Village week 5

In some of our activities this week we experienced the physical and musical sensation of stopping and going. By participating in activities that move and stop, Baby is developing the awareness of inhibitory control. Inhibitory control is one’s ability to stop his body on a given cue. “Stop” and “Go” are reinforced in class with the use of sign language.

You may have noticed that we do a lot of bouncing games in Village classes. In Allee Galloo our bouncing stimulates the vestibular system. The Vestibular system is our centre of balance situated in the inner ear. This intricate system needs constant stimulation for baby to learn to coordinate movement and balance. Bouncing also increases muscle tone as baby has to adjust his posture to stay upright while being bounced. At the end of the rhyme the surprising lift into the air or fall backwards on the whee, Provides immediate feedback to the vestibular system so that baby just has to smile or giggle.

“Baby, I lie and gaze on thee
All other things forgot –
In dreams the things of earth pass by,
But awake I heed them not.
I hear thy soft breath come and go,
Thy breath so lately given,
And watch the blue unconscious eyes
Whose light is pure from heaven.” Anon 1860

Young Child Lesson 27

As the semester nears the end, we are busy, busy, busy integrating all the information and concepts that have been presented this year: auditory discrimination (among woodwind instruments), note reading (the new note g’), musical concept (staccato/legato singing and dancing), choreographed movement (as in “Hop, Old Squirrel”), and more!

The Young Child student is just the right age to use the information she has learned to create her own music using her own ideas. Can your young child create metaphors such as “The grasshopper is a bouncy ball” and portray this sound on her glockenspiel? Encourage this type of exploration to solidify concepts and to maintain excitement about the instrument. Balance the exploration with careful study of today’s song “Go to Sleep.”

I look forward to another Kindermusik day with your child next week!

Imagine That 8th June

What a lovely class we had today. We visited the “post office” and the “cobbler’s shop.” We are moving through our pretend city visiting the many people who work there. Your new book, Down Our Street, continues this theme with a rhythmic rhyme that is lots of fun to say! Family Activity #12 invites you and your child to create another city building or shop. As you create, you might like to extend the rhythmic rhyme from Down Our Street to include your homemade building, whether it is a toy shop, a book store, or even a restaurant!

We also started to look at notated rhythm this week. Our Blue Jelly patterns may seem like a fun and silly game, but the children are all beginning to read crochet and quaver notes. If you can find some matchsticks or lolly sticks have a go at making your own blue jelly rhythms.

As we near the end of the semester, I’d be more than happy to hear from you about your child’s favourite activities, what you like the most about Kindermusik, or any concerns you might have about the class. Please feel free to drop me a line.

The Rhythm of my Day Week 4

This week we heard music from England, Scotland, The Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and many regions of the United States. By exposing your baby to a variety of music from many cultures, you’re helping her build a large library of musical tastes and appreciation from which to choose.
Not only is this important for her musical development, but it helps her to learn to listen more carefully and be more open to new experiences.
Baby is first exposed to rhythm in the womb. She hears her mother’s heartbeat and then, after birth, her own. African and Indian music traditions have brought syncopation and other rhythmic complexities to our ears, weaving these rhythms into current Western culture. Exposing Baby to this variety will help her develop her abilities to listen and produce these rhythms more easily.
“People and rubber bands have one thing in common; they must be stretched to be effective.” John Maxwell

See you next week!

Fiddle Dee Dee Week 11

Studies show that there are three major factors in early learning which benefit competency in adulthood:
Rich sensory environment
Freedom to explore with few restrictions
Available parents that act as consultants

Foster excitement about Kindermusik this week by pulling out your Home Activity Book. If you haven’t already used your Hush, Little Baby picture cards, now’s a great time to remind your child of this familiar lullaby that we enjoyed over the past five weeks while looking at the pictures (pp.18-22) and singing the song. Other playful picture activities can be found on pp.26-27 and pp.30-31. How many bumblebee games can you and your child create?

Have fun playing!

Cities Wk 11

We had great fun in class this week. The children constantly come up with new ideas and movements for the songs and activities.

This week we started to explore making big and small sounds. In music we use Italian terms to describe our playing and singing. A big or loud sound might be referred to as forte a small or quiet sound might be referred to as piano. The word crescendo refers to a sound which grows from small to big. We explored the concept of crescendo with our bodies in class.

At home this week check out activity 11 for which you will need to cut out the puzzle pieces and match them to the correct picture and drum beat. Have fun and let us know how you got on next week

Young Child Semester 2 wk 26

“Concept learning is a cyclical process. The continued use of the specific idea in varied settings will help the learning to gel and contribute to a breadth and depth of understanding.”*

The children are becoming experts at recognising the difference between staccato and legato sounds! They can move accordingly when hearing the change from staccato music to legato music; they can play both types of sounds on their glockenspiels; and they can sing both staccato and legato.

Listen to music together this week and invite your child to identify different articulation techniques—and other aspects of the music—that he hears.


*“Developing Music Concepts,” by Barbara J. Alvarez, p. 29, in Music in Prekindergarten: Planning and Teaching, Mary Palmer and Wendy L. Sims, editors.