The song circle is always full of engaged care givers and eager little ones from infants on up to preschoolers. All of the children respond to Miss Bettina (our amazing teacher) differently. Some listen or observe while others sing, tap, or dance along. My little guy enjoys listening but when the music gets too loud or boisterous, he wanders away to listen from a distance.
I love that our instructor varies her methods to stimulate interest the whole time. She incorporates scarves, instruments, and other manipulative props to keep toes tappin'. I hoped that E would benefit from the class musically, but I didn't realize how much I would get out of it. I've learned many new ways to sing and make music with him. It's very empowering!
She also provides music CDs and a song book to keep singing at home and in the car. We use them daily!
The music book is excellent because I can follow my finger along with the notes while we sing - a great way for E to start to understand a music scale. The CD is great because the quality of music is tops. And between the songs, periodically, a voice will sing a short melody followed by a child's voice repeating it back.
Since the class, my husband and I have clapped out simple beats and E will clap them back. Pretty amazing! But even better, yesterday out of nowhere E starting saying "ba-ba ba, ba-ba-ba ba". I know that sounds like nothing, but he was SINGING in the same syllable as the voice on the CD! My baby can't say much yet but he was already SINGING!
Needless to say, we'll be continuing our music education with Music Together for many years to come. Thank you, Miss Bettina!
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| Our little guy brushes up on his tunes in the Music Together song book. Note all of our scarves and percussion instruments that we use when we sing. |
very cool!! We love Music Together, too! :)
ReplyDeleteWe ♥ Ms. Bettina. She is an awesome teacher and I attribute my daughter's love of music to her!
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