Contents

How Do I Get Ready? Concert Overview What to Bring & What to Wear Concert Etiquette After the Concert What Will I Sing? What Will I Hear? What Will I See? What Will I Learn? Who Will I Meet? What is Kindermusik?

How Do I Get Ready?

So, you’re about to bring your children to the Tiny Tots Symphony Serenade Concert, and wonder, “Should I do something to prepare them?” After all, this may be one of their first experiences with a concert style event. Even if they’ve been to several past concerts, you’ve probably realized that every concert is different. Each concert has a new musical focus, different instruments, and styles of music. Read on for tips to prepare your child for a super concert experience.

Concert Overview

“Swing Me High and Swing Me Low” showcases a Brass Quintet. There will also be singers, a piano, and an accompanist who plays with the brass. We will all make music separately as well as together during the concert.

Our concert is very interactive with many opportunities for you and your child to participate. We will invite you to sing along with us, and we really, really do want you to sing.

There will be a lap bounce with lots of hopping up and some tickling, a clap along, a story that goes up and down with pictures on the screen, and a finger play. At the end of the concert, there will be a lullaby and snuggling.

The more involved the children are, the more they will carry out the door with them. (But for those of you have “watchers” instead of “do-ers” don’t worry, that intense watching is their way of doing.)

What to Bring & What to Wear

If your child is particularly slow to warm up to new situations, you may want to bring a familiar item along with you. A special blanket or stuffed animal can reduce fear and ease the transition of going from place to place for the child. This is especially true if the Concert Hall is a new experience for your little one. A seat farther back in the auditorium can also help.

Fancy clothes are not necessary for young children. (Dressing yourself is perhaps much more important.) So although you’d love for your children to wear the matching outfits you all wore when you had those darling portraits taken, if they balk, let them wear what they choose. We understand. We all have kids ourselves. We’ve all taken our child to a concert in their spider man shirt with the wings under the arms. We feel your pain. But we really like happy children, and who doesn’t love a Spiderman shirt?

Concert Etiquette

There are a few concert etiquette items you can address with your child. Although as performers, we expect a bustling, wiggling crowd who may stand in front of their seats or bounce on them rather than sitting. So, just focus respect for other concert goers: 1. Ask older children to use their whispering voice if they need to ask you a question. 2. Remind them to refrain from kicking the back of the chair in front of them. 3. For the child who prefers to stand in front of their seats, not touching the person in front of them is also a good reminder.  

After the Concert

When the concert is over, you can optimize your child’s experience by asking them questions. Open ended questions requiring more than a yes or no answer are best.

With a younger child it’s good to start with a general question such as “What was your favorite part of the concert?” The older child can be asked specific questions such as “Which was your favorite of the brass instruments? “Which song did you like best?”

Wait to share your opinion until they have expressed theirs. Sometimes your opinion will overshadow theirs and stop the conversation before it’s even begun! Once you return home you can return to your computer and re-visit the pictures you looked at before the concert and listen again to some snippets of music.

See if your child can identify which instrument they are hearing in a recording, or the parts of the instruments in the pictures. Let them pick a song or two to download from iTunes or another music website that includes brass instruments. We hope you enjoy your time with us. Remember, we really do want you to sing!

What Will I Sing?

We get lots of requests for the words to the songs we sing at the concerts. Here are the some of the lyrics so you can sing your favorites together again and again! Although we’ve written new lyrics, you can find the melodies on the mentioned Kindermusik CD’s. Click to view the songs.

What Will I Hear?

As you know, we’ll be meeting members of the brass family during the concert. Explore pictures of each instrument so you and your child can talk about the instruments before and after the concert. Your child will be seeing and hearing a Tuba, a Trombone, a French Horn and 2 Trumpets (a regular one and a piccolo trumpet).

Brass can be rather loud, so if you have a sound-sensitive child, be sure to let them know that they can put their hands over their ears to filter the sound – we’ll understand! Listening to some snippets of brass quintet music can easily be done on iTunes for free. Just do a search for “brass quintet” and listen to the 30 second previews. You may even find some things you’d like to have in your library. The more varied a child’s listening experience is the better!

What Will I See?

During our story, Miss Stacey and Mr. Michael will be operating two beautiful fish puppets we had created to match the watercolor illustrations that will be projected on the large screen.  Learn more about our puppets.

What Will I Learn?

Our concept focus for this concert is on high and low. We’ll listen, sing, move and watch “high and low”.

Children learn best when concepts are presented to them in extreme opposites, and if those concepts can be tied to a physical experience then they are even quicker to learn and truly understand a concept.

Stories are an integral part of each Symphony Serenade performance. When we read to our children we are doing more than establishing a life-long love of literature. We are helping them to understand how our language works and how we use words to communicate ideas and feelings. This understanding can lead them to be better communicators as they develop and grow.

We’ll laugh and tickle. Research shows that laughter boosts the immune system for 3 days! Laughter increases white blood cell activity and changes the chemical balance of the blood. Laughter also reduces stress, and low stress enhances the brain’s receptivity to learning.

At the end of every concert, we’ll snuggle and rock. Rocking has many benefits, with vestibular stimulations, bonding, and listening to music being at the top of the list. Equally valuable is the opportunity during this time to just do nothing. Children need time to be stimulated and engaged, and they need time to be at leisure. This down time is physically necessary for the brain to process the learning that occurs during structured activities and interaction.

Who Will I Meet?

In addition to the brass quintet, you’ll meet The Story Fairy, Miss Stacey, Mr. Chadd, Mr. Michael and Miss Allison! Here’s a little more about Miss Allison: Miss Allison grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming (that’s why her hair is so messy) where she participated in every musical, and theatrical event that the city had to offer- youth through high school choir, Old Fashioned Melodrama, Shakespeare in the Park, and drama and competitive speech. She graduated from Loretto Heights College in Denver Colorado with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre and a minor in Directing and an emphasis in Costume Design. (She figured the more she could do the less tables she’d have to wait on.) After graduating she taught music, theatre and dance at the Denver School for Gifted and Creative Students. Miss Allison also did professional work in Dinner Theatre, and non profit theatre organizations in the Denver area. Then lightening struck and totally changed the course of her life- she was cast as Laurie in Oklahoma! opposite Curly, played by a wonderful young scientist who was dabbling in theatre for the summer. Miss Allison and Michael have been married since 1993, and have three marvelous sons. After moving to Washington she returned to the classroom, this time with preschoolers. Another bolt of lightening stuck when she was asked if she’d ever thought of teaching Kindermusik…She hadn’t, but it didn’t take long for the equation to add up to the job that she’d never dreamed existed – the perfect one! She’s been teaching Kindermusik since 2000. Her flexibility in the classroom to adapt curriculum to the needs of the particular children in class is well known. Miss Allison became a partner at Studio3Music in 2007.

What Is Kindermusik?

Kindermusik is the world’s most trusted name in music and movement classes for young children. And research proves that music is the best activity for nurturing every area of a child’s development. From birth onward, music is the optimum vehicle for learning! Every Kindermusik class immerses your child in a rich, developmentally appropriate environment. Our multi-sensory approach allows children to see, feel, hear and then express concepts in their own creative way. Join us as we dance, sing, listen, play and pretend. Connect with other families, and discover how music makes parenting easier. Studio3Music has been honored with Maestro Status – Conductor’s Circle from Kindermusik International, and we are ranked number ONE out of over 5500 programs worldwide! Enroll in one of our 10 Studio3Music locations in Seattle, Redmond and around the greater Puget Sound area. We’d love to have you! For more information, click on our logo above.