ABC Music and Me

I am so excited to be offering the ABC Music and Me class next year! ABC Music and Me was chosen to receive the Teacher's choice award, based on childhood educator evaluations of the program! I have a demo class for the program next week and I am looking forward to that! I think the ABC program is a great way to introduce kids to music as well as aid in their overall development. In the ABC program, so many areas of child development are included. They will build confidence, coordination, vocal expression, careful listening, pre music notation skills, inhibitory control, social skills and creativity. The class is broken down into 2 age groups, 2 to 4 and 4 to 6. The older group will also begin pre-keyboard skills and staff notation.

My demo class next week will also include other instruments that I play since this is at a music camp. So I will play piano, trumpet and mandolin. Here is my program:

Hello, How do you do? This is the welcome song that we want to include in every class. I will play along on the mandolin.

Pop goes the weasel- We will do a circle dance to work on coordination and social skills as I play the mandolin.

Twinkle Twinkle- The children will do creative movement with scarves as I play an arrangement of Twinkle Twinkle on the piano.

Old McDonald- This is an old favorite with a new twist. We will sing the entire song but count silently on the EIEIO part. This works on inhibitory control, the ability to stop and start. This is an important ability to nurture for musical skills as well as life skills such as self control and coordination.

Hickety, pickety Buttercup- This vocal play works on their language skills as well as their social and mathematical skills. Each child waits eagerly for their turn, and then must visually recognize the number of fingers I hold up. Then they count as they play the triangle the specified number of times. So they are counting in 4 different ways, by seeing, by hearing, by speaking aloud the counts, and by physically playing the counts.

Excerpt from Carmen-- We will all pretend to be horses as we gallop along to the trumpet during an exciting excerpt from the opera Carmen. Exposure to fine classical music during the early years is not only fun, but children are absorbing the sounds around them during the early years. Don't you want to expose your child to the best music possible?

Instrument exploration-- Kids love to explore instruments! Not only does instrument exploration work on their fine motor skills, but it gives them the opportunity to work on cause and effect. They learn which instruments make high sounds, and which instruments make low sounds and well as which are loud and which are soft.

Here Comes a Blue Bird-- We are going to learn a song about a blue bird. The repetition in this song as well as the focus on a tri-tonal melody helps the children to begin to learn to sing in a range that is comfortable and natural for them. We will also play a game with this song!

De Colores-- We will listen to a recording of this Spanish song while moving a colorful parachute to the music. This type of movement not only encourages the children to move together, but to control their movements and coordinate them to the music.