I will be mailing out the registrations to everyone late this week. If you make it before the early bird registration, September 1st, you will get a bonus CD "The Best of Kindermusik". Normally, that's a $15.00 CD. It has music you will all really like.

Friday classes have been changed a bit and the 2nd Sing & Sign class canceled due to printer error at Claremont Recreation. So if you want them, be sure to look at the changes.

WHY SHOULD YOU RE-ENROLL?
See the attached document for all kinds of information on the why's of how an organized music class has so many benefits for your child at all those ages and stages.

WHAT CLASSES WILL WE DO THIS YEAR? Well.....
The sweet babies (1-18 months) will be doing Feathers, which introduces you and your baby to a delightful range of songs, movement activities, object play, and vocal play relating to our feathered friends. The Australian Kookaburra, the African Ostrich, and many more birds from across the world are featured in songs, dances, and poems. Jazz and classical selections, a Yiddish folk song, a Muskogean melody, and Mother Goose rhymes set to music are just a few of the colorful and exciting pieces introduced in this curriculum.

Our busy Toddlers (16-42 months) will be doing Wiggles & Giggles, which is all about movement (wiggles!) and fun, funny words and sounds, and emotion (giggles!). There is a strong connection in this semester to the Our Time theme of bound away and back. We'll enjoy songs about humor, laughter, silly sounds and words, and movement as your child goes back and forth between being independent and wanting mommy and daddy. Everyday activities like bath time are highlighted in the delightful book Pete and PJ from the Kindermusik library. Included as part of the 'giggle', the instrument focus is on silly sounds, like those made by the Zig-Zag Blocks [think blue sandblocks, but with a ZigZag surface instead of sandpaper, so it does not come off] your child will receive in the At Home Materials.

The imaginative Preschoolers (3 - 5 years) will be doing in the See What I Saw unit of Imagine That! You'll enjoy the many wonders of a trip to Grasshopper Park. The See What I Saw music represents a variety of different cultures with songs from Ghana, Mexico, Greece, and Canada. We'll also enjoy some familiar folk tunes such as "A Tisket, A Tasket," "Shoo Fly," and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," and many new, original compositions. The At Home Materials invite you and your child to continue the fun and learning at home through the use of a Kindermusik Slide Whistle, a Grasshopper Park Play Set, two literature books, a Family Activity Book, and two CDs.

Your school aged child will begin a new level of learning with Semester 1 of Kindermusik for the Young Child, Year I (4.5 - 7 years). It opens the world to new and different ways of learning about music. Some of the favorite themes we'll explore include "Music is Everywhere," "Meet the Mallets," and "Discovering Melody and Mozart." The focus and content include beat versus no beat, percussion instruments, brass instruments, melodic direction, exploring the staff, and music notation. Semester 1 also introduces the Kindermusik Glockenspiel , a pre-keyboard instrument. There are Music At Home activities every week that you can participate in with your child to share the musical fun and learning.

Next semester (Spring) I'm looking forward to continuing to help your child develop his or her skills on the glockenspiel. We'll learn to learn to sing and play several more songs and learn more about music notation. In Sing and Celebrate, we develop an ensemble experience that culminates at the end of the semester. This is a very important step in your child's development-preparing him or her for future ensemble experiences such as band or orchestra or chorus. We'll experience new musical concepts such as Piano and Forte (loud and quiet), Crescendo and Decrescendo (getting louder and quieter), and Staccato and Legato (short and detached versus smoothly connected) - the children are going to have quite a large Italian vocabulary! We'll continue to become familiar with instruments of the orchestra, focusing on the stringed and woodwind instrument families, and tying this learning in with the favorite classic, Peter and the Wolf. We'll also meet Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven next semester. In addition to the Music at Home cards that extend all this discovery at home, you'll receive a CD with music selections from the semester. Let's listen to a couple of these.

In Year II (7 & 8 years), children are delighted to learn more about stringed instruments with the introduction to their very own Kindermusik Dulcimers in Semester 3 of Kindermusik for the Young Child. Other musical concepts taught include call and response, improvisation, meter, more music notation, and a touch of Tchaikovsky. Themes in Semester 3 include "Music of Appalachia," "Music of the Sea," and "Native American Music." The sounds of Semester 3 include these songs and others.

It's hard to imagine that next semester will be the last semester of Young Child. In Semester 4 (Spring), your child will continue to build on the learning of the last 3 semesters in many ways and end the semester well prepared for further musical study-maybe piano or cello lessons or chorus, for example. You'll notice an emphasis on music from around the world next semester-music from the Pacific Islands, Europe, Africa, and Central and South America. We'll also be learning about the life and music of J. S. Bach. Your child will continue to become a strong "ensemble musician" and also continue to develop his or her creativity by improvising musically. These two things will be combined in activities such as The Story of Don Gato. A highlight and major focus of the final semester is learning to play a wind instrument-the recorder. Maybe your child will want to play the flute or trumpet one day in band! Throughout these varied experiences, your child will continue to learn to read and write new musical symbols and also develop a greater understanding of musical form.

Sign & Sing: New sign language program combines songs and playtime (6 to 36 months). This research-proven program is based on methods shown to speed language development in hearing children, ease frustration, and enhance long-term learning abilities. A program created exclusively for Kindermusik by leading experts in sign language for hearing children: Signing Smart Inc. This new class combines songs and playful interaction to help children learn American Sign Language.

Instinctively your baby reaches up when she wants to be held, and you instinctively pick her up and dance and sing to soothe her. Sign & Sing helps you see these moments happening every day in your life and gives you the language to improve that communication, and strengthen the bond between you and your child. The 2, five-session classes gives parents the tools to learn more than 50 American Sign Language signs for children ages 6 months to 3 years. I will teach signs such as "help" "change" "bed" "where" and "thank you."

The class experience also includes a set of clip-on flashcards of American Sign Language that features photos of both a parent and a child making the signs. Also included is a booklet of activities for parents and their children to learn and play with at home, and a DVD glossary that features adults using sign language.

"One of the best ways to draw a child into learning sign language is through what they love: songs and play," says Carol Penney, Kindermusik's Manager of Curriculum Development

The oldest group classes that I offer are for ages 8 - 10. It opens the world to new and different ways of learning about music. Frequently private piano studest participate to aid in their musicianship and increase their abilities. Some of the favorite themes we'll explore are folk songs, games and dances that we learn so that we can play them soon. The focus and content include steady beat and rhythm patterns, melodic dictation, creation and patterning, exploring the Grand staff, musical notation, and 5 finger patterns, both Major & minor. There are Music At Home activities every week that you can participate in with your child to share the musical fun and learning. A student will need a piano or keyboard (minimum 76, full sized touch sensitive keys) and plan on practicing 20 minutes daily (existing piano students are looking at an extra 5 - 10 minutes).

I'm really looking forward to a great year with everyone. Come and have fun!

Warmly,
Karen Magruder
Beginnings in Music
(909) 987-7146

 

Introducing DRMY & Discovery Toys! Kindermusik - despite being in over 66 different countries, with over 1.5 million children participating - decided to bring the joy and benefits of music and creativity to even more children aged newborn to 14 years. I would like to invite you to a Show & Tell Party at my studio in Alta Loma on December 17th at 2 PM. Explore and purchase the best quality, award winning gifts for Christmas and Birthdays this year without fighting crowds!