It's time to Sing and Dance this Summer!

We are so pleased to announce more details for this summer's Voice Camp and Musical Theatre Camp.  Our instructor, Laura Mason, has been working hard to finalize the plans for a spectacular time to sing your heart out, shine on stage, and dance!

Voice Camp meets in June for 5 weeks (Tuesday or Thursday night at 7:15 PM)

Week 1 - Posture and Breathing – Song TBA

Week 2 - Open Mouth - "I See the Light" 

Week 3 - Head Voice - "Under the Sea" 

Week 4 - Enunciation - "Hakuna Matata" 

Week 5 – Review and parent performance

Enroll now for Voice Camp on Tuesdays at 7:15 in June in Mt. Lebanon.

Enroll now for Voice Camp on Thursday at 7:15 in June in Mt. Lebanon.

Princesses and Heroes (meets 2 times a week on Tuesday/Thursday nights from 7:15-8:15 PM)

Week 1 Drama Focus - Portraying emotions with your face, voice, posture, and locomotives

Week 2 Drama Focus - Areas of the stage and blocking

Week 3 Drama Focus - Reacting and stage presence

Week 4 Drama Focus - Review and building confidence

In addition, the group will be working on the following skills and concepts EVERY week:

ensemble development, singing in a head voice,  steady beat movement and leading with the right foot.

The thematic focus of this camp is very much about having dreams, building confidence, and self worth.  Songlist may include some or  all of the following: : "I've got a dream" (Tangled), "Let it go" (Frozen), "Go the distance" (Hercules), "Just can't wait to be king" (Lion King), "Circle of Life" (Lion King), "A whole new world" (Aladdin), "Part of your world" (Little Mermaid), "Beauty and the beast," "Just around the river bend" (Pocahontas), "Almost there" (Princess and the Frog), "I'll make a man out of you" (Mulan), "Reflection" (Mulan).

Special discount if you enroll in both Voice and Musical Theatre Camp ($40 off).

Parent Performance on July 30th at 7:45 PM.

Enroll now for Musical Theatre Camp on Tues/Thur 7:15-8:15 in July.

Learn more about these camps and other Fine Arts Camps this summer.

Babies: Combining Music and Sensory Play to Explore the World

BABY SENSES: EXPLORING THE WORLD

Sometimes it seems like young babies do little more than eat, sleep, cry, and generate dirty diapers.  But it only seems that way.  In truth, babies are busy using all of their senses to take in the world around them.  Even the youngest baby lying in his crib is constantly discovering things and learning about his surroundings by listening to his parents' voices, seeing his mobile spinning overhead, and feeling the softness of his swaddling blanket.  In Kindermusik, we engage baby in sensory exploration by introducing baby-safe objects (sensory bottles, chime balls, scarves, and shakers) that support baby's play.

On our blog - Read how music activities (including instrument exploration) support your child's cognitive development!

Kindermusik@Home:

• Log in to your Kindermusik @ Home account, and go on a Sensory Walk, with baby! 
• Then, expand baby's exposure to different music styles, using our Music Styles Cheat Sheet. 
• Next, get out your Kindermusik baby tambourine, and turn on a favorite song from your Home CD. 
• Help baby explore ways to play with the tambourine.  Can he follow with his eyes, as you shake and move the tambourine from side to side?  Can baby grasp the instrument?  Has she figured out the cause & effect that when she moves the tambourine, it makes a sound?

Teaching Preschoolers about Musical Expression: Articulation

MUSICAL EXPRESSIVENESS - ARTICULATION (LEGATO & STACCATO)

Making music is natural and spontaneous for young children!  It begins within, and then emerges in the form of self-expression.  'The joy of creating something is exhilarating.  Children, especially, enjoy the creative process, loving every minute of the making.  Creative thinking and personal emotion combine into an individual's artistic expression - a kind of expression where there is no right of wrong... Making art fulfills... a need for self-expression... Children crave the creative outlet that making things provides.' - Kids Create!: Art & Craft Experiences for 3-9 year olds, by Laurie Carlson, p. 6
When we offer your child choices, in Kindermusik class, such as 'fast, or slow?' and 'legato, or staccato?,' we are offering her choices which help her to create the song in a way that expresses her own unique view of the song on that day. 

On our blog - read 4 Benefits of Music for Preschoolers (including self-expression!)

Kindermusik@Home:

• Log in to your Kindermusik @ Home account, and Be a Butterfly! How does your child move as a caterpillar?  What color cocoon does he prefer?  Does she like flying up high best, or down low?
• Next, play Which Two! 
• Then, cue up 'Come Fly With Me,' from your home CD.  Take turns flying in a legato, smooth, connected way, and then hopping/looking for worms in a staccato, bouncy, disconnected way. 

Teaching Children to Sing

YOUR CHILD'S SINGING VOICE (SOL & MI)

Did you know that, in the Western world, children usually learn to sing the notes 'sol' & 'mi' first?  Think of  'Rain, Rain, Go Away,'  'A Tisket, A Tasket,' and our Kindermusik song, 'Seesaw...'  All are built around that 'sol-mi' interval!  In Kindermusik class, we foster your child's singing success by including 'sol-mi' songs in our repertoire - inviting him to join in singing, by starting with notes that may come more naturally to him.  Singing benefits us physically, emotionally, personally, and socially.  It exercises major muscle groups in the upper body.  It is an aerobic activity that improves the efficiency of your cardiovascular system, and encourages us to take in more oxygen (increasing our alertness).  Singing also releases endorphins into the body, helping to lower stress levels, and rid the body of tension. 

On our blog  - read how music therapy (including singing) benefits babies! 

Kindermusik@Home:

• Log in to your Kindermusik @ Home account, and read 'In My Sandbox' with your child!  For fun, you could sing to the tune of 'I Like to Walk in my Backyard,' as you turn each page ('I like to sit in my sandbox to see what I can see,' or 'I like to sit in my sandbox to see what I can see,' etc). 
• Next, cue up the 'Seesaw' song on your home CD.  Find fun ways for your child to move up & down, during the song.  Can she sing along with this 'sol-mi' song?  What if you add vocal sound effects when you move up & down? 
• Then, 'Chalk it Up!' Make homemade chalk, and create some fun new ways to play!  Can your voice follow the car as it drives on the chalky road?  Does it drive up & down hills?  Can you make up a new 'sol-mi' song as it goes? (Car, car, up & down, Car goes up.... Car goes down?)

Toddler: Using our Voices Like Instruments

Louis Armstrong is credited with creating 'scat singing' (where the voice emulates an instrument by singing nonsense syllables instead of words).  The story goes that Armstrong showed up to a gig having forgotten his horn.  His solution?  Sing all of the parts, instead!  When we focus on specific sounds, or phonemes, in Kindermusik (like when we sang 'moo moo moo' together, during our Hello song), we are making scat-like sounds, too!  Not only that, but we are fostering your child's singing voice, and his reading development.  Nonsense words can help your child focus on a specific sound (like the 'ee'  sound in 'eensy weensy')  Your child gets many opportunities to hear & practice that sound, as we sing the song & do the motions together.  Over time, your child' ears will begin to recognize and remember this sound so that she can also pick it out of other words and use it more fluently.  This awareness of tiny sounds, which are the word-building blocks called phonemes, is a crucial pre-reading skill. 

On our blog: sing with the scat cat, and Scooby-Dooby-Doo-Wap, together!

Kindermusik@Home

• Log in to your Kindermusik @ Home account, and be Bears & Bunnies! 
• Next, cue up the Hello song, on your home CD.  What silly sounds can you think of, to sing together?  Use our ideas from class to get started (la-la-la; moo-moo-moo; doo-bee-doo), then see what other ideas your child might have. 
• Then, play the Which Dog? game!  Can you make different dog sounds for each one?