Kindermusik

“Let’s start at the very beginning—a very good place to start…”

With the program, Kindermusik, begun in Europe, children start learning music as babies.

Director of UMHB Conservatory of Music Jonathan Gary said, “I’m pretty sure that the reason Kinder-musik has always been a part of the Conservatory curriculum is because it provides the musical foundation.”

The Conservatory has five Kin-dermusik classes on campus for newborns to 7 year olds. They also have nine Kindermusik Music Box programs, designed for daycare centers and preschools, with Headstart, funded by a Carpenter Foundation grant.

Music Box allows children who may never get a chance to learn about music to experience it on a new level.
When children finish the Kinder-musik classes, they can join the Conservatory classes, including choir, strings and others.

Gary said, “Children in the Conservatory program who went through all the levels of Kindermusik … were so much more advanced musically in their ability and understanding then those who come to us who have not been in the program.”

Some people think babies are too young, but instructors say it’s good.

“You really see how children that age delight in music,” Gary said. “They’re not singing yet, but getting to hear their mother sing, getting to play the instruments, you realize that it is something that is innate in each child to appreciate music.”

Little children are not ready to sit at a piano for extended periods.

“The most important reason to have your children involved in Kindermusik is no matter what age they are, between birth and 7, it allows them to experience music at their developmental stage.”

Classes last for 45 minutes. Parents receive a kit so children have repetition. Each kit includes a CD, a story book, a toy instrument and colorful posters correlating with the lessons, plus activity suggestions by e-mail. Studies show repetition is key.

Parents emphasize pitch by lifting babies in the air on high notes and lowering them on low notes. Rhythm starts with swaying and clapping.

Kindermusik Educator Danielle Smith, Village and Our Time instructor, said, “If you put movement to some kind of activity it automatically stimulates the brain.”

Kindermusik prompts physical, social, emotional, cognitive and verbal development.

Smith said her daughter, a program participant, has a better grasp of language skills. At two and a half she can carry on conversations and “pretend play”, imaginary settings.

Barbara Johnson and 15-month-old son, Ian, have been in the program two semesters.

She said, “I’ve seen a big social development in him.”

Johnson said the children learn how to share, play with others, music and different motor skills by parents’ and peers’ example.

Smith said, “The reason the parents are here in the class is because they are a model for their children, and they’re the best teacher because their child trusts them more than anybody else.”