Sign and Sing Weeks 2 and 3

Last week in Sign and Sing we worked on different attention getting strategies for presenting the signs. We used interesting objects like musical balls to draw their attention to the sign for ball. We sang a silly song and signed about their reactions to the song. Another strategy we used was bringing the object about which you are signing to your face so that the child's line of vision will follow the object. This draws attention to the object so that you can then demonstrate the sign.

This week, we introduced an Adaptation Strategy. This occurs when you move a toy next to your face so your child can see you making the sign while you hold the toy. Watch your baby’s eyes as she looks back and forth from the object to you. You have created the ideal environment for learning.

Keep working with your home materials and we will see you next week!

ABC Music and Me fall classes

ABC Music and Me will continue this fall on Wednesdays with Ms. Erika. The 4 to 6 year old class provides an introduction to the piano and will study major composers. This is the perfect class for young homeschoolers and preschoolers to learn more about music and get ready for piano or violin. It is highly recommended that students younger than 6 take this class BEFORE beginning violin. The home materials for this unit includes a pan flute and castanets.

Sing a Story - Mozart and math? With exposure to singing and music notation, your child gets more experience with abstract symbols. In class, we’ll explore how abstract thoughts are shared and communicated with symbols, such as a musical note. This same abstract thinking process helps your child learn letters of the alphabet and numbers. You can reinforce these learning concepts at home with your Student Kit as you share your understanding of music with each other.


Jumping Beans - The Jumping Beans unit jumps into the rhythms of Latin America! Children will listen to a variety of Latin music styles, play instruments, dance, and investigate the concept of a musical rest. They will move and stop their bodies, explore expressive movement, sing some Spanish words and phrases, and even jump like jumping beans. ¡Olé!


All Keyed Up - The All Keyed Up unit immerses children in the magic of keyboards of all kinds. They will learn about the composer J.S. Bach, listen to and learn about pianos, organs, synthesizers, and harpsichords, and investigate the similarities and differences between these related instruments. While they’re at it, they’ll explore staccato and legato sounds: moving and playing instruments, listening to music selections, and learning graphic notation for these concepts. It’s no wonder this unit has preschoolers All Keyed Up!

Open House

August 5 fom 5:30 to 7:00 pm will be our back to school open house at the Cherubs Clubhouse. Come meet the Imaginations Music Studio and learn more about the classes and lessons we have to offer for kids aged 0 to adult.

We will have short demonstrations of several of Kindermusik, piano and violin so that you can make the best choice for your child this fall. We will be taking fall registrations that night as well. Many of our classes are small in size to allow a low student to teacher ratio so they will fill up fast. Be sure to register in advance! Call 437-3478 if you have any questions about the classes.

Return to the Imaginations Music website

What do I need for violin classes?

Having a quality instrument is essential to your child's success in any field. A quality child's violin can cost only $60 to $100. They can also be rented. Your child will need a violin in a size for their little hands to play. This means that granddaddy's old full sized fiddle in the attic will not do for your little one. However, there are a lot of affordable options for violins.

Ms. Rita has listed some websites to help you find a violin for your child. Music Basics and violins.com. There are several music stores around Birmingham that are also worth visiting and pricing. The violins must be wooden, and NOT plastic. Before purchasing a violin, please consult with Ms. Rita at rita@imaginationsmusic.com.

Sign and Sing Class 1

Yesterday, we talked about ways to bring signs into your child's world during class as well as during playtime after class. You do not need to know every sign there is, or to use signs constantly for this to be effective. Start by choosing some of the signs from class last night that your child might be most interested in. The goal of this week is to get started signing and become comfortable signing yourself. The "see a lot, do a lot" signs are things that happen often during the day likebed, eat, more, finish, what, help and milk. There are plenty of opporunities thoughout the day to use these signs. The other type of signs which are an important part of the "Signing Smart" strategy are the "highly motivating signs." These are things that your child is very interesting in or might be very motivated to learn to sign. This may be different for each child. The signs we used last night from this category would bny, mom, dad, music, ball, bear, as well as a few more.

1. The first step is learning how to use the signs so that your children see them. It doesn't help to do the sign when you child isn't looking at you! When they are attentive to you, interested in something and making eye contact with you, this is the perfect time to sign.
2, the Second step is recognizing your child's early attempts at signing. If you are feeding your baby and they touch their hands together as if attempting to sign "more" then respond by giving them more of whatever they were eating! Some early attempts at signing may be accident, but if you respond to them, the child will learn that by speaking with their hands, they got what they needed. Also notice if your child is responding to the signs YOU give. If you sign and ask "more?" and you child's face lights up this is progress as well! Remember that it does sometimes take a long time for those first signs to appear. Don't be discouraged if you don't see any signals that your child is attempting to sign right away. Sometimes we cannot see the result of what we do with our babies for a long time. But these early experiences become aborbed into who they are. The time you spend communicating verbally and by signing with your baby will not go unrewarded.

Violin offered at Cherubs Clubhouse!

We are very excited to be opening up violin classes and private lessons at the Cherubs Clubhouse on Thursday afternoons! Both piano classes and violin classes will be taught in separate rooms at the Cherubs Clubhouse on Thursday starting in September.

Homeschool violin classes will begin at 2:00. Come study with fellow homeschoolers and play together after class. Afterschool violin will begin after 3:00 Classes will be scheduled according to age and ability of the children who sign up. Children must be at least 6 years old to participate in this program. Children younger than 6 are encouraged to begin with Kindermusik and/or piano to help prepare for violin.

Classes will start at $50.00 per month per child plus materials. Space is very limited in our classes in order to provide the children with one on one instruction. An appropriately sized violin is required by each student to practice. Email imaginationsmusic@bellsouth.net for more info.

Meet our studio!

We are so happy to be bringing music to so many more children this fall!!! We now have three teachers working with the Imaginations Music Studio teaching classes at the Cherubs Clubhouse and private lessons at various locations.

Our newest teacher, Rita Yates will be offering violin classes on Thursday afternoons at the Cherubs Clubhouse alongside the piano classes that we will also be offering at that time. She also teaches clarinet lessons to all ages and levels. We are so excited to be offering violin and clarinet!

Erika Stewart will be teaching Wednesday morning Kindermusik classes at the Cherubs Clubhouse. Her first session began today and we had a great crowd. I will post pictures later. She will also be teaching private piano lessons in the 280 area. She has experience working with children who have special needs and teaching the Sign and Sing curriculum. We are excited to have her join us.

Visit imaginationsmusic.com for more information.

I will be teaching private piano at Bruno Montessori and at my Inverness studio. I am happy to say that my private lesson studio is full for the fall! I still have some openings for beginners in my group classes at the Cherubs Clubhouse on Thursdays. The Thursday piano schedule in the fall will continue to be very close to our spring schedule. I will also be teaching Kindermusik Family Time on Thursday mornings at the Cherubs Clubhouse.

We have 2 more summer piano classes if you would like to come try out a class before signing upo for fall. They will be held July 22 and July 29. Visit my piano studio website for a schedule and registration

ABC Music and Me begins on Thursday at 9:30

ABC Music & Me supports the early childhood standards and requirements for “high quality programs” as defined by the National Institute for Early Education and aligns with pre-K national and state standards. ABC Music & Me has won the Teacher's Choice Award and was a finalist for the AEP Golden Lamp Award.

Ms. Erika will be teaching our ABC class and is very excited about it. If you are looking for something to do over the summer, wanting to try a Kindermusik "sampler," or if you are one of our continuing students from the spring, I think you will enjoy ABC.

The class will run for one month and is priced at $55. The tuition price includes materials. The home materials are a book, a CD of all the songs from class and rhythm sticks. Just ask one of our continuing students what a difference using the home materials makes!

Those enrolled in the summer term will be given opportunity for fall class preference and an early bird discount for fall registration.

Interested in music but working full time? Click here to help us bring our program to your school!

Sneak peek into the Kindermusik program...

Demo Class

Today we had one of the biggest demo classes that we have had so far!! Thanks to everyone who came out this morning!! If you missed the class, we will still be enrolling for summer classes through next Thursday. Click here to register for classes. This summer we are offering Sign and Sing for kids 0 to 18 months as well as ABC Music and Me for kids 2 to 4 years over the summer. There are only 10 spots per class, so please register online to be sure that you will have a spot. Today in our classes we saw a variety of learning styles. Some children sat quietly and observed the other children and parents. Some moved around the room absorbing the sounds around them, watching other children and learning by moving. Others actively participated in the class and were always excited about each new activity. Each learning style is unique and respected in the Kindermusik classroom. Even in today's demo class, we saw some shy students begin to open up as the classes progressed. By starting each class out with the same welcome song each week, those students who tend to always be on the move during class begin to settle in and learn the routine. One activity that helps the kids to learn how to respond in the classroom setting was the inhibitory control activity we did in the first class. We played our egg shakers along with the song and stopped whenever the song stopped. Learning to follow aural and visual cues through these types of activities helps to prepare children for preschool and Kindergarten. The movement activities that we did in both classes allow the children to explore different types of movement, change their perspective of the classroom, and learn to control their bodies to follow the directions. Each class includes movement activities with scarves, marching, circle dances, puppets, hoops or even a parachute. Older children love to be given the freedom to move on their own and the younger children love to be held close by their caregivers as they experience the sensations that movement provides. When your child is moving along with music, their brains light up with stimulation. The simple instruments used in classes are developmentally designed to help the child to be successful at their first attempts at music. For most of the instruments we use, there is no wrong way to play them. This leaves the child with a world of kinesthetic and aural exploration. The development of a steady beat by using these instruments help the child with physical coordination, learning to cut with scissors, bouncing a ball, and even with learning to walk fluidly. Developing a steady beat is essential to learning to play any instrument or learning to sing. Kindermusik provides a strong foundation for any future formal music study, develops school readiness skills, and prepares the child for other future interests as well.

Welcome Erika Stewart!

The Imaginations Music Studio would like to welcome our new teacher, Erika Stewart! Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Erika has had a lifelong passion for music, beginning piano studies at the age of 5 and continuing for another 20 years. Those years included an emphasis on classical as well as sacred music, piano accompaniment for vocalists, congregational singing, and children's music programs. Erika's educational background is a B.S. degree in Biblical Studies through Moody Bible Institute. Since Erika has always loved children, she has 15 years experience of working with children in various settings, including piano teaching and has found great joy in influencing each individual life. As a licensed Kindermusik educator, Erika has found Kindermusik to be a perfect way to teach the fundamentals of music as well as impart a love for music to children. Erika has experience teaching several parts of the Kindermusik curriculum as well as the Sign and Sing class. She has also worked with children who have special needs. We are looking forward to what Erika can add to our program! Join us for a free demo, July 8 at 9:30 and at 10:00 to meet Erika!