Grownups Acting Silly and Having Fun in Class!

Is it okay for the grownups to sing out of tune, dance very silly, or have more fun than their child in class?   Answer:  YES!!

Have you ever been to a Music Together class where all the big people are singing and dancing and acting silly?  You might notice that the children are super engaged when this happens.  It's like MAGIC!!

When I first starting teaching this program many years ago, I was a bit intimidated by having grownups in class.  I had been teaching music in the grade school setting for over a decade (without grownups) with ease, grace and LOTS of silliness!  The idea of doing this in front of the mommies and daddies, at first, seemed terrifying.  What if they thought I was an idiot?  What if they judged me?  Okay, now I know it doesn't matter and it's gotten so much easier.  It helps to realize how very important it is for us to model FUN music-making for our children!   The more you do it; the easier it gets, REALLY!!

Yesterday, I had a lovely conversation with a family in our program that LOVES her current class.  All the grownups are fully engaged in the music, sing loudly, and get very silly.  She shared that she had attended make-up classes that didn't have this same energy or focus . . . the teacher was still super fun, the music was still awesome Music Together music, but she noticed that the big people in class seemed to not be as into the singing, dancing and acting silly.  I think that this can be super scary for many grownups!!  However, the more you do it, the easier it gets, REALLY!

Why is this so crucial to a child's musical development?  Children get their disposition doing things (like making music, cooking, gardening) by seeing their favorite adults doing these activities.  I've hear people say, "if you want to raise a child who like to read, make sure they see you reading."  Music Together teachers say, "if you want to raise a musical child, make sure they see you making music!"

Have fun, sing loud, and be silly!  
♥  Kathy & Music Together in Phoenix

Sweet Stories from Class - Laila

We just finished our Summer classes.  What a hoot this summer was.; lots of everyone's VERY favorite songs, Trot Ol' Joe, Su La Li, and John, the Rabbit!   Teacher Laila was telling me this amazing story from a mom in one of her classes, and I said, "you HAVE to write that down". 

"I had a mommy come up to me in tears in class one day because her very young daughter was singing a song from one of our CDs. She had a video of this little sweetie singing in the middle of the mall, belting out the song like it was her job. What I found so incredibly touching about this is this mother simply couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t a moment she expected, and it took her by complete surprise. You see, this mommy, who is very enthusiastic and fun in class, still has a hard time singing without feeling uncomfortable. For her to hear her daughter singing without shame and enjoying herself was a feeling she hasn’t yet been able to have herself. Have you ever seen a parent experience their child doing something they have never done? It’s amazing. And although this mommy still hasn’t completely found her voice yet, I can see her having more and more fun in class every week."

Music can be so powerful in a child's life!  Thanks for sharing this story from class, Laila!!

Making Music with My Family

Talk to any Music Together teacher and they will surely say . . . "I have the BEST job in the world!"  Getting to work with families of young children is amazingly rewarding, meaningful, and FUN.  We always share about the importance of making music with your family at home; not just putting on the CDs, but actually MAKING the music yourself. I truly believe this is great for bonding and community and fun!

Even though I really think this is important and good, I've noticed as my children have gotten older making music with them is not as easy.  I recall my daughters as adolescents would often not appreciate family singing or my attempts to get them to join in, even just around the house or in the car, but especially not dancing in the almond butter isle at Trader Joes when a Cure song would come on.  My dog loves singing with me and the chickens definitely tolerate it, my husband is a great sport at going swing dancing, but active music making with the children has been more difficult. 

Now, I have teenagers!  I also have the Music Together bumper magnet that says, "My Family Makes Music Together"; and it's felt like little bit of truth-stretching until recently (even though pets are considered part of our family).  After returning home from a long weekend to New Orleans with this daughter and seeing tremendous amounts of wonderful live music, including an all-girl momma-daughter-grandma jam band, I thought it would be fun to make a band with my friends and daughter.
 
Spiderbaby, our band, started practicing last fall with my good girlfriend, her daughter, my daughter and me; it's been a fun adventure with some ups and downs, and learning to navigate feelings, attitudes, song choices and such.  It was mostly for fun, playing our favorite Toasters/Specials/Cake/Patsy Cline/Johnny Cash songs, but this Friday we had the most crazy-good opportunity to play a real gig (fund raiser for Coalition Against Domestic Violence) at Rips.  It has mostly felt satisfying to make music that I really adore for my own personal enjoyment, but it also clear any guilt about that my bumper-magnet on my car being for REAL:  "My Family Makes Music Together" (and not just the ones with four legs or feathers)!

♪  Kathy

Music Together Teachers ROCK!

This weekend, we hosting a Music Together LLC Teacher Training at our Kids.Play.Music. studio.  I learned SO much!

The  three day training was lead by an amazing clinician (and now friend) from Las Vegas, Melanie Ron.  I was fortunate to get to sit in on much of the training of newbie teachers who had come from all over the country to immerse themselves in the cutting edge principles of early childhood music & movement:  how to develop a song, understanding music development in birth to age 5, how to support parents in nurturing musical growth, practicing leading a group and how to support a new generation of musically competent children.

We also had a few seasoned teachers coming back for "refeshers"!  They were sitting in on the training after having taught the Music Together curriculum and delving deeper.  

I was so inspired and amazed at the breadth, thought, research, and support that goes into teaching Music Together.  New teachers take away a whole new paradigm for looking at young children & music, but even seasoned center directors get to take away a PLETHORA of knowledge.  It was inspiring to get to listen to this very familiar information in a new way, but it was also affirming to be part of an organization with such love and integrity.

One of the new things that I learned was in regards to  "EXECUTIVE FUNCTION.  I learned that our Music Together classes support a child's pre-frontal cortex which is in charge of a person's executive functions.  This is SO exciting because it involves planning, attention, mental flexibility;  all of which leads to a better chance a success in school.

I am excited for all the new creative teachers that I met that are going out to do this awesome (and fun) work, and I am really excited to go teach this week!

Five FUN Reasons to Join Us for Summer!

We are so excited about our summer classes starting today at Music Together in Phoenix.  Summer is always the "Best Of...the Nine Collections" and this summer has some of my very favorite songs; "Trot Ol' Joe",  "Maria Isabel", and "She Sells Sea Shells"!!

Here a FIVE FUN reasons to join us making beautiful music this summer:

1.  Music making is a whole-brain experience that supports the growth and development of a child's pre-frontal cortex which is in charge of the brain's executive functions (planning, problem solving, attention, mental flexibility, etc).   
2. Families get a choice of joining for all 8 weeks of summer fun, or choosing a flexible 6 week option and informing us of the 2 weeks they will not be attending!   If you miss a class, two make ups will be provided.
3. The first five years of a child's life are crucial for their music development; this is the easiest time for children to gain basic music competence (singing tunefully and keeping accurate rhythm).
4. 45 minutes of joyful music making with your child EACH and every week!
5. It's INDOORS with air conditioning!!!

We hope you can join us!
Kathy Rowe
Music Together in Phoenix

Ridin' In the Car video from around the world (from Music Together, LLC)

Play! Play! Play!

"Why does my child sit in my lap all through class but as soon as we get home, she does EVERYTHING:  sings the songs, dances the dances, uses the motions, pretends to be the teacher, makes our Tupperware into play-along instruments?"  As the director of our Music Together in Phoenix, I get to hear lots of great questions and  comments about coming to class, however this is the MOST frequently shared observation!   Parents sometimes feel frustrated if their child is not "doing it" during class time.  All of the teachers wisely know and share that this is "very, very normal and please, please keep singing". 

It's very natural for some children to take in information they've absorbed in class and then "practice", play and experiment with it privately in the comforts of their own home.  Play is important for a child's learning because it is the primary method young children use to grow physically, emotionally, cognitively, socially and musically.  It is not always about having fun; it can be very intense!

When children play with music, they are developing the complex skill of singing in tune and accurately express rhythm in their bodies.  We recommend giving young children ample opportunities to play freely on their own and with you, the important grown up their lives.  In Music Together, we love the play-along time when instruments are free chosen and children get to experiment and "play" with all the musical experiences from the previous 9 songs.

I've recently been reading about how important play is for BIG people, as well!   I had just read a fascinating article from the "World of Psychology" on the importance of play for grown ups:  http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/11/15/the-importance-of-play-for-adults/ and remembered how crazy FUN it was to get to play with our fellow Music Together in Phoenix teachers last weekend at the Children's Museum's Grown Up Play-date PROM!  I am including a few pictures to share how much total fun it was.

In our classes, we often will include a song that is intended for adult play, ie. a "tapping on your neighbor in the tight-circle" song that gets impossibly fast or passing eggs-changing directions randomly to create fun chaos.  I LOVE to see the children's faces watching their parents PLAY; I think this kind of role-modeling is great for children.  While my children are past this early stage now, I did involve my 16 year old daughter in hair-do/tacky-prom outfit preparations and was super amused when she gave me back....."make good choices, MOM" that I always tell her as my cute date (husband) and I were heading out the door.

We ♥ play!!

Rhythm and Movement

Have you ever noticed how young children move to music?  Young babies will stretch out their arms or wiggle their legs; sitting babies will often rock their little torsos, toddlers move their little feet and start tapping/clapping, and preschoolers start putting the whole thing together sometimes showing accurate rhythm through dancing and moving around the room!  It's a beautiful progression and the key is MOVEMENT!

Young children need movement to growth their rhythmic development!  At Music Together in Phoenix, we often notice that children move freely outside the circle.  As long as safety is not an issue (and it's not chasing), we celebrate this movement.  Last week, I noticed three year old Jensen moving his "train" to the beat while we were singing a song about a donkey, "Tinagalayo".  It was exciting to see little feet matching the micro beat and adjusting to our nuances in the song.  If we would have forced this little one to sit and "do it right", I believe that his learning would have stopped (as well as not being developmentally appropriate).  He was showing his rhythmic response to the song!

At home, it's fun to provide a plethora of different outlets to support a young child's rhythm development by singing, dancing and movement to recorded music.  An infant being danced with in Mommy or Daddy's arms, benefits by the kinesthetic experience of feeling the grownup's rhythm and beat.  In class, we rock our bodies back and forth, tap legs, clap hands, and dance to the beat.  Children respond to adults modeling the beat for them and respond from having this rhythm visible - it's as though they can "read" it in our bodies.  So, when you are making up songs in the car, putting on fun music for play time, enjoying a quiet lullaby at bedtime, remember to move your body!

 

Hippety, Happety, Hoppety!

Hip, Hip, Hip, Hippety (2 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Hap, Hap, Hap, Happety (2 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Hop, Hop, Hop, Hoppety (2 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Hippety, Happety, Hoppety (3 + 3 + 3)
CLAP, CLAP!  (2 + 2))

Did you know this fun-awesome chant we're using for Spring, uses the same asymmetric meter from Dave Brubeck's  "Blue Rondo Ala Turk"?    According to a recent story I heard at my daughter's jazz concert, Dave Brubeck was in Turkey listening to street musicians.  After asking about the origin of this unusual music, the street musicians said, "this rhythm is to us, what blues is to you."  Thus, the name "Blue Rondo Ala Turk"!   

This might seem like a super complex activity for children under age 5, right?  Actually, children's brains are open to learning lots of complex rhythms and meters.  The first five years of a child's live, they are absorbing all that is in their environment.  In class this week, we played with this fun and invigorating HIPPETY, HAPPETY, HOPPETY asymmetric meter chant while bouncing the babies, toddlers and preschoolers on our laps, including some "tickle me" verses and "hugging me" verses as well!  Play can be VERY complex work, but it's always fun.

Watch Dave Brubeck's quartet playing the "Blue Rondo..." song and see if you can hear similar patterns!

Hard Wired for Music

 

We are hard wired from birth for many things: language, physical development, social-emotional skills and . . . music.

 

Children are born music makers!  Children are born to sing and move; infants even as young as a few months of age can show rhythmic and tonal responses to music. Babies will often coo or sound on the resting tone of a song (usually the last note).  Toddlers can bounce to the beat and preschool age children can learn entire songs.  If this is so, why do we have such a large amount of adults who do not feel comfortable singing “Happy Birthday” or dancing in public?  The answer lies in a child’s early childhood years.

Little musicians need to be musically nurtured to develop their potential.

It is true that a child who is exposed to many languages will gain the phonemes of the many languages and conversely, a child who is not given adequate verbal stimulation will grow up with a limited vocabulary.  Similarly, to develop musically, a child needs to be in an environment with a wide variety of musical experiences.  The easiest and most natural time for a child to gain their basic music competence is between birth and age five.  During these years, the window for developing accurate rhythm and singing in-tune is wide open.  If a child’s musical atmosphere in their early years is filled with rich music experiences, a child will be fortunate to grow up with all the music potential they are born with! 

Children get their disposition for being a music-maker from their parents.

How do I nurture this inborn music in my child?  Many parents are worried that they themselves are not musical and might destroy their little one’s possibilities of being a confident music maker.  Actually the very opposite is true.  A child gets his disposition to be a music maker by seeing the grown ups in his life joyously make music.  If your child sees you having a blast singing and cutting up the rug, they will see it is safe and they may even imitate you.  Parents are the best music models for their children!

Ways to nurture your child musically.

There are many easy ways to incorporate music into your child’s life:

·        Sing, sing, sing!  Sing in the car with the radio, make up songs (or change the words to familiar songs) about whatever you are doing with your little one, changing diaper, going to the store, eating some broccoli.  Lullaby time can be the most precious time, singing your child off to sleep with love. 

·        Dance, dance, dance!  Put on your favorite dance music and move your bodies. It’s fun to invite friends over and dance together.  While playing a CD in the car is a good, your child is buckled in tight and can’t get the large movement experience that is important for rhythm development.

·        Play, play, play!  Get out the pots and pans and have a jam session to some fun and inspiring music that you enjoy.  Wooden spoons on plastic bowls and shakers of dried beans in a sealed up water bottle can make some interesting sounds for children experiment with.  Children benefit by having difference sensory experiences of tapping, shaking and scraping.

 
If you find yourself wishing for more ways to play with your child with music, join one of the great early-childhood music programs in town.  Children learn best when they are in a relaxed atmosphere that is non-performance oriented, developmentally appropriate and lots of fun for both the children and the adults. 
 
Active music making is a whole brain experience.  It helps children regulate their emotions; it can soothe the soul and sometimes bring peace to an over-cranky toddler.  Lastly, music is a meaningful way to bond with your child.  Have fun, be silly and thanks for reading our blog!

by Kathy Rowe, Music Together in Phoenix
http://www.MusicTogetherInPhx.com

Singing & Dancing Children

The fun, yet frenzied, Monday Night Music Together class: it's a little bit on the smaller side for our typical classes (5 children and with one make up family), but last night's benefit was getting to really see (and hear) the children's music responses!

We have a family "making up" and coming to class for almost the first time.  Mom and Dad marvels at how pre-walking, baby Cale immediately started rocking his little torso with our "Hello Song" while he squealed with happy sounds.  Cale's strong rhythmic response did not stop until the very end of class.  The whole class took notice and we sang a verse on his happy yowl sound - Cale smiling as if to say, "yes, that's MINE!"

A set of adorable soon-to-be 4 year old twin brothers (also with both Mom and Dad) immediately start to moving parts of their bodies to the beat.  J.J. leads the class with his pointer finger as we warm up with "whooo" sounds going higher and higher and then quick down to the ground.  Colton is sitting really close to mom; he's smiling but says "no thanks"; we follow Dad's finger "whew, whew, whew" up and down.

Jack and his Mom are holding hands rocking side to side like a HUGE bell for the "Ding Dong" song; Jack taking the lead!  We switch to a "row boat" motion, still with parents/children holding hands.  I hear mommy voices, daddy voices AND children's voices - it's so awesome! 

Noah is smiling big when it's time to going on our pony rides and bounce on the grownup's laps!  He has wandered across the circle and so I get to take a turn being Noah's "pony" for "Ride O"!  At the end of the song, he initiates the next verse by bouncing his little bottom.  It's time for fast running horses! 

Siobhan, the only 3 year old with a vocabulary of a middle adolescent, is coming in to class and quickly joins in!   The whole group moves up to dancing as we transition into our "Betty Martin" tiptoe song.  Siobhan picks jumping for the next verse!  Mom & Dad all follow along as we all dance & sing, "Hey Siobhan, Jumping, Jumping....".  She is the one that explains the concept of sharing to her newest best-friend, Jack.

Our weekly 45 minutes of JOYFUL family music is most definitely not about children performing; nor do we ever worry about the children "getting it right".  The awesome grownups in class model for their little ones, and typically the babies babble, the toddlers toddle, preschoolers practice and play along.  It's always empowering to acknowledge the musical behaviours we see in class and celebrate these milestones with the families!   We agree that ALL CHILDREN ARE MUSICAL!