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.

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.

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!

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.
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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

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

Kindermusik Healthy & Happy

Kindermusik International and the Blue Ridge Pickin' Parlor are making pro-active changes to our daily classroom routines to help protect children from the spread of viruses like the H1N1 flu.

The Blue Ridge Pickin' Parlor has joined Kindermusik International's Healthy & Happy Initiative which is created to help protect you and your children from the spread of virus's like the H1N1 flu and the seasonal flu. By collecting facts, checklists, and prevention tips from the Center for Disease Control, Kindermusik is making sure we are more prepared than ever to provide an environment much less likely to allow virus's spread.

Kindermusik understands and recognizes that children learn through play and interaction with materials, adults, other children, and their environment. During flu season, we will continue to provide an enriching learning environment AND minimize germ sharing at the same time by using these Guidelines to adjust and modify a few lesson components:

• We ALWAYS dissinfect toys and instruments at CDC standards to prevent transmission
• We encourage parents and children to wash their hands and/or use hand sanitizer at the start and end of each class (under parent supervision with younger children)
• Avoid touching hands, toys, or instruments to the face, mouth and nose

Your child's health and happiness is important to us. Please contact us so we can answer any further questions to make you feel at ease in coming to class with us.

Enjoy these cute videos about washing hands! Don't miss the hand washing song!