Happy Birthday J.S.Bach

Toccata e Fuga BWV 565-Karl Richter
My most advanced class of Kindermusik Young Child is studying about the largest of the instruments: The ORGAN. Here's a video clip of on in action playing a very famous piece of music for organ by J.S. Bach. (Who's birthday was 3/21) I hope you enjoy watching these fast fingers on the many keyboards! Watch closely and they will show you how he plays the very low notes with his feet! When this one is done please go to the very next post for a different listening experience.

Glockenspiel Days!

Yeah!!!! My Young Child I students have taken home their glockenspiel for the first time! The can play Dr. Foster, Toot-Toot Train is a Comin', and Ding dong Ding dong.

Hey! If you click on the Kindermusik Young Child Logo you can play a virtual Glockenpiel!

For the Young Child 3 students we've tried out a seasonal song. Joy to the World is built on a scale. So try this: begin on the white dot C and play down to the bottom of the glockenspiel singing "Joy to the world...." you can play the rest by ear! It is easy and it's great brain work for anyone! Have fun.

Next, can you figure out "Jingle Bells"?

What's good about Kindermusik for big kids?

I can't say enough about Kindermusik for 3 1/2 to 8 year olds (Kindermusik Imagine That! and Kindermusik Young Child). My goal is not to prepare them for school like the graph below suggests (click on it to read the study in detail). But my own goal is nurturing creativity, thinking, musicality, and joy. I do work them hard and I am so proud of my Kindermusik "graduates". They can read music...they can look at a sheet of music notes and hear the tune of it in their heads! They know key signatures, meter signatures, syncopation, ledger lines, musical form, they can read and play one rhythmic line while two or more contrasting lines are being played simultaneously, they know the instruments of the orchestra, ......They are amazing. Every year I am simply blown away. Area private teachers continue to tell me they love those Kindermusik graduates because they really fly through the first few books....And another thing: Parents of Kindermusik graduates really understand the imortance of their support and involvement in this musical journey. It really pays off and in more ways than one.Thank you for sharing your children with me. I love them.
Yvette

Recorder Time in Kindermusik!

Sorry about all this snow cancellations! I know those Kindermusik Young Child 4 children are so anxious to know thier first notes on the recorder! Here's something to keep you going till we meet again: It's a video of a grown up group of musicians that play the Recorder. The recorder ensemble is really a beautiful sound. I mentioned in class that the recorder was one of the main instruments of the day in the Baroque era. Harpsichords, alto recorders, violins, lutes (like a guitar) were what everyone played after dinner (or any time that we today would fill with television!). Alto was preferred because it's not quite so shrill and high sounding as the soprano. The soprano is the one taught in schools since it is smaller and better suited for student's small hands.

The drawback of the recorder was that there was only one dynamic level, only medium loud (mf). If you blow harder to play louder (f) you get a sharper pitch. Or softer for quiet (p), your pitch would be flat. So newer instruments like flutes and clarinets soon ranked higher in popularity and eventually more music was written for them than the recorder. But as the video interview mentioned that the recorder is STILL the most widely played instrument....since it is used in music classes worldwide. I bet there's a recorder in your closet that you could unearth and play with your Young Child student! What a great idea. Let me know if you need a fingering or two to get you going.

(I actually played the alto recorder for a selection on my senior recital. I played a Handel Sonata and it was accompanied by a harpsichord. How authentic! It was great fun. )

Tootles for now,
Yvette

Tips to Molly and the Kindermusik Educators of Canada Yahoo group.

Big Birthdays!

Important Birthdays! One is for my son, Ben who celebrated birthday 19 (Jan. 25th) away at college! this is his last "Teen" year. Wow, I tell you moms, don't blink it passes so fast. It's also Mozart's birthday, Jan. 27. Mozart was a very special performer and composer. Here you can listen to a very famous performer, Jascha Heifetz, play a "Rondo" by Mozart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVSgx7gKc_k We'll learn about rondos in the Big Kid class of Young Child 4. It's where the main theme keeps coming around and around. We map it out like this: ABACADA. I wonder if your little little ones will dance to this lively fun music.

Mozart, the stories tell us, had and amazing relationship with sound. He would hear one performance of a big piece of music and remember it so precisely that he could go home and write it all out. He also could not stand to be in the same building as a tuning orchestra!

I've met children who've seemed to have a high aptitude for music and yet cringe and hide when I turn the CD player on or cry and cover their ears when I bring in a trumpet or guitar to show the Young Child class. Maybe you know of someone who won't be in the same room as a vacuume cleaner or who refuses to use the automatic restrooms at the library. Maybe it's just a big crowd that sets off a tantrum in your toddler or the tags in their clothes!

These children struggle with sensory integration. It's hard for parents to understand what's going on and we're tempted to pack up and go home thinking that music classes just aren't something their child likes. Imagine if Mozart's parent's dropped his music lessons!

Sensory Integration issues can be for any of the senses and can be a challenge for adults as well as children. Here's a good book, readable and helpful: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060195207/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-5163147-4610521#reader-link

Your Kindermusik of Holland teachers are knowledgeable about Sensory Integration and want to work with you to make Kindermusik a wonderful experience for your child....

If you are interested in Sensory Integration let me know. I love this topic and I'd like to write more about it on this blog. Stay tuned.

For now I've got to go turn down the CD player because while Mozart is great, I just can't take the music too loud!

Peace,

Yvette

More about Mozart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart