Thinking about private lessons vs Kindermusik Young Child

Kindermusik Imagine That! & Young Child Programs Versus Private Music Lessons

In today’s society we are always faced with the challenge of choosing what program is best for our children. There are so many to chose from it is difficult to narrow down what is best for your child. Here at the Performance School of Music we are always faced with questions from concerned parents about getting into the music program that best fits their child’s needs. We particularly begin to see parents doing their research during our Imagine That! level in Kindermusik. The parent is trying to decide if they should put their child into private lessons during this level instead of continuing on with the Imagine That! program and graduating the Kindermusik Young Child program. There are a few things I would ask for you to consider before making this important decision for your child.

When is a child ready for private instrument instruction?

A child who enjoys going to the piano and indicates a strong interest in playing the piano (or any other instrument) may still not be ready for private lessons. In addition to interest, a child must be ready to accept the rules, guidelines and suggestions of the teacher. Will the child still be interested and not frustrated when the teacher asks the child to play a certain way, or hold his hand in a certain position? Additional considerations include fine motor control as well as the maturity and attention span necessary for daily, individual practice. Will the child happily focus for 30 minutes on a series of directed tasks? A child with a strong foundation in movement, vocal development, and listening is more likely to be successful and remain motivated than a child without. Consideration needs to be given to the importance of skill building and motivation over a long period of time rather than how early ones starts. Most importantly that the child enjoys their musical experience!


Why keep your 3 & 4 year old in Imagine That! and not move them to Young Child earlier or private music lessons?

Focused on the whole child, Imagine That! nurtures the child’s natural tendency to explore the world through imagination and play. Children will show improved large motor skills, an increased attention span, a greatly expanded vocabulary, and an interest in interacting with others. This program offers 9 carefully planned curriculum components that optimal learning occurs through; Pretend Play, Singing and Vocal Exploration, Literacy and Language Development, Movement, Exploration of Instruments/Props & Instrument Play-Along, Creating, Active and Music Listening, Sharing Time and Family Activities. More specifically, the child’s involvement in Imagine That!:

• Nurtures imagination, creativity and pretend play.
• Invites and develops the singing child.
• Develops emerging literacy skills.
• Involves the family in music making and learning activities.
• Introduces beginning musical concepts and skills.
• Allows an active role in the development of activities.
• Develops movement skills and expressive use of body.
• Challenges the child through activities that promote problem solving, comparisons and evaluations.
• Provides experiences with a variety of percussion instruments.
• Encourages social development and skills.

When is my child ready to move from Imagine That! to Young Child?

Learning Component: Physical
Appropriate Characteristics: Jump forward many times in a row, hops, gallops, is learning to skip. Exhibits spatial awareness of own body in social setting. Demonstrates control of pencil or marker. Can reproduce many shapes and letters. Hand dominance is evident.

Learning Component: Emotional
Appropriate Characteristics: Developing impulse control (self-control). Exhibits self-confidence & reliability. Growing sense of right and wrong is growing. Beginning to see things from another’s perspective.

Learning Component: Cognitive
Appropriate Characteristics: Eager to learn. Has developed classification skills (e.g., can sort things by colour, shape, size). Counts to 20, recognizes numerals 1-10. Problem solves. Follows directions. Engages in dramatic play that is close to reality. Beginning to relate time to events (can wait for and anticipate events). Responds to simple three-step directions. Identifies at least 4 colours.

Learning Component: Language
Appropriate Characteristics: Developing speech, which is nearly 100% intelligible (exceptions may include children with hearing & language delays). Uses grammar correctly (e.g. past and future tense). Produces fairly elaborate sentence structures (approximately 5-7 words in length). Can tell a familiar story. Uses voice expressively.

Learning Component: Social
Appropriate Characteristics: Enjoys friendships & group activities. Shares, takes turns, plays cooperatively (for the most part!). Is affectionate & caring. Follows directions. Has sense of humour. Demonstrates better self control, fewer dramatic swings of emotions.

Learning Component: Musical
Appropriate Characteristics: Sings a whole song. Beginning to match pitches more consistently. Developing ability to match to group steady beat.

What is Young Child?

Kindermusik for the Young Child is not meant to be an end product of the Kindermusik experience, but rather a bridge between the musical play of early childhood and a more formal musical experience. Through a careful process of preparation, presentation, and practice, children are now introduced to the written language of music. The intense interest and excitement about musical instruments at the age demand that children have opportunities to explore them. Young Child provides a unique opportunity for children to explore a percussion/pre-keyboard instrument (glockenspiel), a stringed instrument (two-string dulcimer), and a wind instrument (recorder). These experiences are designed to help the child and family recognize special interests or skills with a particular type of instrument before formal instruction begins.

Goals of Kindermusik for the Young Child:

• Exploration of musical concepts.
• Singing and vocal development
• Exploring and playing musical instruments.
• Reading and writing music.
• Ensemble development.
• Movement and dance.
• Involvement of the family in music making at home.

I understand that this is a hard decision for many families. Please remember most importantly that the child is having fun while fostering a love for music. Many families get caught up in what they believe is best for the child and forget about what the child would like or enjoys. Next time you are viewing your child’s class stop to look at the big smile on their face and the new friends they have made or the friendships they have developed over their few years of Kindermusik. Think about the love they have developed for music and how excited they are to come to each class. As both a private music teacher and a Kindermusik Educator I see the benefits the Kindermusik graduates bring to their private lessons. Each child is emotionally, physically, and mentally ready for private lessons and are further ahead than a child who is starting private lessons from scratch, as their foundation for music is incredible (thanks to the Kindermusik). I truly believe that Kindermusik is the best possible choice for children 0mths-7years old. Each day I teach class I still cannot believe all that the Kindermusik program has to offer to children. Each concept a child learns in Kindermusik, whether it be music vocabulary such as tempo or staccato, or learning how to read music, or playing their first song on an instrument, I smile and grow fonder of the program and prouder of each child. After 10 years of teaching private lessons I have found and adopted the best program for children age 0 mths-7 years. If you have any questions regarding any of this information or the programs please feel free to ask any of the Kindermusik Educators they will more than happy to help you during this time in any way they can.

Good luck with the decision-making and I look forward to sharing the magical Kindermusik experience with all of you.

Kendra Clarke
Licensed Kindermusik Educator/ Music Teacher

Nurturing a young child's singing voice

These French children sing beautifully, without words. In France, they call this humming. It is a great way for children to sing and explore melodies. But I really chose this so you could hear singing in the upper register, where young children sing best. And babies are most stimulated, and become more alert when they hear singing in this upper head range. Of course, you and your young children shouldn’t try to go as high as these two. But it is beautiful, isn’t it?

Young children certainly aren’t ready for true voice lessons. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t sing. And there are ways that parents can help them sing correctly AND do some fun activities that will help them develop good habits and work the muscles to sing well.

• Explore the many types of noises that the mouth and voice can make
• Encourage them to sing in their upper range (higher notes)
• Play with glissando’s - sounds that start on one pitch and slide around to other pitches. Making high sounds, and sliding to low sounds actually helps children sing in their high head voice
• Hum your favorite tunes. Hum a melody, and have someone guess the song. Humming has two specific benefits according to Jean Westerman Gregg, speech-language pathologist with a specialty in voice therapy. Humming over a period of time increases the strength of the fundamental in the acoustic spectrum, thereby affecting the quality of the singing voice. Also, over an extended period of time, the vibration sensation of humming seems to increase the carrying power of the voice resulting in more volume with less effort.
• Blow with long sustained breaths. Blowing helps to increase breath control. Breath control affects the ability to speak, sing or read a complete sentence or thought. It is dependent upon the strength of the diaphragm and lungs. Blowing can benefit both the speaking and singing voice by increasing that strength. In the Imagine That class this week, we used long blowing breaths to make the scarf rise with “Windy Weather”.
• Blow into a scarf, or simply blow around a few tissues, or cotton balls.
• Have a contest where two people stand across from each other at a table, with a tissue in the middle, then see who can blow it across the table first when you are both trying to blow it.
• Blow through straws and try to move a ping pong ball in the same type of game.