Kindermusik@Home Enjoy the Fun & Learning Anytime!

Extend the magic and learning of a Kindermusik class into your own home. Kindermusik@Home delivers your favorite Kindermusik songs and activities, music, books, and lyrics—as well as recipes, learning games for kids, crafts, and more in a green-friendly digital format.

See for yourself…

Kids (and parents) can interact with videos, printable activity pages, stories, music, games and more! The digital home materials are built specifically to make it fun and easy for parents to connect class-time to home-time, and to enrich both experiences. Access from your iPad, tablet, laptop, computer, or smartphone – and enjoy at home, or on-the-go.

Learn how Kindermusik@Home digital products are the Green Future for Kindermusik and support our mission to be a sustainable company.

Sneak-Peek of Kindermusik@Home

Want to see what it’s all about? Check out one of our new online learning games for kids. This sneak-preview is a memory game you can play with your children – and share with others!

Educational Activities for Kids include:

• Music downloads: songs, rhymes, stories and sounds from class
• Literature book in e-book format, flip through pages, turn audio on or off
• Activity buttons lead to a variety of different activity types
  • dance and movement instructions
  • fingerplay demonstrations and instructions
  • together-in-the-kitchen activities
  • music time
  • listening games
  • vocal play activities
  • video field trips
  • find-it/count-it style activities
  • ideas for pretend play
  • and more!
• The Why It’s Good for Your Child area provides parents info on why these educational activities for kids are useful, important, or developmentally significant.
• Download Center provides Printable Activity Pages and, for the first time, Printable Lyrics Pages for all of the songs in the unit.

Tips for a successful Kindermusik experience

Tips for a successful Kindermusik experience

• Healthy children and parents only
• The health and safety of you and your child are our top priority. If you even think you or your child may be sick, please contact us to reschedule your class. 
• Show up on time, but no more than 5 minutes early
• Our classrooms are not open until 5 minutes before class time. Avoid having your child become fussy from waiting around too long. However, our Hello Song begins promptly at 5 minutes after the class time begins and it is very important your child be present for this opening activity.
• Wash and sanitize your hands (and your child's as well!) before and after class
• Maintaining a happy and healthy classroom is our top priority and that begins with you and your child. Additionally, we sanitize all our instruments. Should your child put one in his mouth, please hold on to the instrument for the duration of the activity and do not share it with another child.
• Wear comfortable clothes and parents must wear socks
• We spend the majority of the class on the floor so dress accordingly. At our Northridge and Valencia locations, parents are required to wear socks which we have on sale for your convenience. For children, barefoot is best as it allows for more sensory stimulation as well as gives them additional traction on our mats.
• Refrain from wearing strongly scented products
• Kindermusik is a sensory experience, and strong scents can be distracting to children and adults in the classroom. Please do not use colognes, perfumes or heavily scented products before the class.
• There is no wrong way to interact in the Kindermusik classroom
• Some children will observe, others will want to touch and handle. Some will explore the classroom. All of these are normal and valid learning styles your child may adopt in the classroom. Feel free to redirect your child to the activity on hand but we also encourage you to give them the freedom to learn and explore in their own way, at their own pace.
• You are your child's favorite voice
• Singing is so important for your child's language and literacy development as well as reinforces the emotional bond between you and your child. And we're serious-- they LOVE your voice. We hope to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable singing with your child.
• Listen to you Home CD
• And sing and dance along with it to!! We believe you are your child's primary teacher. Encourage their learning outside the classroom by taking the activities we introduced to you and making them your own at home!
• Contact us 24-hours in advance for absences
• Our class sizes are limited. Please make sure to contact us in advance of your absence so that we may schedule your make-up class as well as give other families the opportunity to take their make-up classes during your unused class time.

Spotlight on Learning: Village Dew Drops

Big idea: Vestibular System

A hammock gently swaying in a warm ocean breeze or the quiet creaking of a porch swing in the dappled afternoon sunlight can bring thoughts of a little life balance in an increasingly complex world. As a parent of a child under 2, however, the nursery glider moving back and forth at 10:16pm, 2:01am, and 5:34am might be the closest you can get to that beach or front porch. It can work in a pinch though!
All that nursery rocking reinforces balance of a different kind in your child. The rocking, swaying, and movement stimulate your child's vestibular system, the part of the brain that controls balance. In Kindermusik class, we rock to lullabies, bounce on knees, and even make hammocks out of blankets to help lap babies and crawlers begin to develop their sense of balance and to reinforce balance and stability in young walkers.

Everyday connection: Rock on! Try out some of the rocking moves from class at home. If your child feels nervous about hammocking in class, try it at home where she feels most comfortable. Think of different ways you can hold your child as you rock or bounce together.

Give the Gift of Music this Holiday!

Looking for great kids gifts this holiday season?
Does your niece or nephew have everything?
Does your mother in-law need a gift idea?
We have a perfect (and easy) solution for those on your Holiday List ages 7 and under…. Kindermusik Gift Certificates!!!
The gift of a Kindermusik Music Class will be far more memorable than the latest toy or gadget. It is a gift that lasts for 16 weeks and the memories last a lifetime! Certificates can be written for any amount and never expire. They can be used towards any future class or materials cost.

What do you hear?

From Kindermusik International's Blog: Minds on Music

Pitter, patter, pitter, patter… I can HEAR the rain.

Musically speaking, rain sounds are short sounds.  The musical term “staccato” refers to sounds that are separated and often short.  It’s the perfect word to use when playing with – and describing – rain sounds.  But did you know that being able to identify a sound as “short” (staccato) or “long” (legato) actually involves some pretty high-level thinking and listening skills?

Active listening differs from simple hearing in that we must choose it as an intentional act. Analytical listening, like the kind we will do in Kindermusik class when we explore different shaker sounds and mimic and identify a variety of rain sounds, takes the development of our music listening skills to a whole new level.

Analytical listening is an absolutely vital skill, for music class and for life because it requires children to:
- Evaluate what is heard and comprehended
- Contemplate and reflect
- Weigh new information against what is already known
- Discuss by sharing thoughts, opinions, and viewpoints

As Kindermusik teachers, it is an awesome privilege for us to be able to help shape a child’s disposition and aptitude for learning music - practicing the skills that lead to competency and enjoyment and encouraging the attitude that music is fun.  Music truly is a powerful tool for representing ideas and expressing individuality, especially when a child develops the ability to listen analytically.

In the Kindermusik classroom where so many of the senses are often engaged simultaneously and where imagination can soar, musical learning truly has the potential to be the strongest and most powerful.

Posted by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios is proudly among the top 1% of programs worldwide.

The Benefits of a Steady Beat

Beat is the ongoing, steady, repetitive pulse that occurs in song, chant, rhyme, and music. The steady beat is the most fundamental concept in music. It is the part of music that makes you want to tap your toes, clap your hands or dance. Even newborn babies respond to the steady beat of music, and it is no surprise when you consider they have been listening to the steady beat of their mother's heart from inside the womb.


Most children learn to beat on a drum and keep a steady beat with their arms. This is necessary for being able to use a hammer, saw, or scissors. Through musical exploration in the Kindermusik classroom, your child may develop steady beat competency in the legs & feet as well. This lower body competency is necessary for playing sports, especially dribbling and shooting basketballs, as well as for dancing, skipping, running and even walking easily. 

Total body beat competency even emerges in the ability to speak and read with a smooth cadence, thereby enhancing communication abilities. Studies also show that ability to keep a steady beat is connected with fluency in reading. A study by Phyllis Weikert showed that being “able to keep a steady beat helps a person to feel the cadence (rhythm) of language” and can also affect their sense of equilibrium (earlychildhoodnews.com).

Fostering Life-Long Creativity

Take me to a FREE class!

Alarming new research shows that for the first time in American history, creativity is declining. Newsweek magazine is calling it a "Creativity Crisis" and it's no wonder, when a recent IBM  poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the most important "leadership competency" of the future.


How does your child express creatvity in their life? By encouraging creative behavior often throughout childhood and adulthood, neurological patterns change in the brain to make problem-solving faster and better.  You are improving children’s problem-solving abilities and creativity every time you do an instrument exploration (What is another way you can play the sticks?), a role play with movement (How else can you move like a monkey?), and when you introduce new props (What else could this hoop be?).  Participation in Kindermusik class fosters the development of creativity and problem solving! You can count on Kindermusik to keep those creative juices flowing! 

Children are ready to learn long before schools are ready to teach

Posted July 27th 2010 at 10:16 am by Kindermusik International

Music is a magic little key to your child’s heart and mind. It’s a dynamic sensory experience that evokes a powerful response in children. Early exposure to music is a vehicle for profound learning.

We’ve found that music and movement that involves interaction, demonstration, and exploration is the perfect way to introduce a child to the learning environment.  That’s why Kindermusik provides a unique opportunity to begin your child’s preparation for school – and, for that matter, for life.

Our program is carefully structured and developmentally appropriate. That means the music and activities reflect the age of your child. The Kindermusik classroom is set up in a manner that is most similar to what your child will experience in preschool and/or kindergarten.

This can give your child a great head start.

That said, don’t confuse Kindermusik with the potentially stressful environment you might find in a “toddler prep school”. Our program is not design to push children. In fact, quite the opposite. Instead you’ll find that our curricula nurtures and mirrors your child’s development with a fun, engaging, and stimulating environment. We encourage all children to learn and participate at their own pace. You’ll hear our Kindermusik educators say this all the time.

We know that these days parents have dozens of activities to choose for their children. Our goal is to stand out above the rest as the best option for you and your child. We feel that our research-based, research-proven program will not only prepare your child for school and the future, but you’ll get to have a lot of fun along the way!

Want to preview a Kindermusik class for free? Fill out this online form and an educator near you will contact you with more information. We hope to see you in Kindermusik soon!

One Hundred Thousand Five Hundred

100,500
by Andrea King

It's a big number, and it caught my eye in a recent issue of Real Simple (I love that magazine, thanks Heather!). So what does it mean? The average person consumes (reads or hears) 100,500 words per day... let's do the math. For the 16-or-so hours a day we are awake, we are exposed to (and sometimes assaulted by) an average of 6,281 words per hour. And guess what, that number has tripled in the last 20 years (thanks to the internet, and maybe even this blog).

So what does it all mean? More than ever our children are growing up in a world demanding strong language and literacy skills. Whether it's reading & writing, or speaking & listening, strong communication skills are a must. That's why I love teaching Kindermusik classes! Everyday in class, I see children of all ages (babies too!) using music as their stepping stone to expressing themselves.

Sing-a-long to our favorite hello song? That's 20 words right there that share the idea of welcoming and building community. Actively listening to a recording of live sounds in our environment? That encourages a whole slew of descriptive words and sounds that encourage children to think critically about their world. Chanting that nursery rhyme while playing rhythm sticks to the steady beat? Those rhyming skills build a young child's understanding of the sounds in language and the steady beat cues them into the rhythm of language.

Music is language & expression! It's never too early to build on your child's communication strengths in the Kindermusik classroom!

Listening to What we Hear

At 20-weeks a fetus can hear sound from inside the mother's womb. From that time until well into their young childhood their ears & brain are fine-tuning themselves to make sense of their world. Interesting stuff!

Check out this article about a study that show infants can distinguish emotions heard in the voice by 7 months old:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125123354

Don't, Shouldn't, Can't, Won't

This was taken from a great post on Kindermusik International's official blog, Minds on Music.
````````````````````````````````````````

I heard something from a conference speaker that I believe EVERY parent and teacher and child care worker and family member should know. I’ve been searching for months for the source, because it has changed my way of speaking to the young children I work with (and the preschooler in my own home). 

The following is used by permission and taken fromConscious Discipline by Becky Bailey, PhD.

Watch a toddler. If you say, “Don’t touch the lamp,” what does the child do? She will look at you, look at the lamp, point to it, touch it and then look back at you – usually with a big smile. Her brain heard, “Touch the lamp,” so she looks at you proudly as if to say, “Hey! I did it! I touched the lamp!” Imgaine her confusion when you growl, “What did I tell you?” and push away her little hand. No wonder we all need therapy!

As an adult, you probably make the connection between a negative command (”don’t hit”), and a positive alternative (”talk through your problems”). For young children, this is impossible. Children younger than five or six simply do not understand conjugated verbs such as “don’t”. When you say, “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” you actually increase the chances that your child will “disobey” and that you will get to watch them grind broccoli in living color.

Instead of focusing on what you don’t want, redirect the child. When she spots the lamp, you could say, “You see the pretty lamp. Put your hand in mine and I will show you how to touch delicate objects that might break.” Perhaps you do not want to teach the child how to touch the lamp. Then you could say, “You see the pretty lamp. Let’s look at this truck. I will roll it to you. Whee!” Then push the truck over to the child. Have fun with the alternative you choose. Children, like all of us, respond to enthusiasm.

It’s so simple, but makes complete sense. I read this, and went, “No wonder they do the opposite of what I want them to do!” This fall, I purchased a copy of the book for each one of my teachers, and there are lots more nuggets of parenting gold where this comes from. I’ll be blogging more as I go through her book.

In the meantime, if you’d like more information about Becky Bailey and Concious Discipline, visit her website.

-by Miss Analiisa, who is going to make an effort to tell her children what she WANTS them to do, not what she DOESN’T!

Kindermusik Happy & Healthy

At Kindermusik, you child's health is our top priority. That's why we are taking steps to prevent the spread of germs both inside and outside the classroom. You can take comfort in knowing that we sanitize all our instruments and objects we use in class!

Also, we incorporate activities for parents and children to to promote happy and healthy living at home. Check out just one Kindermusik activity that can make bath time and hand-washing easier and more enjoyable!

To find out all the ways Kindermusik makes great parenting easier, come and experience a FREE Demo Class!

Kindermusik Makes Great Parenting Easier!

Find out all the reasons Kindermusik can make great parenting easier! 

Check out a FREE Kindermusik Demo Class today!

Music: The Younger, the Better

Some people are quite surprised to find out that Kindermusik is for children as young as newborns. Really, what can such a young child gain from starting in a music and movement program like Kindermusik as an infant or toddler?

The following statement, jointly issued by The National Association for Music Education (MENC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the US Department of Education, helps explain just how important music education can be for even the youngest musicians...

The Value of Music for the Very Young
The idea that very early education provides great long-term benefits has been rendered incontestable by studies in cognition and early learning. Research in developmental psychology and commonsense observation underscore both the importance and the wisdom of making music an integral and overt part of the earliest education of young children:

• [M]usic is among the first and most important modes of communication experienced by infants.
• As young children grow and develop, music continues as a basic medium not only of communication, but of self-expression as well.
• As preschool children not only listen to and respond to music, but also learn to make music by singing and playing instruments together, they create important contexts for the early learning of vital life skills.
• Guided music experiences also begin to teach young children to make judgments about what constitutes “good” music, thereby developing in them the rudiments of an aesthetic sense.
  
• Music contributes strongly to “school readiness...”

- excerpted from a report issued by the Early Childhood Music Summit, June 2000.  Read the article in its entirety HERE

Why Kindermusik? For Social Development!

Real parent testimonial of how Kindermusik has helped her child's developing social skills

Success

To laugh often and much:

To win the respect of intelligent people

and the affection of children,

to earn the appreciation of honest critics

and endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty,

to find the best in others,

to leave the world a bit better

whether by a healthy child,

a garden patch,

or a redeemed social condition;

to know even one life has breathed

easier because you lived.

This is to have succeeded.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Power of the Pentatonic Scale

by Andrea King


The Pentatonic scale is a five-note scale that has been used in both modern and traditional music throughout the world. From Europe to Asia, Africa to Latin America, this 'simple' scale shows up in traditional, sacred, classical, and pop music. And while currently in the United States we may be more exposed to the seven-note heptatonic major scale (Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do) the use and recognizability of the pentatonic scale (Do Re Mi Sol La Do) is far more wide spread.


Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the mass recognition of this scale at the 2009 World Science Festival at the event, "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus." It brings to mind that age old debate in music: nature or nurture. Is the propensity humans have toward this scale innate or something that is developed over time through exposure?


Neurological studies have found that children as young as infants (and possibly even in the womb!) can recognize and categorize pitch intervals and have a preference for consonant over dissonant intervals. In other words, even infants have been shown to prefer intervals found in the pentatonic scale over those not present in the scale. This points towards humans having some kind of pre-programed preference toward the pentatonic scale, however this does not rule out the strong influence of culture.


In Kindermusik, the first scale your child is exposed to is the pentatonic scale because of its fundamental nature. And, in accordance to the National Standards for Music Education written by the National Association for Music Education, this scale is introduced in a developmentally appropriate manner by introducing specific intervals in order (first Sol & Mi, then La,  then finally Re & Do). This is yet another example of how Kindermusik utilizes scientific research to implement developmentally appropriate teaching practices in a classroom setting.


Enjoy the video clip and feel free to sing along. See how well you recognize the scale!

History of the Blue Ridge Pickin' Parlor

The First 30 Years
The Blue Ridge Pickin' Parlor was started by Ken and Margo Tennesen in 1976.   The music store was then located  in Tarzana, California.   Even from the beginning the Pickin' Parlor played host to some of the greats like Bill Monroe and The Country Gentlemen.  After their five year run Ken decided to take retirement seriously and sold the store to his  new son-in-law and daughter  Frank and Tammy Javorsek.  In 1980 Frank and Tammy relocated the Pickin' Parlor to Canoga Park, California where they spent the next twenty years molding The Blue Ridge Pickin' Parlor into the Bluegrass icon it is today.  The turn of the new millennium brought in the next owners Ric and Alicia Griffith (still in the same family in case your keeping track-Alicia is Tammy's little sister). Ric and Alicia found the current home for the Pickin' Parlor in Old Granada Hills, California.  The location is more than twice the size of the old one hosting monthly Jams, concerts, workshops, retail sales, and music lessons for more than three hundred students a week.

The story of this music store is not just about the Tennesen, Javorsek, and Griffith Family.   It is about the Bluegrass community.  The people are more to us than just customers- they are neighbors and friends.  Over the years we have seen children and adults grow into musicians and performers.  There has been more than one example of  kids coming in for lessons and, years later, bringing their kids in for lessons!  We've also taught whole families to play who have eventually gone on to form bands and even tour the local festival circuit .  The Bluegrass circle is more than just a bunch of people that are into a certain type of music-we feel that it is a family of families who truly love the music from our Heartland.  We are very proud of what we have grown to become  and we invite you to grow with us musically-  listening, teaching, and learning together.

The Next 30 Years

On October 1, 2006, the Blue Ridge Pickin Parlor was purchased by long time family friend and student, Judy Hersh. The transition has been very smooth as Judy has been the Blue Ridge bookkeeper since 1997. Her main purpose for purchasing the business is to keep the family tradition going and at the same time taking it to its fullest potential. The Blue Ridge Pickin’ Parlor has been and will continue to be a service to the community and a place for families to pass down the knowledge of traditional and other types of music to their children and to share with each other the passion of the music and the community atmosphere it promotes. The business continues to grow and thrive due to the Pickin' Parlor's dedicated staff, teachers, students and long time community involvement of everyone's love of music.


In July 2007 the Blue Ridge began offering Kindermusik classes for children ages newborn through 7 years old taught by Certified Kindermusik educators that included Shelby Fannan and Andrea King. Then in August 2008 we started a "Bluegrass School" headed by Randy Torno, long time friend of the Pickin' Parlor and now a part of our teaching staff. We offer beginning and intermediate "Jam School" and "Bluegrass Song School". During these tough economic times the Blueridge has tightened operations and closed the extra space. All group classes, Kindermusik, Bluegrass School and Pickin' Night are held in the main store.


The Blueridge family is an extended family that includes past and present members. Frank Javorsek still teaches and heads the repair shop. Tammy left as store manager in April 2008 and is greatly missed. Judy's stepdaughter Nichole became lesson manager during 2008 and has now gone on to other interests. Grandchildren Ashleigh, 12 and Hunter, 4 participate in store activities and love to help behind the counter. Stepson Conal clerked during the summer of 2007 and is now busy getting ready to graduate high school and join the Air Force in June 2009. We are very proud of stepson Bryan who served our great country in the Navy on the USS Carter Hall for 4 years and returned home in December 2008. You will also meet Judy's cousins whose children are students of the Blue Ridge and stars in our recital twice a year. Last but not least is her Dad, Jerry, 83 years young, who loves coming to concerts.


Check out our lesson program and calendar of events. There is always something happening at the Blue Ridge Pickin' Parlor where we have been "Teaching People To Play Together Since 1976"


www.pickinparlor.com

Children Keep You On Your Toes

What would we do without children in our lives to teach us humility, patience, and of course, love.

Sanitizing Hands the Kindermusik Way!

by Andrea King, Kindermusik Educator

I was surfin' the KM website and found a new product I'm excited about... Hand Sanitizer! Ok, I admit it's a little weird to get excited about hand sanitizer, but this product just looks so great! It's especially designed for little hands and has a spray nozzel for quick, convenient use. And since it's made by Kindermusik, of course it's safe for children's use and environmentally friendly. I'm going to purchase a few to try out in preparation for the Fall.

expected to be available after 9/23/09