Welcome to Summer Music Together

Welcome to everyone who is participating in Summer Music Together classes.

Last week we briefly discussed that everyone is born musical.  Almost everyone is born doing two things, kicking and screaming.  Very quickly in life those sounds and movements begin to entrain, or match, the sounds and movements the adults and siblings the baby is closest to.  Small babies will coo around pitches that match the inflection in an adults voice.  Their bodily movements go from being sporadic to matching what others are doing.  The more parents, caregivers, siblings, teachers, and other people a child is close to interact with that child musically their more musical the child will become.
In short, by simply modeling musical behaviors you want your child to do, such as singing and dancing, you are helping him/her become a musical person.  It's that easy!

For our first week of classes we did some simple improvisation, making up lyrics on the spot, by having you sing what your child was wearing with the song "Mary Wore Her Red Dress."  We sang and recognized animals in Spanish with "Vengan A Ver."  When we played sticks along with the song "Stick Tune" we audiated (kept the beat going in our brain while no music was present) and played sticks in different ways and to different beats (microbeat, macrobeat and on the steady beat).

The free dance we did was by a Celtic/Irish group from Anderson, SC called Emerald Road.  They have two CD's out that you can check out on iTunes, Emerald Road and It's About Time.  While I don't have a link to the song we danced to you can go to the website below to play some of their music at home.
http://www.reverbnation.com/emeraldroadband
I'm proud to add that the fiddle player is a close friend and was my college roommate :o)

Our play along song, Playin' In The Kitchen, is from the Summer collection.  Did you listen at home this week and see if you could find the part we added words to in class?
"Eat, eat my peas and carrots.  I like to eat, eat my peas and carrots."

Lastly, here are some pages you can print out at home to go along with the chant "Down Under."

Singing With Daddy

Getting ready for Father's Day?
 Here are some videos of Dad's enjoying music with their kids! Find a way to enjoy music with daddy this Father's Day. Play along, sing, and dance to the music that dad likes.

 Bohemian Rhapsody On The Way To School

Best Father Daughter Dance Ever - Comedian Mike Hanley and his daughter Jessica

Edelweiss from The Sound of Music

Dad and Daughter Sing Together on Ellen

Singing Along With The Trumpet
 

A Few Good Resources

http://www.musictogether.com/ForEnrolledFamilies

Click the link above to go to the Music Together page for enrolled families.  You'll find some great information there like..
How to play guitar with songs from the current session
Coloring pages
Music activities to try at home
and other great music resources!

http://www.ecementor.org/articles-on-teaching/Early_Brain_Development_Research_Review.pdf
This is a link to an interesting article about early childhood brain development.  It discusses current research on brain development, and how you can apply that research to every day activities with your child.