Sing Peace Around the World

My 5 year old daughter has been singing a beautiful song about peace that she learned at school (Lakeland Montessori).  From the teacher’s weekly email, I followed a link to find all the words, and found a lot more than that.  This song travelled the world in 24 hours – on the International Day of [...]

Exploring bird sounds with children

“What does a bird say?”  A lot more than tweet, or chirp.   Most children only consider one sound, but an observant child with more experience in bird sounds might ask, “What kind of bird?” 
Fun vocal play with different bird sounds can open up the world of birds, and sounds, with your child, and can have [...]

Can’t decide whether to enroll in Kindermusik?

 

Watch this Video ! 
 
It’s TRUE, everyone participates in their OWN way in Kindermusik. 
 

Amazingly, the process of music helps to bring out the best in all of us.  As the weeks progress, both children and parents feel more comfortable and familiar with the songs and the routines, providing for a perfect learning environment – surrounded by [...]

How can you teach music to BABIES?

People ask me,  “How can you teach music to babies?”  As part of the full Kindermusik curricullum, the Village program is designed for babies from infancy up to 18 months old.   Why start so young? 

That’s easy to answer.  Every experience they have now helps to build a foundation for learning.  Music excites the brain, getting it [...]

Connections between Music and Reading

“Books help children become whole people; reading facilitates both parent-child relationships and language as it helps to create a child’s understanding of the world.”
-  Claudia Quigg, Executive director of BabyTALK
 
Parents hear over and over again how important it is to read to their child, and the need to build pre-reading and reading skills.  And many parents  [...]

Recognizing baby’s sign language; watching them grow

“Mommy?  Did you just say Mommy?  Your thumb touched your chin just like this.  You said Mommy with your hands!  Oh, yes, I will give you LOTS of love for saying Mommy.” 
My son was 14 months old before he actually said “Mommy”.  That was an excrutiating wait for me.  But he did say it for the [...]

Benefits of using Sign Language with Babies

Kindermusik Sign and Sing teaches parents to use sign language with their infants and young children. 
 
In my current summer class in Lakeland, FL, children from 8 months to 19 months, and their parents, are participating in fun activities that allow ample opportunity for everyone to experience and practice sign language.  Some are just starting to experience signs, [...]

African Talking Drum – Music that really talks

In our Kindermusik for the Young Child class is currently studying African Cultural Music.  The students got to explore making the changing sounds that my talking drum makes.  I can demonstrate a few rhythms and how the drum changes pitch as the strings are squeezed, but I am no master. 
Fortunately, these YouTube videos allow us [...]

Timbre / SOUND Experiences for young children

Timbre (pronounced “tam-ber”) is the distinctive quality of a sound.  During the last few weeks in all the Kindermusik classes, we have experienced many different timbres.  We’ve listened to the sounds of different types of bells, paper bags, a variety of wooden instruments, multitudes of drums (played with the hand to get a better variety of sounds), and much more.  [...]

Kindermusik builds a Foundation of Learning

Research PROVES time and time again how much music stimulates the development of the brain.  Throughout history, many educational theories have included music in their academic curriculum.  The following quote by Plato is such an eloquent way to illustrate the importance of music training.  
“Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other (for education) because rhythm and harmony find their [...]