Pictures!

We just finished our ZOO TRAIN unit and ADVENTURES AROUND THE WORLD!  Here are a few photo highlights.  To see all the photos I've taken click Here.  The username is kindermusikmm and the password is imagineartsstudio.

This summer my blog will feature 8 ways you can use musical play to enhance your child’s development! 

Singing:  The first instrument a child can master is his or her own voice.  It is through singing that children develop their sense of pitch.  Be careful having children sing songs with jazzed up accompaniments.  A young child’s untrained ear has a hard time knowing which, of the many pitches they are hearing, is the right pitch to sing.  Stick to simple folk songs with simple accompaniments for singing.  Singing acapella is wonderful.  Sing books to your children.  To help strengthen the coordination between the brain hemispheres have your children make up their own words to songs, try to vary the tempo and dynamics of your singing.  Help your child learn to color their language by conveying emotion through how they sing. Explore singing loud, soft, happy, sad, etc.  You can also help them build their musical vocabulary by using words like forte and pianissimo, rather than loud and soft, or legato and staccato in place of smooth and bumpy.  When they are angry or excited see if you can get them to sing their emotions to you.  You can try it too.  It's a great way to help diffuse anger or frustration and help improve communicate.  When my children were younger, I found that singing instructions or directions really made them stop and listen to what I was saying. 

This summer my blog will feature 8 ways you can use musical play to enhance your child’s development! 

Sound Discrimination:  Hearing and listening are not the same thing.  Active focused listening is a skill that benefits children in many ways.  A good listener follows instructions better, develops reading and math skills more easily, and has enhanced social understanding.  We can help our children learn to be better listeners by practicing listening.  Play games where children focus on all the sounds around them.  Instead of playing “I SPY” play I “HEAR”. You’ll be surprised at all the different sounds going on around you.  This is a great game for the car or standing in line at the grocery store.  Here is a link for sound bingo game that you can use at home to help your children learn to listen.  For your sound bingo game click HERE.

The Magic of Music Week 15 FOL

I've so enjoyed our Kindermusik semester and will miss all of you with my move to Katy, Texas. Continue to make music a daily part of your child's life. The processes of making music enhances your child's development. Musical play engages all the different learning centers your in child’s brain. As these center work together making music the the pathways and connections between these sections of the brain and the brain hemispheres are strengthened. Strong connections make it easier your child to think, reason, and learn. Making music also helps your child develop socially and emotionally. Music gives them another avenue to experience, explore, and express emotion. Making music, especially in a group, requires a child to learn self-control, cooperation, and other important social skills! But the greatest thing about musical play is it's fun and helps create wonderful childhood memories. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from my daughter when she returned from college one summer. She said to me, "Mom, as I talk to other people about there childhood I realize what a gift you gave me with all the singing and dancing we did at home. The way you used music in our home made my childhood magical." Keep your home full of the magic of music! (Thanks for the pictures Christina!)

Fun Music Site!

Just found a wonderful internet site. This site gives pictures of all the orchestra instruments and recordings of the sound each instrument makes. It would be fun to explore with your children. http://www.musictechteacher.com/quiz_help_instrument.htm

Week 14 FOL

Vocal Expression: For some children learning to perform in front of other people and express their ideas is challenging. When children engage in creative vocal play, like making animal sounds, car sounds, or sounds of movement, they are learning to be vocally expressive. This helps them gain confidence in their own voice and in front of people. Encourage your children to make appropriate sounds in their day to day activities. When pushing them in a swing make a vocal swooping and sliding sound going from high to low. This will help infants in their language acquisition. In our older classes we play games that allow children a chance to echo a phrase of a song helping them gain confidence in their singing ability.

Week 13 FOL

Musical Cues: In many of our circle dances children have to listen to the changing musical form to know what they are supposed to do. This helps children learn to listen and follow directions and to distinguish between the different patterns in a selection of music. These skills will also help them in reading and mathematics.