Music Makers: At Home in the World Recap

What a fun semester exploring musical concepts through the natural curiosity of the five year old! Animal habitats, nature, bird calls, dandelions… these are the open windows into the child’s world where we can explore related music concepts such as high and low (birds soaring versus caterpillars creeping), long and short (woodpecker versus bee) and many more. Studies show that children who are out in nature, and studying habitats and animals, connect their world to the natural world and are more empathetic because of that connection. (Check out https://mountainjournal.org/in-a-time-of-violence-nature-helps-empthy-grow-in-k or read https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2018/07/16/want-to-raise-empathetic-kids-try-spending-time-in-nature/)

Listening to bird sounds increases the children’s ability to recognize music concepts such as high, low, short, long, and allows them the fun of “trying out” the songs, which helps them explore vocal range!

Throughout Music Makers, pitch and rhythm patterns continue to develop in the mind’s ear, leading us to places in music where identification of those patterns can begin! Once the students reached that milestone, we were ready for the symbol on the page, as we continue our journey down the pathway to music literacy!

“I liked the songs that told stories and songs about animals! I also liked playing the drum.” – Norah (student)

“We really enjoyed the Music Makers curriculum and the variety that was included during class. Amy’s teaching style is engaging and our daughter was never bored, even doing the class remotely from our living room!” – Emily (parent)

Throughout the semester we explored instruments and instrument families, concepts of loud, quiet, and how we get there (Italian terms “crescendo” and “decrescendo”). We built ensembles and created storm stories using drums, sticks, jingle bells, voices, and body percussion. In performing these projects as a group, the students are tuning their listening skills, playing with others, taking turns, and following a conductor! Up next for these students will be the second level of Music Makers: Around the World. Hope to see you there!