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Classes
How Can Parents/Carers Help?
Parents or carers of children in the baby and toddler classes are asked to participate with their child in class, helping them with activities and singing. This encourages your child to take part and join in singing when they are ready.
Children in the 3 - 5 year old class can come in to class by themselves when ready and comfortable. Parents or carers are asked to wait in the waiting room provided once their child feels happy and secure. At home, parents can assist by singing with their child regularly.
Children do NOT need to have any prior music training but will the get the greater benefits from starting classes at an earlier age!
0 - 3 year olds
In this class we enjoy bonding with our child through songs and bouncing and tickling rhymes. As the children begin to walk they enjoy taking part in movement activities and circle dances. The children also develop their motor skills through using simple percussion instruments, puppets and parachutes. In this class we do a lot of tapping on our knees or tapping with the props or percussion to develop pulse (beat).
As your child's language skills develop, they are able to join in singing the songs and rhymes. A variety of percussion instruments are introduced as their motor skills develop and they will enjoy lots of movement activities and dances. Each week we visit the bears in Musicland and through movement, props and percussion explore Ta, Ti Ti and Ta-a. By the end of the year they are becoming more independent from their parents when participating in class and have begun some solo singing using puppets and props.
3 - 5 year olds (without parent)
In the 3 - 5 year old class the children (when ready and comfortable) come in on their own. We sing songs, do action rhymes, play games and do lots of movement activities using percussion, puppets and props. The children further develop their confidence singing and their sense of pulse (keeping a beat) and begin to develop their understanding of rhythm in this class. By the end of the year they can read Ta and Ti-Ti (crotchet and quavers) as stick notation with a little help from mummy and baby bear.
When ready, children become conscious of all the musical concepts they have been experiencing and internalising and are developing a greater understanding of rhythm and pulse and the difference between them. The rhythm skills which were introduced in the 0 - 3 year old class are extended as the children begin to experience and read more challenging rhythmic patterns.
More challenging movement games and activities are introduced including working with partners and the children become confident singing solo, as a duet and in small groups as well as taking part in 2 part singing. By the end of the year they are also beginning to develop their inner hearing (being able to sing a song or say a rhyme in their head) which is a very important skill to have when playing an instrument.
Drop in sessions (0 - 5 year olds)
Weekly flexible open sessions for you and your child to enjoy! These sessions don’t have an overall long term structure but still incorporate lots of fun singing, games, rhymes, movement and live music. Classes will be differentiated to suit all ages and different musical experiences.
What Next?
By the end of these classes the children will have developed a wide range of valuable music skills which will enable them to move on to learning a musical instrument with ease if they wish. They already know about pulse, rhythm, pitch and much more, which allows them to concentrate on the physical and technical challenges of learning an instrument.