Thanks to All Our KM Students and Families!

We are grateful for all our students and families, and had a wonderful time with you all this year! We're looking forward to seeing you again in January. Thanks for a fun and musical 2007!

12 Days of Christmas

Straight No Chaser
The original members of Straight No Chaser perform their comedic version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" at the Musical Arts Center, Bloomington, Indiana. December 7th, 1998.

Young Child 3 highlights

Intermission at a DCI-Blast! concert

If you enjoyed that, check out Gee, Officer Krupke below.

Blast! Gettin' silly with Officer Krupke

What a hoot!

Gee Officer Krupke


You just have to know these folks started out in Kindermusik!

What a Blast!

This is pretty incredible! Try the Drumline Battery Battle if you have several minutes to enjoy. It builds from 2 lone dummers at the beginning to some very incredible stuff! Relax for a few minutes and enjoy some WILD music and movement!

Drumline Battery Battle

Sign Up Now for Spring Classes!

Early-Bird Discount? $10 free?

Find out how...

Take advantage of our early-bird registration now. Class information and registration fees can be found by clicking on the link below. There are also course descriptions in the November blog archive. Surf on over and sign up now! Enroll a friend with you and receive $10 off your registration!

http://kindermusikbythehalfnotes.kindermusik.net/Classes.html

A Silly Little Holiday Greeting!

from the Half Notes...

Click on this link and get ready!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1397774645

5 Ways to Fill Your Home with Music

1. Cut Loose. Ditch your inhibitions by starting music play with a wild kitchen dance or some loosey-goosey movement.

2. Sing Out. Anywhere, anyhow, anytime. Kids learn by repetition, so incorporate songs into your daily routine.

3. Feel the Rhythm. To help prewalkers (and even older kids) catch the beat, gently bounce or tap your child's body while you sing or listen to music.

4. Shake, Rattle, and Roll. Keep a basket of shakers, whistles, bells, tambourines, drums, harmonicas, and xylophones on hand. And take them out of the basket — often.

5. Give Them an Earful. Expose kids to the sounds you love — not just children's music.

Written by Rani Arbo in Wondertime Magazine (April/May, 2007)

Sign & Sing

Updated 12-11-07

Give the Gift of Music

Don't forget to give the Gift of Music this holiday season! If you were thinking about giving someone on your list a rum-ti-tum-tum, a root-ti-toot-toot, or a jingle-lingle-ling; even if this was the first time you thought about the possibility, now's the time to act!

Kindermusik by The Half Notes has put together a flyer of popular instruments, shakers, and scarves for all KM age groups (0-7) so your family can enjoy them at home.

Flyers and order forms went home last week, and were sent to you by email as well. If you did not receive one, please let us know and we can get one to you right away. Deadline to order is this Friday, December 7 to allow enough time to get your instruments to you before we break for the holiday.

Don't forget to include the Gift of Music this year, and watch those little faces light up! It's a gift you can enjoy all year long.

Imagine That!

Village Fun!

Wiggles & Giggles - Our Time

New pix have been added 12-11-07.
Thanks for all the fun, everyone! We'll see you in January.
Happy holidays!

Dance of the Reed Flutes

St. Luke's Bottle Band

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

from The Half Notes

Count your blessings,

give thanks, and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving

with family, friends, and loved ones

Michelle James & Sara Potts

REGISTER NOW for Spring 2008!

Newborns to 18 months
Hop on the hayride—it’s time to head for the farm! In the first unit of Kindermusik Village, will will sing songs about the farm, engage in rituals and playful activities for baby and caregiver, including infant massage, lap bounces, exercise, and quiet time. During our second unit, we will stop and smell the roses—and lily of the valley, and tulips, and pansies as we play and move together to songs about spring.
At Home Materials include 2 CDs of beautifully arranged songs from class, 2 fun and beautifully illustrated board books, and 2 age-appropriate instruments for music-making at home, and more.
18 months - 3 years

Hop on the train, get in the car, board the plane, and Away We Go! This delightful unit focuses on transportation, a favorite topic for toddlers who are on the go, go, go! Explore fast and slow, smooth and bumpy, and high and low. Read stories about ways to get around. Move, play, and sing together in developmentally appropriate activities created just for 1 1/2 to 3-year-olds.

At home materials include 2 CDs, a Home Activity Book, 2 storybooks (Shiny Dinah and Giddy-Up!), 2 harmonicas, and a train carrying box.
3 - 5 years

What’s more exciting to a preschooler than a new toy? How about an entire Toy Shop full of toys! This unit is focused on creating a stimulating musical environment that integrates music, pretend play, story telling movement, and more. Toys I Make, Trips I Take introduces the musical environment of a remarkable toy shop, filled with boats, trains, balls, jack-in-the-box and many other toys that bring a glimmer into a child’s eyes. Each week provides your preschooler an uninterrupted session of imaginative play that's guided in a very specific, sequential way—with a special Family Sharing Time with you in the last 15 minutes of class.

At Home Materials include two CDs, Family Activity Book, Toy Shop play set, a drum, two beautifully-illustrated storybooks and a backpack.

5 - 7 years

A pressure-free approach to learning, but concrete enough because his mind is ready for the more abstract thinking processes that music requires. Play remains the primary way a young child learns, so throughout the curriculum there is a consistent effort to balance active learning with the emotional reasoning aspects of a young child’s development in mind. At Home Materials include Children's Folder, Music At Home cards & stickers, Games Bag, Family Songbook, Home CD, recorder, and purple canvas Carry Bag.

New this spring!

newborn - 7 years

Our Kind of Day features music and activities which involve the five things that happen around your house: playtime, mealtime, clean-up time, bath time, and nighttime.
The Home Materials include 2 CDs with music from class; a family guide with fun, musical activities, information and facts; Jellybean Band puppets - a Kangaroo and a Joey (hand puppet and finger puppet); 2 double egg shaker instruments; 2 Jellybean Band books with activity pages, comic strips about the band and stories - Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and Bouncing On the Bed, all in a clear vinyl bag.

Enroll online at http://kindermusikbythehalfnotes.kindermusik.net/ or call 513-232-5713.

WHY MUSIC?

Music is a Science.

It is exact, it is specific and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is mathematical.

It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.

Music is a Foreign Language.

Most of the terms are in Italian, German or French; and the notation is certainly not English - but a highly-developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.

Music is Physical Education.

It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheeks and facial muscles in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back and stomach muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.

Music is all these things, but most of all, MUSIC IS ART.

It allows the human being to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. This one thing science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling emotion, call it what you will.

That is why we teach music!

Not because we expect you to major in music.

Not because we expect you to play or sing all your life.

But, so you will be human, so you will recognize beauty, so you will be closer to God beyond this world, so you will have something to cling to, so you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good - in short - more life."

The Clarence (NY) School District's Position Statement on Music
(Text quoted from the district web page)

Did you know...

MUSIC CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Music plays an important part in the lives of people. Everyone can learn and benefit from the study of music. There is musical potential in every individual and like all potential, it should be developed to its fullest. Music can connect us to our history, tradition and heritage while providing a constructive use for leisure time.

The study of music aids in mental, physical and personal needs.

Music is a uniquely powerful means of involving and integrating the activities of both the right and left halves of the brain, combining the rational and the aesthetic. There is a proven correlation between musical study and the following:

• Muscular Development: It improves a child’s small motor skills, hand-eye coordination and over-all physical coordination.

• Increased Listening Ability: This helps to increase the attention span, concentration, and long and short term memory.

• Increased Primary Mental Abilities: (verbal, perceptual, number, and spatial) This sharpens a child’s communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills. He or she learns to understand, interpret and use symbols in new contexts.

• Creative Potential: This promotes awareness of student’s capabilities using imagination and self expression.

• Development of Personal and Social Skills: It can help to build confidence, self-discipline and responsibility. They learn to work for and cooperate with others.

Through participation in music, children learn the gratification of work shared
and challenges met. It helps your child learn how to learn.

Mom Song

Music lessons pay off in higher earnings: poll

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Those hours practicing piano scales or singing with a choral group weren't for nothing because people with a background in music tend to have a higher education and earn more, according to a new survey.
The poll by Harris Interactive, an independent research company, showed that 88 percent of people with a post-graduate education were involved in music while in school, and 83 percent of people earning $150,000 or more had a music education.
"Part of it is the discipline itself in learning music, it's a rigorous discipline, and in an ensemble situation, there's a great deal of working with others. Those types of skills stand you well in careers later in life," said John Mahlmann, of the National Association for Music Education in Reston, Virginia, which assisted in the survey.
In addition to the practical skills gained from studying music, people questioned in the online poll said it also gave them a sense of personal fulfillment.
Students who found music to be extremely or very influential to their fulfillment were those who had vocal lessons and who played in a garage band. Nearly 80 percent of the 2,565 people who took part in the survey last month who were still involved in music felt the same way.
"That's the beauty of music, that they can bring both hard work and enjoyment together, which doesn't always happen elsewhere," Mahlmann added in and interview.

Meet Molly!

We are pleased and excited to welcome our newest Kindermusik educator, Molly Blaker, to our teaching staff! Molly grew up in the home of a professional musician, and enjoyed her experiences with music and dance as a child and young adult. She also brings to the Kindermusik classroom a background in education, her degree in Special Education. Molly is mom to two active young boys and is excited to join the Half Notes this spring. With the addition of Molly to our teaching staff, we will be able to offer additional classes during the week and increase our class options, so we are very pleased to be able to build and expand on a great program! Please join us in welcoming Molly!

Fall 2007 Class Offerings

Newborns to 18 months


Welcome to a world of feathers! Experience a wide range of songs, movement activities, object play, and vocal play relating to our feathered friends. The Austrialian Kookaburra, the African Ostrich, and many more birds from across the world are featured in songs, dances, and poems. Both Jazz and Classical selections, a Yiddish Folk Song, a Muskogean melody, and Mother Goose rhymes set to music are just a few of the colorfuland exciting pieces introduced in this curriculum. At home materials include CD, a bird shaker/bell, richly colored posters, and a board book full of birds.



6 months - 3 years



Sign language curriculum for parents with hearing children -
A different approach from other sign language programs. Through songs, toys, and loving playtime between you and your child, Kindermusik Sign & Sing shows you more than 50 signs your child can use to communicate with you. Using research-proven methods shown to speed language development in hearing children, you'll see how sign language can ease frustration and enhance long-term learning abilities for your child.
Already accustomed to fingerplays and rhyme-songs—such as "This Little Piggy"—you'll easily substitute American Sign Language (ASL) signs in familiar songs, improving your child's language skills, fine motor skills, and strengthen fingers for zipping zippers and using scissors.


18 months - 3 years


Wiggle and giggle, and wiggle and giggle some more! There are a hundred ways (and more!) to wiggle and giggle! We'll stomp like an elephant, jump like a kangaroo, and hop-a-doodle our way through an engaging musical world of wiggles and giggles while building confidence, self-control, and communication skills. Singing, imitating sounds, rhyming, and object identification foster language skills. Creative movement and dance develop a sense of balance, timing, and spatial awareness. Listening and turn-taking encourage blossoming social skills. At home materials include two CDs of class songs, a Family Activity Book filled with ideas and activities to do together, a pair of zig-zag blocks, and two brightly illustrated story books.



3 - 5 years

In this 15-week semester, your preschooler uses his real experience playing in the park to create imaginative, story-telling scenarios with music. Each week provides your preschooler an uninterrupted session of imaginative play that's guided in a very specific, sequential way—with a special Family Sharing Time with you in the last 15 minutes of class. At Home Materials include two CDs, Family Activity Book, "Grasshopper Park" play set, a slide whistle instrument, two beautifully-illustrated storybooks and a backpack.



5 - 7 years


A pressure-free approach to learning, but concrete enough because his mind is ready for the more abstract thinking processes that music requires. Play remains the primary way a young child learns, so throughout the curriculum there is a consistent effort to balance active learning with the emotional reasoning aspects of a young child’s development in mind. At Home Materials include Children's Folder, Music At Home cards & stickers, Games Bag, Family Songbook, Home CD, dulcimer, and purple canvas Carry Bag.