I'm excited to be gearing up to start teaching my baby/toddler classes soon! I've been planning centers and activities and trying to figure out logistics/baby-proofing everything! One goal I have for these classes is to teach parents and families musical activities that can replicated at home with their little ones. I believe that the parents and family are the first and most important music teachers for a child. The more a child is exposed to musical skills, concepts, and activities in his home environment, higher his musical aptitude will be!
My toddler classes are a little different than other toddler music classes you see out there. Most toddler/preschool music classes have a teacher guide the parents and children through a fun group time that usually includes instruments, movement, singing, bonding, etc. My classes include a free exploration/discovery time in addition to the fun-filled group time! Some people may ask why this free exploration time is even necessary or worth the time. I want to share with you the Top 3 Reasons as to why I've included a free exploration time in my toddler classes. 1. Free exploration/discovery time is a time for you to play and bond with your child in musical, social, physical, and emotional ways without a teacher or program telling you what to do/how to do that bonding play together. My classes provide the structure for natural play and interaction to occur between parent and child in a comfy home environment. 2.The child is in charge of his own learning during discovery time. The child makes choices about what and how to play with. An adult helps guide the play, but does not instruct. This is called child-centered learning! Child-centered learning requires children to be active, responsible participants in their own learning. 3. The parent learns activities and gleans ideas to replicate at home. I want to teach the parents that they can easily have music interwoven in their daily lives with the things they already have, even if they, themselves, see themselves as 'not musical'. I hope you and your little loves will join me for some musical learning and fun! :) As soon as I get a class filled, we'll start! Click on the Registration Tab to register! -Ms. Maura
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We learn by doing! One of the things I learned from one of my music mentors in college is that music is a language. She helped me understand that we are all musical beings, we just have to have the right exposure, experiences, and people to help us find our own musical "voice". One lesson I dinstinctly remember in one of our classes, she talked about how a baby learns the word refrigerator. Parents don't sit a baby down with alphabet flashcards, spell out the word, sound out the word, and then show a picture. A baby learns the word refrigerator by hearing it and experiencing it in their everyday lives. In this video below, Victor Wooten talks about this very concept, relating it to music, as my college mentor taught me. I strive to become a teacher that helps students experience music, rather than be told how to play music. Just play! Experiment! Discover! As Victor Wooten said, "Music comes from the musician, not the instrument!" The instrument is the means by which to communicate the musical language that is within each of us!
Time to go play some music! -Ms. Maura |
Let's Play Music with Maura!Come have fun with Ms. Maura on a fun musical adventure! Let’s Play Music is a music theory course that emphasizes total musicianship through piano playing, singing, classical music, note reading, and ear training…and it’s accomplished through play! Archives
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The LPM Method |