Music, Language & Movement
Age 3-4 and Age 5-7
Sing, Play & Move
40-minute class
Each class begins in a circle, with parent/caregiver and child sitting on their own carpet dot. We sing the review and new songs together, with live ukulele, guitar, violin, viola, or piano accompaniment. English is the primary language, but each week also includes one song in Spanish, French, German, and Mandarin to allow the children to develop their native-sounding accent and instinct for the underlying syntax. One song per week is also sung in solfege, or fixed-do, in order to allow the students to begin to develop perfect pitch. One song per week will also be focused on numbers, whether in English or Foreign Language. Hand motions, clapping, and swaying to the music are done sitting, while walking, marching, and jumping are done standing. Group movement and movement games are also done to music.
​
Children attend class with a parent or caregiver. Class is limited to a maximum of 12 students.
Classes are held in Camillus and Manlius, NY.
For further details or to enroll, please call or email.
248-252-1050
Creating Sound
Instrumental
After singing comes the instrumental portion of the class, where students learn instruments in the following order, over the course of the semester:
​
Bongo: high/low, loud/soft, downbeat/upbeat, several Latin rhythms learned.
Egg Shaker: heavy/light beats, coordination, tempo, how to accompany songs.
Piano: Find C and F, name all notes, match pitch with voice, high/low, loud/soft, scales up/down
Lap Harp: associate string length with pitch, fun to pluck melodies of each song we have sung.
Ukulele: Learn I, IV, and V chords, strumming techniques. Accompany our songs.
Tin Whistle: melodic
Violin: posture, bow hold, arm rhythms, the four strings E A D G.
​
Winding Down
Listening/Experience
The final portion of class is a short musical story using imagination. For example, pretending to be fish while listening to Saint-Saëns' Aquarium movement from Carnival of the Animals. Or walking between different paintings from Rimsky-Korsokov's Pictures at an Exhibition. Or drawing/scribbling to match the colors and lines of a Mozart piano sonata.
Instructor
Janice LaMarre
"My goal in teaching this class is to help students integrate and embody music and language skills in a social learning environment. Learning solfège and foreign languages comes easily to children and provides a foundation for further study. Exposure to each type of instrument (hit, plucked, bowed, strummed, blown) allows children to experience how sound and pitch differences are created, leading to developing an interest for future study.
​
This class gives optional 'homework' and supporting materials for parents to do daily listening at home. Students may master the material at a variety of levels and according to their ability.
​
When attending Kindermusik with my own children, I enjoyed the predictable routine and simple interactions for the children. With Music Together the fun aspect of the group songs, with live guitar was appealing. This class includes those elements, but is deeper in content. Young children are capable of learning the solfège, 4 languages, and 6 instruments of this class by simply absorbing it through daily listening and brief, fun, daily review. Although daily review is not required, it is included for those parents looking to support their children's learning beyond the scope of an ordinary music and movement class."
248-252-1050
