Smiling faces. Eager stories. Favourite actions to songs. Moving our bodies to music. Playing instruments in ensemble together. Meeting with friends. Rocking and moving with stuffy friends. Connecting with family members through dance and physical touch. It's quite a list of elements to a typical Kindermusik class. It's part of why families tell me on a weekly basis that the moment they mention it's a Kindermusik class day, that their child beams with delight!!
The other day a mother came to class with this story - her 18 month old son had been quite fussy that morning, and Mom had tried in vain to find the solution to his distress. But when she mentioned that they could go to Kindermusik, he instantly stopped, and indicated with a smile on his face that he did want to go. Can't tell you how many stories I've heard of children driving to Kindermusik and starting to call out "Kindermusik!!" as soon as they see our building.
Kids LOVE their Kindermusik class and it's really important that they do! All learning takes place in an emotionally charged environment. That's why laughter, commraderie, and pleasure are all associated with excellent learning environments. It's why being a teacher who cares and listens is better able to encourage better results from the students. Positive feelings toward a teacher, a class, a topic provide an open heart and mind to receiving information.
I love the opportunity to create a fun and fresh, age appropriate learning environment for children each week. For a brief time, the teacher and the classroom are the message of music. And Kindermusik is the music that matters to your child because they associate strong feelings of belonging, fun, and creativity with the songs that we do in class. There will be LOTS of time in the future to have a more disciplined approach, learning scales, technique, and such. But for these early years, the most important aspect of developing a life long love of music is to keep it fun and the activity age relevant.
Summer camp provides the opportunity to keep up with alll the things we love doing, with the added attraction of a coordinated craft and snack. Just today when the Imagine That class was able to do a small art project, I was noticing that the children LOVE to learn through the various art mediums, and they LOVE a coordinated craft activity. They are always eager to test out their creativity, exploring with various mediums.
Keep the learning coming. Keep music making a daily occurrence! Keep feeding their inner strength with the joy of successful, age appropriate songs, games, rhymes, and activities. Keep growing their young brains through the only activity available that stimulates the ENTIRE brain at once! And keep it fun!
