I was sick a few weeks ago with a stomach bug, and I spent the day in bed watching one of the Discovery networks. I love to watch educational programming because I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. This was one of the programs I saw, and it was so amazing and fascinating and touching. I found it on YouTube when looking for videos of Marc Yu to show some of my students what is possible when you practice piano 8 hours a day. I made a playlist of all 5 segments of the program - it's almost an hour long, but worth watching in every way. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus", from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009:
Ms. Tabby and Corwyn share a musical High-5 in Kindermusik class
This wonderful list has been published all over the internet, and today I found it linked from twitter on the Kindermusik International blog. It's definitely one of those things that bears repeating, especially as I prepare to go do a brief cameo at a summer camp program for special needs kids up in Pasadena. Music moves us all, and I am moved to share it with you through lessons, Kindermusik classes, and being part of the musically involved population in our community.
Not because we expect you to major in music. Not only because we expect you to play or sing all your life. Not only so you can relax. Not just so you can have fun.
But... so you will be more human. so you will recognize beauty. so you will be sensitive. so you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world. so you will have something to cling to. so you will have more compassion, more gentleness, more good--in short, more life.
Of what value will it be to make a prosperous living unless you know how to live?
Hickory, Dickory, Tickle and Bounce is focused on further feeding a baby’s language development through the rhythmic nature of nursery rhymes. You and your child will also discover plenty of implied movement activities throughout the semester with many additional movement concepts - like up and down - incorporated into the literature book. Favorite songs and activities from Hickory, Dickory, Tickle and Bounce include “Peek-a-boo,” “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” “Beat the Drum,” “Roll That Ball,” “Sulla Lulla” and “The Blackbird.”
Rhythm Of My Day - This class will help you bring more rhythm and routine to your baby’s day, as well as help develop lasting learning skills. We’ll show you how and tell you why music can help your little one soothe into the day’s schedule and help build a strong body and mind network for learning. You can bring home those same stress-free play and relaxation techniques from class, and incorporate them into your daily routines. Home Materials include The Rhythm of My Day — a colorful picture board book with class themes, CD of beautifully arranged songs from class, a set of Art Banners and an instrument for music-making at home.
Our Time ~ 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 years with parent ~ Fiddle-dee-dee
This unit takes its name from the beloved folk song about the fly who married the bumblebee and the theme of “fiddling around” is present all throughout the semester. Creatures from the animal kingdom, whether furry, web-footed, winged or whiskered are explored in this unit. The two literature books are Piggy Played the Fiddle and Animal Serenade. Fiddlesticks are a one-of-a-kind Kindermusik instrument that can be rattled, rolled, tapped and fiddled with to create fun sounds and play possibilities.
This unit transports your child into a city, where ordinary sounds and sights on the street make a musical ensemble. People shuffle their feet to a 4/4 beat. Street musicians serenade and sing. Clock towers boom, bellow and ring. The class will create a city that’s familiar, yet like no other. Using visual tools and home activities, children will transform the classroom, build a city out of handcrafted “buildings” and walk down sidewalks made of masking tape and freezer paper. The two literature books are Razupatu Toto and Down Our Street. Resonator Bars are the featured instrument.
Young Child Semester 2 ~ 5-7 years / Kindergarten & 1st Grade with 10 minute "Sharing Time" ~ Semester 2
Semester 2 focuses on concepts such as piano/forte, crescendo/decrescendo and legato/staccato as students explore string and woodwind instruments, notation, and even a bit of Beethoven. Children will apply their new knowledge of aural skills and reading and writing music notations as they further develop their glockenspiel skills.
New students are accepted into Young Child 2 without having taken Young Child 1. There is a lot of built in review in Young Child 2 for the benefit of new students, as well as returning students.
Young Child Semester 4 ~ continuing students only ~ Contact Ms. Tabby for enrollment details.
Semester 4 focuses on verse and refrains, solos and chorus, and music form (ABA and rondo). Students also review notation, rhythms, treble clef and the complete C scale while exploring the sounds of wind instruments with the introduction of the recorder and continuing with the glockenspiel.
New students are NOT accepted in Young Child 4 due to the sequential nature of the Young Child course. Children must have taken at least one previous semester of Young Child to attend Semester 4.
Why is it important to bring music into your children's lives? - Friday, August 1, 2008
Research Encourages Focus on Music and the Arts to Enhance Early Childhood Development
Music Research
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, states, "Studying music encourages self discipline and diligence traits that carry over into mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography." Research supports that music helps prepare the mind for specific disciplines of learning; skills learned through music carry over into study skills, communications skills, cognitive skills and abstract reasoning skills useful to all parts of life, according to a 1997 article in Neurological Research.
Young Children
Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect, traced neurological development during childhood and found prior to a major spurt of neural integration in the brain during the elementary school years, learning occurs through movement and quick emotional associations. For example, by age two, the brain has begun to fuse with the body via marching, dancing, and developing a sense of physical rhythm. The more music children are exposed to before they enter school, the more deeply this stage of neural coding will assist them throughout their lives.
Parental Involvement
Findings from a study conducted by three researchers at Sam Houston State University in Texas reports that early music training can improve intelligence, and the amount of parental involvement in the music training can greatly affect the amount of improvement. Strong correlations were found between musical abilities in young children, particularly the ability to match vocal pitches and reproduce rhythmic patterns and abstract reasoning abilities.
The study also showed that parental time spent with a child is a more important factor in predicting intelligence test success than such factors as single-parent households, poverty, low parental education levels and ethnic minority status.
School-aged Children
Arts education makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the "learning field" across socio-economic boundaries, states the involvement in the Arts and Success in Secondary School, James S. Catterall, The UCLA Imagination Project, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA, Americans for the Arts Monograph, January 1998.
Arts education has a measurable impact on youth at risk in deterring delinquent behavior and truancy problems while also increasing overall academic performance among those youth engaged in after school and summer arts programs targeted toward delinquency prevention, according to the YouthARTS Development Project, 1996, U.S. Department of Justice, National Endowment for the Arts, and Americans for the Arts.
Community-based Arts
Findings from the Living the Arts Through Language + Learning: A Report on community-Based Youth Organizations, Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University and Carnegie FoundationFor the Advancement of Teaching, Americans for the Arts Monograph, November 1998 reports that:
Young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours a day, three days a week for at least one year are:
4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.
3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools.
4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair.
3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance.
4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem.
Young artists, as compared with their peers, are likely to:
Read for pleasure nearly twice as often.
Perform community service more than four times as often.
Participate in youth groups nearly four times as frequently.
Attend music, art and dance classes nearly three times as frequently.
Consider bringing music into your child's life by taking lessons or classes with us at Harmony Music Studio - where the gift of music lasts a lifetime! 281-992-9800 Originally posted on Kindermusik.com
*FREE* Kindermusik classes! Demo Days are here! - Thursday, July 31, 2008
Ever wondered what a Kindermusik class was really like?
Did you ever want your child to experience Kindermusik, but didn’t have the funds available right then to pay for tuition?
Now’s the time to take advantage of *FREE* classes during Demo Days here at Harmony Music Studio. This week we will have free 30-minute classes on three different days for children from infants to kindergarteners. (0-6 years)
Choose your class below that best fits your schedule, and click on the link to register. If you have more than one child, great! The more the merrier. These are absolutelyfree!
Not sure where we’re located? All classes are held at Harmony Music Studio in Friendswood. We are in the Towne Square plaza located on FM 528 at Townes Road. The address is 3746-A FM 528, Friendswood, TX 77546.
Come join us as we share some of the fun and learning you will find in our Kindermusik classroom this fall!
Free Kindermusik Classes and Early Enrollment Deadline August 1st! - Sunday, July 27, 2008
Hello friends! The summer is quickly drawing to a close, and I wanted to remind you that we're taking enrollments for the Kindermusik Fall Semester. If you register and pay your deposit by August 1, you'll receive $20 off your tuition for the semester as an early enrollment bonus! And don't forget, younger siblings and children of students enrolled in private lessons get a 50% discount on Kindermusik tuition. Let me know if you need me to send you a registration form, or you can register over the phone, or at the front desk or online.
I'll be hosting free Kindermusik classes on July 30th (for those wishing to see what a class is like and still get that early bird special!) and again from August 2-16th during the International Demo Days promotion with Kindermusik International. Please check the schedule or ask Ms. Tabby for class availability. If you'd like me to schedule a custom demonstration class for you and 2 friends, please don't hesitate to call me at 713-306-4023 and I'll be happy to do that.
I know a lot of you would love to participate in Kindermusik, but it is financially a stretch right now. Don't let this tough time interfere with enhancing your child's development! Here are some creative ways to help pay for the class:
1. Gift certificates are always available! Have grandma or grandpa, aunts and uncles, etc. contact me for any sized amount! Family and friends love to help with Kindermusik, especially when our children already have so many toys! 2. Sign up by AUGUST 1 to get that $20 early bird discount on tuition! 3. Bring a friend to Kindermusik, and if they sign up, you will receive $10.00 off of tuition up to $30.00! 4. Make EVERY DOLLAR count with Kindermusik! Other programs are fun, but Kindermusik is fun AND educational. At just $12.00 a class, this is the best value per dollar that you will find for your child. Here is what the experts say...
"Children participating in Kindermusik improved 28 – 37 percentile points in their standard intelligence tests over children without Kindermusik." -Sam Houston State University Study – May 1998. "Four-year-olds exposed to Kindermusik have better self-control than children with less Kindermusik history." - George Mason University Study – May 2005.
5. Scholarships are available through private donors and the Ruth D. Anderson Children's fund. I have already applied for funding from the RDACF at Kindermusik International, because I want every child to be able to participate in this program. I donated my time and energy so several families could participate last semester for only the cost of materials. If you want to donate to this scholarship fund, please contact me!
I hope these ideas are helpful for you. I value your commitment to Kindermusik, and to supporting local music programs. If you have any other questions or concerns, or want to know which class will be best for your child, please contact me! My schedule is up and running on the website! I have classes for each age group from infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers to children from 5-7 years. Have a great rest of the summer, and I look forward to being together again beginning September 1st!
Welcome to the Harmony Music Studio Web Log! Here you'll find information about upcoming events as well as nifty links to music-related content on the web. Enjoy!
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