Kindermusik - For Your Child's Brain, Body, Heart, and Soul.

We offer an exceptional Musical Experience Every Week – For a child’s brain, body, heart, & soul.  From dancing with your child to hearing the notes of your child’s first composition, our Kindermusik classes are a special place where you and your child can play, sing, dance, and giggle together.

Music for now. Skills for life.

MUSIC MATTERS! Early childhood development experts have demonstrated that music does more for children than bring them joy; it helps their brain cells make the connections needed for virtually every kind of intelligence.  Learn more: http://www.kindermusik.com/about/why-kindermusik

Kindermusik is the world’s most trusted music movement program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and young children.  Our award winning curricula is based on research demonstrating the benefits of music at each stage of a child’s development.  Kindermusik programs are thriving in 70 countries – they’re nearly everywhere.

See this video to learn more.

Our Teachers are Kindermusik licensed, college educated, and committed to the families in their classes.  They have a love for children, a talent for music, the ability to communicate with parents as well as kids, and a commitment to life long learning through ongoing professional development.

Hear from our parents - Here is one Mom’s story.  

Preview a class to learn more. 

Contact us today:

Email: KathysMusic@verizon.net

Phone: (412) 344-0535

Web: www.KathysMusic.com

The details.

• Weekly 45 with a trained and licensed educator for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids (60 minutes).
• Monthly Tuition is $55/month or $62/month depending on class length.
• Enrollment includes resources for home – Music, Books, Instrument, and more.
• Unlimited make-up classes as long as you are enrolled.
• Enroll anytime online at www.KathysMusic.com
• We run a school year program with summer camps.  You can pause enrollment at the end of one month to avoid charges for the next.

Music education is an investment.  It's valuable for now and it's valuable for later.  Learn more...

Music Education Benefits For Now:

Children’s ability to follow a beat may impact reading, language skills.
Published September 18, 2013 on FoxNews.com. Article by Amanda Woerner,

Though more research needs to be done, Kraus noted that previous studies have indicated that toddlers who participated in just a year of music training – with activities such as simple as mom-and-tot music classes – showed better neural responses to sound compared to toddlers who did not receive music training.
As a result, Kraus is hopeful that this research could lead to a greater emphasis on the benefits of music education for children.

Strait DL, OConnell S, Parbery-Clark A, Kraus N. (2013) Biological impact of preschool music classes on processing speech in noise.Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 6: 51-60.

Kraus’ research indicates that the ability to clearly process sound is connected to the ability to accurately hear when other sounds and noises are present – an important skill in busy classroom learning environments where it is imperative to focus on the teacher’s voice over other sounds inside and outside the classroom. Previous studies revealed that musicians have enhanced speech-in-noise perception. This publication indicates that similar effects are present in musically-trained children.

Tierney A, Kraus N (2013) The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills. Brain and Language. 124: 225–231.

Excerpts from Abstract:

• Reading-impaired children have difficulty tapping to a beat.
• Subjects better able to tap to the beat would perform better on attention tests
• Tapping performance related to reading, attention, and backward masking.
• These results motivate future research investigating whether beat synchronization training can improve not only reading ability, but potentially executive function and auditory processing as well.

Music Education Benefits for Later:

Skoe E, Kraus N. (2012) A little goes a long way: how the adult brain is shaped by musical training in childhood. Journal of Neuroscience. 32(34):11507–11510.

Excerpts from Abstract

• Playing a musical instrument changes the anatomy and function of the brain.
• Adults who received formal music instruction as children have more robust brainstem responses to sound than peers who never participated in music lessons.
• Neural changes accompanying musical training during childhood are retained in adulthood.

Enroll Now for Kindermusik or Private Lessons.

See our website at http://www.KathysMusic.com to learn how we can assist you.

Choose The Best Class for Your Child!

We believe that Parents need choices when it comes to Kindermusik Classes:
1) Choices for different kinds of class experiences for their child
AND
2) Choices for the scheduling (daytime, evening, weekend)

That's why we work hard to provide both for our families.  Our Kindermusik classes are divided by age with a large over lap to accommodate the child's developmental stages.  We look at 6 domains when helping parents choose a class - cognitive, language, physical, social, emotional, and musical development. Plus, we take into consideration the kind of experience the parent is looking for.  A toddler that is walking, but not yet talking might be best in Sing and Play class where we are still playing with language in order to learn it, but not yet expected to sing along.  A preschooler who is 3, but not yet ready to be independent would benefit most from an Our Time class where he can be with a loving caregiver developing self-confidence while discovery new instruments and songs.  A mom looking for a social experience for her 10 month old will enjoy Sing and Play, while a mom with a 4 month old might prefer a Cuddle and Bounce class because the pace is slower and the class sizes are smaller.

Check out our classes and learn more.  Then, Click through to see our wide variety of scheduling options.
And if you don't see what you're looking for, please ask!  We want to hear from you.

Class Choices for Your Child - Click here!

Benefits of Kindermusik for Babies

EXCELLENT CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE.

We're pleased to announce that this year we have all new themes and curricula for babies featuring Cuddle & Bounce for our younger babies (non-walkers) and Sing & Play for all babies up to 24 months.  

RESOURCES FOR HOME.

PLUS, each registration receives digital home materials that include parent tips on play, development, sign language, and more.  You can even download the music, the book, and the lyrics.

BENEFITS FOR BABY.

Kindermusik Classes use music to make connections and jump start the cognitive/language/physical learning while introducing steady beat, timbre, and a variety of music from different cultures and genres.  

It’s bonding. It’s learning. It’s fun!

"Follow Me to Kindermusik....!"

Our Kindermusik classes start in just 2 weeks and classes are filling fast.   Follow me to Kindermusik for a year of music education, delightful memories, giggles & smiles!

Click HERE to learn more about the Kindermusik experience.

OR

Experience Kindermusik yourself with a preview class - there's no charge or obligation, just come and enjoy.  Reserve your space in a September preview class from THIS LINK.

Kindermusik - it's for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, big kids, and families.
Kindermusik - it's music for now with skills for life.
Kindermusik - it's the single best choice for your child.

Enroll now!

I Love Flute Choir!

by Pam Murchison, flute teacher with Kathy's Music, LLC

When I started middle school, I began taking flute lessons with Wendy Webb Kumer.  Wendy is a true force of nature, and one of the most generous and hilarious people I’ve ever met.  I am lucky to still count her as one of my closest friends.  She claims that “world peace will be achieved when every person joins a flute choir” so it makes perfect sense that I left my first lesson with a blue folder full of flute choir music and plans to attend my first rehearsal the following Saturday morning.

When I arrived, I was very nervous to see that there were about 40 flutists who were strangers to me, but seemed to know each other really well.  By the end of that first rehearsal, I was friends with 20 of them (it was only an hour rehearsal, after allJ)! That’s the magic of flute choir. While the music profession can be notoriously cutthroat, there are many opportunities for flutists to join together in their love of all things flute, and rejoice in that camaraderie. 

Here are some things that I learned from playing in flute choir:

• Valuable large ensemble and chamber music skills.
• Information about composers from every historical period, as well as living composers.
• How to play music in a variety of genres: from classical to folk to pop.
• Exposure to new instruments, like the piccolo, alto flute, and bass flute. One of my jobs today is playing piccolo in professional orchestras.  I can trace this directly back to flute choir!
• How to be a team player.
• How to meet new people.
• How to sight-read.
• How to create performance opportunities.
• How to enrich and engage with the community.
• If playing in a flute duo is a great, playing in a flute choir is SPECTACULAR!!!!

There are so many things I learned from playing in flute choir, but my favorite is the importance of friendship and community.  Today, I am friends with some of those people who I met at that first rehearsal, and many of us have continued a lifelong relationship with the art of music.  I am constantly amazed at the creativity, passion, and resourcefulness of my flute friends, and thankful that I have been part of the flute choir tradition for over 20 years!

A recent picture of Wendy Webb Kumer, Lianne Sheplar, me, and Dan Parasky after a flute choir celebration in 2012. We were all in attendance at my first flute choir rehearsal in 1992.

Buying vs. Renting a Flute

by Pam Murchison, flute teacher with Kathy's Music, LLC

Buying vs. Renting: What’s the best option for beginning flutists?

Private instruction is an investment in time and money.Acquiring a quality instrument is an essential part of flute study.  Here are my top five recommendations for entry-level flutes purchases (in no particular order).

•

Jupiter 511S (MSRP $895)

•

Yamaha YFL-221 (MSRP ($876)

•

DiZhao Mini-Di Beginning Flute ($459)

•

Viento FL 100 (MSRP $400)

•

Trevor James 10XC (MSPR $950)

Used instruments can often be an excellent solution, when purchased from a reputable dealer. Hollis and GermannMusic in Castle Shannon has an excellent selection of used, refurbished instruments starting as low as $295.

Although you can find great deals on these instruments from Flute World, Flute Pro Shop, and the Woodwind andBrasswind, you may not feel ready to invest in an instrument during the first few months of flute study.

Another great option is enrolling in a rental program. Local instrument dealers Volkwein’s and Johnstonbaugh’s Music Center have terrific rental programs. For about $20 a month, you receive an 

instrument in excellent working condition, and all of your rental payments are credited towards the purchase of a new instrument, from the brands that the stores carry. This is how I started, and it’s an excellent deal for newcomers to flute study!