Minds On Music – The Kindermusik Blog

As you may know, ABC Music & Me is a Kindermusik curriculum that was developed to be used in preschools and group child care settings. We knew it was special, we knew it was good, and we knew it would allow us to reach out to so many more children—but I’m not sure any of us were quite prepared for the power of what was to come!

Every week, with joy, our “ABC team” receives calls and letters from parents and teachers who are quite simply bursting to tell us about the incredible impact ABC has had on their children and students, including so many who are at-risk or who have physical impairments or developmental delays. We never forget: music is magic, reaching out to every single child!

Here is a quick peek into our ABC Mail Bag. It’s the story of Ethan, from a letter from his mom:

My 4-year-old son, Ethan, has a mild form of autism and has been diagnosed with developmental delays, speech delays, and low muscle tone. It’s hard for him to run, bounce, and sometimes even walk. Even something as simple as sitting in circle time is hard. He struggles to sit and do schoolwork all day; he really needs a physical release.

We love ABC Music & Me because it’s so easy to use, it helps Ethan develop, and it lets us get involved at home. We listen to the CD at home and around town in the car, we have fun and get lots of ideas, and it gives us different ways to work on his speech, social, and OT issues, too. It’s so nice to get to use something at home that he truly enjoys!

In class, Ethan gets to play instruments and refine his motor skills. The scarf activities have been some of his favorites. At school, Ethan goes straight from music class to work on speech and reading, and his teachers tell me that he has been improving ever since ABC started! It’s such a confidence-builder for him to have his learning carry over to other parts of his day! He may not be able to do everything the rest of the students can do, but he CAN do this.

The program has been so good for Ethan. Music is a common thread for him. It helps him truly grasp what is going on. Some children may not be able to communicate their emotions, but through music, they can express themselves.
–Lisa Clifford, Ethan’s mom

For more information about the amazing impact Kindermusik’s ABC Music & Me curriculum is having in public school classrooms, visit www.abcmusicandme.com.

Kindermusik’s top program in the world, Studio 3 Music, is run by a talented and dynamic trio of educators that includes Analiisa Reichlin. If you read Minds on Music regularly you may recognize Analiisa’s name as she often contribute posts to this blog.

Analiisa will soon be adding another entry to her long string of accomplishments when she’s featured as a regular commentator on BAM Radio program called “Music and the Brain.” BAM Radio is the largest education radio network in the World. And BAM couldn’t have made a better selection – Analiisa is a wealth of knowledge on this topic.

Analiisa, and educators throughout the Kindermusik network, are recognized as experts in the field of early education and childhood development. We’re proud to be represented by each and everyone one of them.

To keep up with Analiisa and her contributions to BAM, she will be blogging about her experiences at the Studio 3 Music blog.

About BAM Radio Network
The BAM Radio Network is an online, education-focused, radio network for parents, teachers, administrators, advocates, journalists, legislators and all people interested in education-related topics. The site offers 20 channels of education programming available on demand and hosted by leading educators. The network is a joint venture between privately held New Hampshire-based Moving & Learning and Los Angeles-based Jackstreet Media Ventures LLC. The programming is produced by Emmy-winning broadcaster Errol St. Clair Smith and distributed through the Affiliate Nanocasting Network.

Even before your baby is born, she responds to the sound of your voice. Researchers have observed that a baby in the womb can respond to the sound of a mother’s voice as early as 5 months into pregnancy.

After your baby is born, you’ll naturally talk to him or her in a cooing, sing-song-y language formally called infant-directed talk (IDT) or child-directed speech (CDS). Some also refer to it as “motherese” or “parentese.” But we know it more commonly as baby talk.

Research shows that these are the first sounds that your baby will try to imitate with cooing and babbling. Studies have also shown that children can recognize and even imitate certain musical notes. So, mix up your language-building parentese with singing, talking, and rhyhming. This will help expose your baby to a variety of sounds to aid her singing and language development.

Kindermusik Tips:
• Your Baby: In the first year, your baby will be especially interested in listening to the sound of you singing. So, choose songs that you love, hold her close, and sing and dance together.
• Your Toddler: Simple songs that go back and forth between two notes are easiest for toddlers to repeat. Songs with this interval include, “Rain, Rain, Go Away” and “Star Light, Star Bright.”
• Your Preschooler: Expand your preschooler’s musical vocabulary by adding more notes with songs like, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Baa Baa, Black Sheep,” and “The Alphabet Song.”

Want to discover even more great techniques to use with your baby? Try a free Kindermusik Village class today. Village is for caretakers and babies from newborn to 18 months. Visit our Kindermusik Class Locator to find a class.

We all know music can be a powerful thing. But the beauty of music is that we learn new things about it every day. Research has really just begun to scratch the surface of how powerful music can be.

A great example of this is an article we recently came across in the Wall Street Journal. The article’s headline is “Music Helps Stroke Victims Communicate, Study Finds.” It’s pretty astounding stuff.

The article describes a small research study that “produced often dramatic results in 12 patients whose speech was impaired after a stroke to the left hemisphere of the brain.” This was accomplished using a method called melodic intonation therapy, which teaches the patients “to speak in a more ‘sing-songy’ way than a person with normal speech.” The audience at the American Association for the Advancement of Science greeted the results “with enthusiastic applause.” Further studies are currently being planned.

This could really change lives. And it’s just another example of the power of music. At Kindermusik, we firmly believe that music can change lives, including very young ones. The research proves this as well. You can learn more about our baby, toddler, and big kid music and movement classes.

There are certain to be even more fantastic discoveries about music in the coming years. We can’t wait!

 

Did you know that children learn concepts best in opposites? It’s why in your Kindermusik class, you’ll learn fast/slow, smooth/bumpy, high/low, among many other pairs. It’s why in school, addition and subtraction are taught back to back. It’s why when you begin to drive, your teacher makes sure you know where both the brake and the gas pedals are!

Learning opposites enhances vocabulary and word association, encourages sensory and motor development, develops discrimination and classification skills, and provides plenty of opportunity for fun games. The farther apart the opposite (black and white, hard and soft), the easier it is for children to master the concept. When you add an interactive approach, this learning becomes highly enjoyable.

Here’s a few “opposite” activities:

When doing these, be sure to label the opposite words. (It’s pretty easy to forget to do that, as we adults already know the vocabulary!)

· Try tasting some opposite things like sweet sugar and sour lemon.
· Sort round cans and square boxes when putting away the groceries.
· Music is full of opposites. Put on your favorite piece of Kindermusik (or music with pitch or tempo variation), and move high and low, or fast and slow.
Sing a song silly! (High and then low, or fast and then slow.)
· Move. Go and stop. Take big steps, and little steps. Go under, go over.
· Open and shut the doors. Or cupboards. Cause seriously, if they don’t learn both opening and shutting in a pair now, your fridge is going to constantly be left open when they are a bit older!
· Identify back or front. Left or right. Short and tall. Boy or girl. Young or old. Dirty or clean. Empty or full.
· Feel the objects around you. Hard or soft? Rough or smooth? Hot or cold?
· Read some opposite books, and talk about what you see. Here’s some favorites: “Dinosaur Roar,” by Paul and Henrietta Stickland. “Big Dog, Little Dog,” by P.D. Eastman. “The Foot Book,” by Dr. Seuss.

Even babies learn opposites. Talk to your baby as you go throughout the day, and emphasize the opposite words with your vocal inflection. “I’m going to pick you up.” “We are going down the stairs.”Really, the possibilities are endless. Just have fun with it!
-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose two oldest children are oil and water.

Special thanks to Analiisa Reichlin for allowing us to share such this post from the Studio 3 Music Blog. Analiisa is Director of Studio 3 Music in Seattle, Washington, the world’s largest Kindermusik program.