the Fall session we sang Frere Jacques in a round and this session Hey Ho Nobody Home.  You can sing in a round with another adult or older children, or if that is not a possibility then sing in a round with the CD.  Let the singer on the CD start first and then you come in next.  If you are not sure where to come in look at the song in your Music Together book, it marks where the second person is to come in with a *.

Another concept we work on this past week in class was adding an ostinato to a piece.  An ostinato is repeated part that accompanies a song.  With the chant Here is A Bunny we added ostinatos with the words hop, ha, and sounds for making a circle.  These also correlated to different beats to move to with the music.  Ostinatos are a lot of fun to make up!

I mentioned that my family is currently enjoying a beginning Latin book.  It is called

Sing Song Latin

.  Learning Latin through song is perfect for us!

Here are some of the extra songs we danced and played instruments to in class this session:

We danced (with the parachute) to the

ABC song

from the Baby Loves Jazz CD.  I like the songs on this CD.  It's worth checking out

We tiptoed, kicked, and wiggled to the

Can Can

We played instruments along with Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

And we danced along with Kingdom Dance from

Tangled

Dynamics and Form

/

We worked on so many terrific elements of music this week in class!  I am thrilled that so many families are completing (at least) their third consecutive session of Music Together with their child(ren).  The children are used to the routine and classroom environment and are becoming skilled musicians!  This week we improvised by simply replacing your child's name and the body part to tap in Jumpin' Josie.  (In one class we improvised with Jim Along Josie on accident.  Did anyone catch that?)  We also improvised by changing Pease Porridge to some other type of food.  This simple improvisation is also done on your CD.

We explored dynamic contrast this week with Jack in the Box and William Tells Ride.  Using dynamic contrast in your daily routine can be a simple and effective way to capture your child's attention.  Try singing directions softly to your child when you're feeling stressed and see if it makes you both feel better.

William Tells Ride is also a wonderful introduction to basic musical form.  In class we did a different movement for each section (A,B,C,A).  For older students write the letter and have them point to the different letter as they hear each section.  Put the letters around the room and move to the A for the A section, B for the B section and C for the C section.  If you have older children who are learning how to read and notate music assign a note or compose a rhythm pattern to tap along with each section.

Singing and Dancing to the popular song Let It Go was a blast this week!  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the little ones sing and move to the music.  As your children grow it continues to be important for them to see you model good singing for them!  Even if you do not feel you are a strong singer or dancer, keep modeling it!

We have used the CD to sing one part while we added an ostinato (repeated part) or a round with it.  In the last few weeks of class we will attempt all of the parts without the help of the CD!  Enjoy practicing at home and in the car this week!

Just for fun!

Jazz

/

For our play along in class this week we jammed to Ella Fitzgerald's Old MacDonald.  After playing however we wanted with the music we played together on different beats (microbeat, macrobeat, supermicro).  I encourage you to play at home patting the beat on the whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth note.  You do not need to force your child to play this.  Just model it for them and they will learn to feel, and play the beat just like you.

So far this session we have hopped like bunnies and danced like chickens!  Enjoy doing this at home.

 I love this video of a family doing the bunny hop together to celebrate their little girls birthday!

Spring Week 2

/

This week in class we continued to enjoy songs without words.  These songs are easy for children, and adults, to process and sing quickly because your brain does not have to be concerned with learning the melody and new words at the same time.  This collection of songs has some wonderful songs without words.  (Songs without words are songs sung on various syllables or sounds that have no meaning.)

We continued to explore mixed meter with singing and playing instruments in 5/4.  Singing while counting your fingers is a great way to feel the 5/4 meter and practice fine motor skills and counting!

Our extra dance and play along this week were the Ray Anthony's Bunny Hop and Dan Zanes version of All Around the Kitchen.  Enjoy them at home with the links below!

Spring 2014

/

I get an update on my blog about once every nine weeks now.

We keep a busy schedule in our house.  We homeschool our children and that has taken priority over many other activities during the day, updating my blog is one such thing.

I am thrilled to have so many wonderful families completing a full year of Music Together with their children.  This session will be a lot of fun.  Now that the routine and expectations of the class are familiar to you and your children we can do more improvising, ostinato parts, and rounds!

We started simple this week by improvising with what we saw in the picture in the book, and ways to move.  In the weeks to come we will pass around rhythm patterns and add more parts to our songs.

I encourage you to try singing harmonies and rounds with your CD.  If you have a harmony part you like sing it in class!  It's great for the children's ears to hear multiple parts.

I will do my best to get any play along and dance songs we use from outside the collection posted here.  Have fun waltzing and naming instruments with your child while you watch and listen to the music.

Musical Contrasts

/

Welcome to the Winter session of classes.  Hopefully you have had a chance to begin enjoying the songs for this collection by now.  There are some fabulous mixed meter songs (the ones you can't march or waltz to).  I have become such a better musician as an adult by playing with mixed meter with little kids!  I think everyone should learn mixed meter through play!

Our dance this week is the Russian Sailors Dance by Reinhold Gliere.

It is a wonderful piece of music to move to.  The melody takes on many different personalities and give us a chance to move in many different ways.  See how creative you can be coming up with ways to dance along to the song at home this week.

We have used the Love Song of Kangding as both a large movement song dancing with scarves and a lullaby. The version in our collection of songs is a song with out words. Here is a live performance of the song, sung in Chinese, with subtitles. Listen to the difference in the timbre of the performers voices.

Christmas Books I Love

/

I have a bunch of Christmas sing along books that I love to use in class and with my children at home.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
By J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie
Buy on Amazon

 

My kids love these light up board books!

Silent Night: A Light and Sound Book
By Smart Kids Publishing, David Mead
Buy on Amazon
Frosty the Snowman
By Steve Nelson, Jack Rollins
Buy on Amazon

Holiday 2013

/

We have a great variety of songs on our Holiday CD.  Adding songs from many different Winter Holiday's around the world gives us a good variety of tonalities to listen to.  It is very important for kids ears to be exposed to lots of tonalities and meters.  We all have different songs we like and dislike, but it's nice to be able to understand and appreciate all of them so we have the privilege of choosing what we like.  I am really enjoying the Holiday mix of music.  My least favorite song to begin with was the version of My Favorite Things that is on the CD.  I guess I was expecting the Sound of Music version of the song.  But after listening to it several times it has started to grow on me.  Your little ones will probably gravitate to certain songs as well.

For those of you who may be interested in what holidays the different songs on the CD are from here is a list of Wikipedia answers.

"RAMADAN (Arabic):  

In some Muslim countries today lights are strung up in public squares, and across city streets, to add to the festivities of the month. 

Lanterns

 have become symbolic decorations welcoming the month of Ramadan. In a growing number of countries, they are hung on city streets.

[29]

[30]

[31]

 The tradition of lanterns as a decoration becoming associated with Ramadan is believed to have originated during the 

Fatimid Caliphate

 primarily centered in 

Egypt

, where 

Caliph

al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah

 was greeted by people holding lanterns to celebrate his ruling. From that time lanterns were used to light mosques and houses throughout the capital city of 

Cairo

. Shopping malls, places of business, and people's homes can be seen with stars and crescents, as well as, various lighting effects, as well.

It is believed that the first 

revelation

 to Muhammad was sent down during the month of Ramadan

DIWALI (India):

The name "Diwali" or "Divali" is a contraction of deepavali which translates into "row of lamps".

[10]

 Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil.

[11]

 These lamps are kept on during the night and one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess 

Lakshmi

 feel welcome.

[12]

Firecrackers

 are burst because it is believed that it drives away 

evil spirits

.

[13]

[14]

[15]

 During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share 

sweets

 and snacks with family members and friends.

HANUKKAH: 

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique 

candelabrum

, the nine-branched 

Menorah

 or 

Hanuk

iah

, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical Menorah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a 

shamash

 (

Hebrew

: 

שמש

‎, "attendant")

[1]

 and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the 

shamash

 is to have a light available for practical use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating on the Hanukkah is forbidden.

[2]

CHRISTMAS:   (from me)  belief that Jesus is the light of the world, and He cam here at Christmas.

OUR Message:   All the major religions have, at their core, the idea of light- light in the darkness, that lights our path, that shows the way.  And all of us have a light within, as well.  It is our hope to celebrate this light with our voices and dancing and laughter and sharing.  We have included some sacred music, but not with the lyrics sugn. The sacred songs are instrumental, and were chosen for their musical complexity, diversity and melodies.  It is our hope we are all able to shine our light a little brighter, when we are together and when we are in the world."

Diwali

Hanukkah

Christmas

There is also an African and a Chinese song on the CD.  My kids love to figure out where the songs are from.  I encourage you to turn it into a geography lesson as well!  

African Noel

Here are some fun Chinese dragon dance videos to enjoy at home.

Happy Halloween!

/

I have loved seeing the cute costumes this week in class!

Here are some of the fun songs we have played along with and danced to this week!

I feel like most kids may not know what an organ is! My mother and her mother, and so on, have all played the organ so I grew up with it. If you don't get to enjoy organ music any other time of the year at least listen to Toccata and Fugue by Bach for Halloween (not really a Halloween song!)

Improvise

/

In the last month we have explored a lot with improvising and mixed meter songs.  You can improvise (create on the spot) new verses to any song.  Create new verses to help you get through your day.  The head teacher at the Montessori school I teach at directs her students by singing to them all the time.  Her soft singing is so awesome to listen to!  (Much better than loud fussing).

We have improvised with Jim Along Josie a lot!  It is an easy song to change the words too.  It is also an easy song to play on the guitar or ukulele.  Enjoy jumping along with Pete Seegers version at home.  Add your own verses if you haven't already done so!

Here is a link to the play along version of Jim Along Josie we used in class.  You can preview and purchase it on Amazon or iTunes.

http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Along-Josie/dp/B0014N9FRG

Mixed meter is also a lot of fun to play with.  I have two music degrees and reading mixed meter music would always stress me out.  It wasn't until playing with mixed meter as a music together teacher that I became comfortable with it!  

Dance To Your Daddy is a mixed meter song.  It is in triple meter for a few phrases and then has a duple beat stuck in there.  When we danced with the song we bounced on the duple beat.  When we rolled balls with the song we felt the rhythm by 

roll (2,3)

roll (2,3)

roll (2,3)

bounce, bounce (or bounce pass) 

catch (2, 3)

Try this again at home.  When you can get your body to move with the beat and feel it the music becomes easy to understand and enjoy.

Rocketship is also a mixed meter song

Improvise

/
As you came into class this week we were listening to a recording of Simple Gifts by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss.  It is on the Album Classic Yo-Yo.  The best price for the whole album is on Amazon.

You can listen to Air and Simple Gifts played at President Obama's Inauguration by clicking the video below.

Maestro John Williams arranged a piece based on Aaron Copeland's arrangement of the old Shaker Tune "Simple Gifts" as "Variations on a Shaker Melody". Yo-Yo Ma performs along with Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet.



In class we talked about simple improvisation.  If you have been following this blog for any amount of time, or involved in my classes for more than one session, you may notice this is a common topic!  Improvisation is important for young children.  As parents we have to be ready to improvise with more than just the songs we are singing with our children.  Improvising (creating something in the moment) new verses to the familiar songs you are learning in class can help with your day.  You can make up verses to songs about cleaning up, going potty, going to sleep, eating food, something you see while you are learning to wait patiently!  We improvised with the songs Rocket Ship, Hey Lolly, Lolly, and a little bit with Ran Tin Tinnah this week.  Pick your favorite song and see if you can make up a new verse to help you get through your day.

We also sang I've Been Workin' on the Railroad this week and I promised I would add more specific musical terms here for what we did.  Your children are playing with huge musical concepts in class (odd meter, mixed meter, form, many tonalities, elongation, diminution, accelerando, ritardando, and many more).  Being exposed to these large musical concepts through play at a young age will help them understand them as they get older.
In this song we had 3 main sections A, B, C.  We played the egg shakers differently in each section.
A - tapped on the floor.
B - shook back and forth in the air
C - tapped together.
We repeated the B section 3 times.  Each time we got faster.  The musical term for this is accelerando.
Between sections we did a choo-choo whistle sound.  We slurred our voices between the same pitches we use when we clean up.  These are also the first pitches you can expect to hear from your infant/young child.
We also held two notes for a really long time.  This would be indicated in music by a fermata.

These are all great musical terms and ideas you can explore with older kids, and discuss with your children as they get older and want to understand more about what they already know how to do!

Some fun guidelines for being involved in class.

/

Turn your cell phone off in class or you may be asked to improvise based on your ringtone.

Sing and play along with your kids.  It's really a lot of fun!

 You will learn so much about how your child learns by being involved in the Music Together class with them. Together we will get the chance to learn by being still, by moving, by using lots of repetition, by singing, dancing, and having a hands on experience. You are with them and involved every step of the way in this class and that is the most valuable part for both of you! Music Together has made me a much better parent, musician, and teacher! This TED talk takes a look at how we all learn differently. Watch for how your child learns. My job is to help you watch for that too and point out the amazing things (s)he is doing.