I teach a 3-year comprehensive group music and piano class out of my home. The program and curriculum I teach is called Let's Play Music. Kids that are 4, 5, or 6 are eligible to enroll. You can learn about it HERE on my website and if you are interested in learning more, I will be having a free sample class tomorrow at 10am. Contact me if you'd like to come! If you can't attend, I'd be happy to schedule another time when you can sample a class.

I will be opening registration for my fall Let's Play Music classes soon and they may fill up fast. Waitlist families can sign up on February 1st and then it opens up to the general public on March 1st. Contact me if you'd like to be put on the waitlist or if you'd just like to learn more about this amazing program!

We have had a great time singing some familiar and fun children's songs. "Ten In a Bed" is a fun counting down song and I love Sharon, Lois, and Bram's version from my childhood days - "Please remember to tie a knot in your pajamas!" We played with some dollhouse dolls while we sang from the recording (the recording doesn't always have one person roll out - you need to listen to hear if 1, 2, or 3 kids fell out!) Next week we'll sing it while we play along on the floor with a pretend edge of the "bed" (signified by a piece of tape). Singing becomes so much more enjoyable when playing is involved!

We sing a major scale with tone bells and our solfege hand signs every week. We will be playing some fun games remembering the order of our tone bells. Soon, we'll also start singing the pentatonic scale (DO-RE-MI-SOL-LA) in class and folk songs that use this scale. 

I've sung and played "Edelweiss" on my guitar as a calm-down song and we talked about the flower that looks like a blanket of snow on mountains in certain parts of the world. This beautiful folk song when played with guitar chords introduces elements of harmony that you won't get when a song's melody is just sung. It provides another level of musical complexity for their ears.

Climbing climbing up the mountainside
Follow me and I will be your guide
Climbing climbing up the mountainside
And when we reach the top, we stop!

We've had a great time moving our body to the beat of this song (marching, tip-toeing, sliding, skipping, jumping). Also, each child had an opportunity to play my gathering drum while we sang!

We've talked a lot about loud and quiet in music. The kids LOVE the song "Loud and Quiet" by Caspar Babypants. We sang and patted our knees when it was loud and quietly slid our hands together when it was quiet. I have also been introducing the "Royal March of the Lion" (loud) and "The Cuckoo" (quiet) with tambourines and scarves. We've discussed how one is loud and one is quiet. We will continue to discuss dynamics and learn that the musical word for loud is forte and the musical word of quiet is piano.

We've all experienced a lot of snow in our community the last few weeks so we read and looked at "The Snowman", a beautiful wordless picture book about a boy that builds a snowman that comes to life. Some of you may know the short video that was created in the '80's animated by the same illustrator. The music set to this video is beautiful music composed by Howard Blake and was adapted and arranged by George Winston. I had this music quietly playing in the background while we looked and enjoyed this book.

We've also sung and played with a fun song written and performed by Laurie Berkner called "Oleanna". This simple and fun song quotes many familiar nursery rhymes that have stood the test of time and can help kids learn rhyme, rhythm, speaking, and singing skills.

As I mentioned above we've been marching and playing tambourines to "Royal March of the Lion" and playing fun peek-a-boo games with scarves during "The Cuckoo". These two pieces of music are from Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals". The "Carnival of the Animals" is a great collection of very accessible classical music for kids. Don't hesitate to have the entire collection play in your home while your kids play - it is so good for their brain development!

Since I have been bringing my guitar into class a little more we have talked a bit about this instrument: what it is made out of and how a person plays it. While coloring a page highlighting the "Hickory Dickory Dock" nursery rhyme, I had some classical guitar pieces playing in the background.