Class was fun today! Reminder...parents come next week. :)

Next week is that we get a new puppet show! Today was our last time doing The Magic Lamp puppet show in class. Even though we won't be doing it in class anymore, they can still do the actions and listen to it, of course, while listening to the music tracks in the car or at home or wherever, but we'll expand our classical music listening muscles by seeing a NEW show next week! 

Enjoy the time you get to do musical activities with your child! When your child sees you enjoying and learning music, they'll feel an added measure of enjoyment as they learn with you. They might not always say so with their face or words, but I promise, those connecting moments add up and builds on to all the other relationship-building you are already doing! 

At home play is an important part of Let's Play Music. Please do your best to make time to play using the booklet. It should only take about 10-15 minutes total - you can do it all in one sitting or split it up during the week. If your child is resistant when you bring it up, sneak into your routine somehow. They don't even need to see the book and you can just pull out the bells and play the activities with them without them knowing. If they are resistant to the theory page, play a game about the concept together and then you can quickly fill it in later. You know your kid best, meet them where they are at, and help make music an enjoyable activity at home. 

Taking Baby Steps

Our purpose here is to imitate rhythm and reinforcing the concept of lines and spaces on the staff.

Identify Solfeg Patterns by Sound

I threw both a MI RE DO and a SOL SOL DO into our Let’s Play Music song and your student got to identify which one I was singing. Those ears are getting smarter everyday!

Puppet Show

Today we performed the puppet show with our full bodies! We had fun learning the themes over the last 8 weeks. Next week we'll introduce a new puppet show.

Ooooo Halloween

This is a great song for teaching internal rhythm. It helps us feel the internal beat while no music is sounding so each student will develop their own "sense of time." Feeling a metronome in their head and body is important when developing the full musician inside! 

Our world is full of rhythm. The waxing and waning of the moon, the ebb and flow of the tide, the very passage of time itself are all controlled by predictable rhythms. As humans, we spend nine months before birth listening to the rhythmic beating of our mother’s heart. The rest of our lives are lived out against the backdrop of our own rhythmic breathing.

Our speech and movements are naturally rhythmic. Whether we are walking, running, swimming or dancing, rhythm permeates our lives to such an extent that we rarely think about it. It is virtually impossible to walk without some sense of rhythm. It is of no wonder then, that rhythm is often seen as the most important building block of music and that developing an accurate sense of rhythm is central to all music-making. Children love to move their bodies and this is one of the earliest musical skills they develop, swaying to the music, clapping and dancing. Simple activities and games involving dance and movement are therefore ideal as a starting point for this all important skill. Marching in time to music, drumming, clapping games and chanting rhymes are all quick and fun activities that young children will enjoy and gain instant gratification from.

Also, parents if you have the time, read this article about how music improves babies brain responses. If you haven't done the Halloween activity, here it is again!

Try this FUN rhythmic exercise about Mosquitos!  

I value open and honest communication so please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or comments.

Thank you!