Don’t believe that? Okay. Truth be told – I’m a teacher through and through. I strive to appreciate every child I work with, and if you ask me about your child, (as some of you have), I’m happy to give you my observations. I really do want you help you be successful in the art of parenting.

I can also share what I’ve learned about how to really get to know them. And why would you want to get to know them? Besides the obvious fact that you like your children, of course! Your children are born with unique personalities, skills, gifts, talents, learning styles, and characteristics. It’s our job as parents to support our children as they mature.

Understanding your child will assist you to guiding them as they grow. For instance, knowing your child’s learning style (In order to understand concepts, do they need to see it, hear it, or do it?) will tell you how to help them with learning to read, tell time, or grasp their addition facts.

Children arrive with some prewiring. I don’t mean that they can’t change and grow, but they aren’t blank slates, either. How my 3 children behaved in utero was how they acted after they arrived on the outside. One was a poker – he’s 13 and he still “pokes” at me verbally if he wants my attention. One was a roller – I looked like a pregnant Sigourney Weaver from the movie Alien. He still is a whole body mover. He needs to move to learn. He moves when things get emotionally difficult to deal with. He rolls on the floor a few times in the middle of a particularly intense violin lesson, and then gets up and is ready to work again. My two boys will always be pokers and rollers.

The best way to understand your children is to simply observe them. Playing, working, sleeping, eating. What are the character traits that continually show themselves? Are they introverted or extroverted? What are their favorite activities? Those things are your child’s “normal”. Most of the time, your child’s “normal” is perfectly okay. And you need to be okay with it, too.

You don’t like going to the zoo every weekend, but your daughter begs, rain or shine? Think about what clues that gives you. Nurture that love of nature. If you don’t want to go to the zoo again, find new museums, take a field trip to the vet’s office, check out library books about reptiles for your visual learner. Get a pet for your “doer” to take care of.

Want to get to know someone? Ask a lot of questions! So, ask your child open-ended questions. (Those questions that require more than a yes or no answer.) Instead of asking your child who they played with in school, ask them what they played.

Miss Allison (a great observer of children) gave me some more ideas to pass along to you:

When you read a book to them ask them what their favorite part was… who their favorite character was…

Have a verbal child tell you a story. You’ll discover a lot about what they think about, and feel, are scared of… wishing for…

Watch how they play with small pretend play manipulatives: people toys (like action figures and Polly Pocket type things) and anthropomorphized animal toys, too, plastic animals or dinosaurs, small stuffed animals. Large motor pretend play is usually done with other children, but small motor pretend play is often done alone, so you only see what your child is interested in rather than what they are willing to compromise on.

Pay attention to the skill sets that confuse them or make them frustrated. Those activities are pointing you toward the areas the child isn’t as comfortable with, may be stuck with, or toward personality traits such as perfectionist, or short tempered.

Make a point of playing with your child in different areas of development. Do a puzzle one day, take a nature hike the next. Ride bikes, or work on pedaling, build with blocks, color and do a craft, sing a song, tell a story so that you can see where your child is gifted, where they struggle and most importantly, where they are growing and where they are not growing.

With lots of observation and interaction, you’ll have the knowledge of what tools and toys to provide, to assist them in reaching their next level of maturity.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who sees so many of her sister’s and mother’s traits in her daughter that it’s more than a bit freaky.

Image: Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

At our Christmas concert in December we sang the “Hallelujah Chorus”.  I’ve always loved the Hallelujah Chorus.  The best part of my Birthday this year was getting up at 5:30 am to make it to Choir rehearsal with the high-school students who joined us at the concert.  I sang the “Hallelujah Chorus” three times before 7:30 am… oh, bliss….

And in January we focused a whole show on Mozart.  There are scads of Mozart pieces on my Happy List.  I love Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, I love the Piano Sonata in C Major, I love the Haffner Symphony and the Piano Concerto No. 22, and there are so many things on my LOVE IT Mozart list that I can’t even remember the names of some of them.

On March 17th, at our Symphony Serenade concert, we will be putting the spotlight on another one of my favorite pieces of music (and one that is definitely on my Happy List), Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.

I love the playful nature of this piece, and I can’t ever quite get the vision of Fantasia’s capering cupids, centaurs and Pegasus out of my mind when I hear it.  I did manage to quash them down low enough to write a story without any fantastical mythical creatures. However, it does have animals, and they do talk, so perhaps I haven’t escaped the fantastical after all.

You’ll also be hearing part of the Overture for William Tell (yes, the famous part), the theme from the Lone Ranger.  There is nothing quite like hearing that brass fanfare and watching the faces of the children light up as they realize something wonderful is coming.  That fanfare creates a sense of excitement; it stirs something deep within us.  It literally screams, “Heroic deeds are heading your way!”

Introducing classical music to your child is fun, and not as hard we seem to think…. It can be daunting to search for a piece of music: the names are odd, technical descriptions that read like food labels for items produced entirely from polysyllabic ingredients that never existed in nature, and most of the composers have names that are hard to spell, too.

But coming to a Symphony Serenade concert is a way to find music that your child can connect with, and sing along with.  And if you’d like to know the name of a piece of music we’ve focused on or the name of the composer you can always send us an email, we’d love to pass that information on to you (it’s not like we announce them during the show).  And we’d love to give you few pointers for looking farther afield in the classical world, too. If you like X you just might like Y.

And yes, my kids did listen to classical music when they were little. And they liked it.   They were moved to play a game of monster search through and behind the furniture in my family room when the radio station we listened to in Denver played the Sinfonia Antartica, and everyday at noon all the kids came running from where ever they were in the house to hear Mozart’s Impresario ring in Mid Day Mozart on that same radio station.

I think it’s what has saved Nathaniel from the horrors of the really depressing music his peers listen to, because I know I gave him a musical heritage that is deep and wide, long and curvy with twists and turns and pockets of a little bit of everything. (Except smooth jazz.  I have saved him from that. And jazz fusion, too!)

So come see us on March 17^th.  They’ve just released few tickets for the 9:30 show. The 10:30 is sold out on the website, but you can call the box office at 206.215.4747 and plead.  And when you come, you’ll find out what you might miss if you sleep too late when the Rooster loses his ear shattering COCK-A-DOODLE DOO!

-posted by Miss Allison, who stayed up late last night with the prop making crew sewing costumes for sheep, cows, horses, ducks and a rooster, and creating a giant tree!

The researchers gathered two groups of college students, gave them all an assignment to do, and put them in two separate rooms.  In one room they played Bach and Dvorak – both classical composers.  In the other room, they played hardcore techno rock.  (I really don’t know what that means, but it does sound really awful.)  When the music/homework time was over, a group of professors went into each room and harshly critiqued the students’ work.

Can't you just hear the irritating music?

Now the study got interesting.  The students in the techno room and the students in the classical room reacted differently to the criticism.  The techno students were much more likely to get angry than the classical students.  Listening to the techno music increased their levels of aggression, and decreased their happiness levels.  I’m sure the students who listened to the classical music weren’t happy about having their work reviewed so harshly, but they didn’t respond the same way as the other students.

I recently had a similar experience.  Last summer, we took our teenage sons and two friends to the amusement park in Idaho.  It’s a six hour drive, so we took turns choosing the music we would listen to.  Nathaniel, my 15-year-old son, got the first pick.  He chose Led Zepplin.  I was playing Tetris, and after the first song my game started to fall apart.

After the third song, I couldn’t stack the square pieces on top of each other, let alone make the zig-zags, and the Ls, and that other shape go together properly.  It was really irritating.  I usually play a nice clean and tidy game of Tetris.  I can “fix” a tower with multiple holes and get my stack back to solid square.  I very seldom ever clear a single line – the game is Tetris, right?  So I clear four lines at a time.

This was the worst game if Tetris I had played in years.  And I was really irritated about it.  We stopped for gas and I snapped at all four boys to clean up their snack mess, and not to wander off, and to be polite in the gas station.  They stared at me, kinda shocked. I like these kids, all of them, and seldom snap at them, even when they track filthy mud in the house, and leave their backpacks in front of the door and I can’t even get in the house. (I do make them clean it up, but with a smile and a joke.)

Gotta be Brahms or the Beatles.

By the time all eleven songs in the playlist were done my shoulders were hunched up and my skin hurt, it was crawling all over the place trying to get out of the car and then, thankfully it was my turn to pick the music.  We listened to Brahms, and I apologized for being snappy less than halfway through the first song. It was an instant fix for me.

As a footnote, Nathaniel does listen to some dreadful music, and he likes it really loud.  But recently I’ve noticed that he plays the really awful music for a little while, and then it gets swapped for Glad and the Nylons and Straight No- Chaser and the soundtrack to Glee and some wacky song sung by a Russian Bass who only says OOOO…. And I hear the Beatles and the Monkees, and I hear hope… hope that Led Zeppelin may be on the train heading out of the front door of my house, along with the other stuff that makes me cranky, so cranky I don’t even want to know their names.

-posted by Miss Allison, who wants you to head over to Facebook right now to continue the conversation by telling her what music totally drives you up a wall, makes you completely cranky and irritated, and what music  soothes your soul.

I heard an interesting program on the radio as I drove to work one morning this week about music and how it affects your mood.  I’ve always known that I was somewhat sensitive to the emotional impact of music, and that if I was in a gloomy mood I did not need to listen to Samuel Barbers’ Adagio for Strings (as lovely as it is). It is breathtakingly lovely; I can barely listen to it when I’m over the moon happy.  It exudes sadness from it’s every sound wave; it actually physically hurts me to listen to it.   So listening to it while already gloomy would be excruciating.

Music can intensify a mood for me. Listening to Copland’s Appalachian Spring while already in a happy mood will make me joyful, as will Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  Listening to Bach when I need to be productive will increase my ability to produce an organized closet or kitchen cabinet, or a well made bed. (I hate to make up the beds.)

These effects go beyond the classical world. I will enjoy mindless cleaning, like dusting and vacuuming and shelving books and bathroom scrubbing more if I have some mindless 1980’s new wave, a little Talking Heads, or the B-52’s, maybe some Paul Simon or Madonna.  The house gets cleaned faster and I feel less grumpy about it.

But if Michael gets to the stereo before I do and Alanis Morriset pours out her broken and angry heart as I dust and vacuum, I will be cranky.  I like her music, I do, but it’s not good for an activity that tends to make me less than happy anyway.

And Harry Connick Jr. gets my vote for the perfect music for making dinner or baking anything.  (Funny enough, Michael is cleaning the kitchen as I write this, singing “Love Shack”  GO B-52’s!)

-posted by Miss Allison, who says “Okay. Back to that interesting radio program tomorrow. But first, click over to Facebook and tell me what music you choose to listen to and for what task? (Cleaning, working out, focusing, etc.) See you there!”

There are two parts to self-control. The first is inhibitory control, which is the ability to stop what you are doing and wait. (The other part is impulse control, which is the ability to stop an idea or thought from becoming an action.) But as inhibitory control develops first, we’ll begin there.

In class, we’ve been playing with a chant called Giddy Up Horsey. You can do this at home, too. Put your child on your lap on the floor, and say this chant and as you bounce:

Giddy up horsey, giddy up horsey, giddy up horsey, go, go, go! Bounce your child up and down.

Giddy, up horsey, giddy up horsey, giddy up horsey WHOA!! When you get to the whoa, stop bouncing, and lean back with your child and stop. Wait quietly for a moment. Keep repeating the whole thing until the giggles subside.

Then in class, we’ve been getting up and riding stick horses around to the same chant, stopping our ponies and waiting to be told to “go” again, (the inhibitory control part) after the whoa.

Miss Allison had an interesting observation this week. She said that because the grownups were in charge of the child’s body during the bounce, they were showing the children how to control their bodies (how to stop at the appropriate time). The grownups were teaching the children the pattern and the how of the going, stopping, and waiting.

When the children got up on the stick horses, they were more ready and able to control their own bodies. They were familiar with the pattern, and could anticipate the whoa. Miss Allison said that in classes that did the bounce first, before the pony riding, the children had a much higher success rate of demonstrating inhibitory control when in charge of their bodies during the pony ride, than the ones who just did the ride.

That fits with what we always say – You are your child’s first and best teacher.

So, do a little bouncing this week. And keep your eye on the blog. I’ve got an idea about how to make a really adorable stick pony to practice the riding and stopping and waiting (cleverly disguised inhibitory control practice). I just need to get the idea out of my head and take some pictures of the process. I promise – under $5 and NO sewing!

Oh, I almost forgot. For a fun stop and go game at home or in the car, check out this cute idea.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who will practice some pony riding every time she’s having difficulty practicing either inhibitory or impulse control around that Godiva sea salt dark chocolate.

Do you know someone who would love and benefit from Kindermusik, but does not have the financial resources to pay for a class?

Every year we set aside a portion of our class enrollments for scholarships for children that would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience Kindermusik.

It goes without saying (but we’ll say it anyway), that we believe that music is the most powerful tool you can give your child now for future success in school, work and life, and that everyone deserves access to a Kindermusik class. Not only for the sake of your children, but for the wonderful benefits for the grownups!

Our 2012 Scholarship application can be found HERE.

If you know a family that has a financial need and would like to participate in Kindermusik, please share this post with them. Or, like this post and it will show on your wall. You never know who it will reach that you might not otherwise have thought of.

Thanks so much for your help.

-posted on behalf of Miss Analiisa, Miss Allison and Miss Beth, who are full of the blessings they’ve received over the years from our Studio3Music families.

Our homework on day one was to make a list of our blessings.  There were dozens of questions by the other participants- “what do you define as a blessing?  How many should we write down, should they be professional or personal? Will we have to read them to the class? Is there a minimum requirement?  Will we be graded?”  They seemed quite overwhelmed by the task.

I came back in the morning with a legal sized piece of paper, covered front to back.  The rest of them, the questioners, came back with a sticky note, or a grocery list piece of paper with a couple of things jotted down.  One gal had written her blessings on the back of a receipt from the grocery store- she’d stopped for milk on the way home, so it was a short receipt, and a very short list of blessings.  I immediately felt embarrassed…  and wondered if I had somehow missed the point of the assignment.  But no- I had heard correctly- I was sure of it.  I was, and still am, a diligent student, and have always done my very best with assignments- what’s the point in doing it if you’re not going to do it well?

When it came time to turn in our lists the instructor seemed non-plussed by the tiny little lists, and I felt even more embarrassed by my tome.  I turned it in, and she immediately picked it up off the table and looked at me- I was horrified.  I was sure I had done something wrong.  And then she smiled… glanced down at my list, read a little bit and then asked me if I would read it to the class… if she hadn’t smiled I would have said no, but her smile was joyful and her eyes sparked when she asked me to read it out loud, so I agreed.

Here are some of the things I put on that list:

God, family, friends, and friends I love so well they’ve become like family, music, a sister who is my best friend, a brother who is my best friend, my mom, also my best friend, my dad- yep- my best friend, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, The Beatles and the B-52′s, soft fuzzy sweaters, feather pillows, snicker doodles, and steak cooked to a perfect barely medium rare, good movies and popcorn with lots of butter, friends to enjoy the movie with, to hold my hand and dry my tears when sorrow was on my doorstep, cozy furniture and books- good books, picture books, fat books and skinny books so long as the had characters I loved, and mostly happy endings. The list went on and on…

When I got done reading my list, at that seminar almost 25 years ago, I looked up and most of the women were crying.  One of them actually said that she felt all those things were her blessings too – how come she didn’t think of them when she made her list, the other women nodded their heads.  The instructor said that was the point of the activity, to find the good things in our lives, every last one of them, big and small, important and trivial and to be mindful of them each and every day.

So I count my blessings often because if you stay focused on the best things in life, the not so wonderful things will be easier to tackle.

Happy Thanksgiving- and kiss your little blessings for me.

-posted by Miss, Allison, who says that she was the only one who got a 100% in the Power of Positive Thinking seminar. And a cash bonus!

It’s the traditions that make Christmas and any holiday or special event stand out in our memories.  Would it be Easter without dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies, or the Fourth of July without hotdogs, apple pie and fireworks, or a wedding without rings?  The answer: of course it would, but it might feel kinda funny, especially at first.

But every one of today’s traditions, once upon a time, were new additions to a time honored event.  “Joy to the World and “Silent Night” had premiers and were the new kids on the block.  They had to worm their way into the hearts of the people and become a tried and true Christmas tradition.  So over time the traditions of all our beloved holidays have changed.

I’ve added a new tradition to my Christmas – the family concert at the Symphony.  So a part of my Christmas preparations now is writing a script (and it’s all new this year) creating props, (all those are new, too) picking the music, (all new- well, all new old music, I guess is the better way to say that) and writing new music that none of you have ever heard before.

I’ve been deciding what kind of wacky things the Story Fairy will say and do, and wear on her head, it’ll be all new wackiness, but she’ll still be bossy (that’s traditional, after all) figuring out what Stacey and Michael will argue about and who gets to cry (Stacey is so funny when she cries…) crafting a story- yes, it’s all new and working with the arranger (he’s new!)  and the illustrator.  She stays the same, thankfully! I’ve grown accustomed to her style, and love her work, which will be –don’t be shocked – all new.  And we are adding a new twist. We have invited a choir to join us for the story… there will be lots of voices singing out with Christmas and Hanukkah spirit.

Things are starting to move quickly now in our quest toward an all new Holiday Symphony Serenade Show. The illustrations have already been sent to the photographer.  The arranger is working on the lullaby this weekend, our first read through was on Sunday, and Michael and I will begin building a very large Menorah in our garage sometime this week.   The Story fairy will be welding the Shamash – you just can’t miss that!

If you’re reading this and you feel kinda mystified, then you need to add our concert series to your Holiday Traditions.  Your children will love it and you will love it.  It’s a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  There will be group singing, of course, and a bounce, and some giggles, great harmony, a steady beat and a story and a snuggle.  If you now exactly what I’m talking about, get your tickets right here…. ‘cause it’s ALL NEW…..

-posted by Miss Allison, who will see you in the lobby after the show!

I have this little guy in that Our Time class.  His name is Ben, and he’s been in class with me since before he was born. I actually think he was in class before his mother even knew she was pregnant.  After he arrived on the outside of mom, he came as a tag along in a car-seat with his older brother, and when he could sit up, he came to Village (you don’t have to wait that long… come before they sit up!) and now he is coming to his second year of Our Time.  So he’s less than three years old and has been in class longer than that.

Ben and I have a connection that I can’t quite explain… so when his mom came to me last fall and said Ben had been diagnosed somewhere on the Autism spectrum I was literally shocked. Not this child,  who is so lively and connected,  who smiles at me and hugs me and makes eye contact and snuggles into my shoulder so tight that you couldn’t slide a piece of paper between us.  Nope. I couldn’t see it… ‘cause Ben and I are connected.

But I started watching him with other folks and I did notice that he only makes eye contact with his mom and me in class. He doesn’t touch anyone but the two of us, and he doesn’t really interact with the other children, and the other moms are treated like shadows on the wall.  He is very interested in the activities, but on his terms.  So after the shock wore off, I began to understand. It didn’t change anything, ‘cause Ben and I are, well… we’re connected.

Last week in class we we’re doing the Keel Row, just like we always do after we’ve found Lukey’s Boat (Because you dance a Keel Row on a boat- duh!) But I wanted to add a level of personal connection to the communal experience of the dance so I asked the parents to call out to the children across from them and to use the child’s name when we go in and out of the circle during the refrain. The song is highly patterned- intro, verse, refrain, interlude, verse, refrain, and interlude, verse, refrain, refrain. So, there are exactly eight times in the song where the parents were calling out the kids across from them.

Last Tuesday was a running in and out day for Ben; this means he dashes into the action, watches for second or two, or maybe longer, and then dashes back out.  Sometimes back to mom, sometimes to a spot of his choosing.  I know sometimes he’s watching, sometimes he’s absorbing, but not actively focused on what’s going on.  During the dance he ran around the outside of the circle.  I could tell he was aware of what was going on, because he knew when to back up so that no one stepped on him when we were backing out of the circle.

But what happened next was so unbelievably wonderful. As we came out of the circle for the second to the last time, Ben dashed in to the middle of the circle, threw his arms up in the air and beamed at the whole class. I took the opportunity and shouted out for everyone to say hello to Ben as we came in; I fully expected him to dash out of the circle before we got there.  We all headed back in, the whole class shouting “HI BEN!” and he squealed with delight and wriggled with obvious joy, even jumping up and down a bit.  And he made eye contact with a goodly percentage of the class and was a complete member of the community.  My heart swelled… my eyes got teary.  I blinked hard and did a Scarlet O’Hara,“ I’ll think about it another day” because we we’re about half way through class. I still had plenty of work to do and no time for tears.

So I pulled out the memory and thought it about on the way home- and I realized something really important; not only did Ben choose to make a connection with his class in a socially huge way, he knew when to do it… he knew the pattern in the song, knew it was the last chance to be a part of the dance, knew when he needed to be in the center of the circle and knew how to say “MY TURN” with out any words.  I got all teary again… no matter how far away he seems sometimes, he’s not.  He’s right there, and he’s getting it.  This was only the 4^th time we’ve done the dance in class, and he knew what the pattern was, knew this was a safe place and that he could take that leap of faith to join the community.

Today, Ben danced the WHOLE dance.  Standing right next to his mom.  He kicked, he went around, he went in and out- he squealed with delight, he made eye contact with other adults.  When we read the “Pete and PJ” he Wishy Washy Whee’d with the group, right on time, every single time.    And his WHEEEEE! was whole-heartedly spectacular.

And later, when he came to drop off his big brother for his class, he gave me the sweetest hug, with his head on my shoulder, and a pat.

-posted by Miss Allison, who says, “Here comes that stamp- AFFIRMED!  I so made the right decision back when I was five and decided to be a teacher.”

Are we talking about the minute machinations we all do with our lips, teeth, tongue, and our hard and soft palettes to form phonemes?

Or do we mean the inflections in spoken language that tell a listener we are asking a question or telling a joke?

YES! Vocal development is all of these things.

I have dozens of activities I love to do in class to nurture vocal development, but I’m going to limit myself to just one today.

It’s the little ditty Above the Sea, aka “the song with the bathtub fish”. I love those fish because they open the door to world of vocal development for your child in a tangible and engaging way?

What makes this song and fish so special?

It’s a story song.  Songs that tell stories engage children in a deeper way by growing and developing and changing. They have characters to connect with, so the child’s emotions are brought into play.  This gives us a song the child is more interested in participating with.

Above the Sea has a conversation, and the song’s melodic pattern also mimics that conversation.  When we ask a question, our pitch will naturally slide up at the end of the sentence. When Little Fish asks “What’s above the sea?”, the pitch moves up as well.  So, when we sing this story we are helping our child to understand how people use language to communicate with each other.

Above the Sea also develops your child’s ability to produce spoken words.  Singing is often easier for a child than speaking, because singing is slower and more deliberate.  Syllables are broken down and clearly pronounced when you sing; consonants are enunciated and vowels are drawn out.

What will often times pass by in a blur in spoken word will be clearly heard and understood when sung.   Now they can use those words in other parts of their life, and they can sing along with the song, too.

Each of the sung patterns has visual components to accompany them. The fish face each other when they talk, and I always wiggle the fish who is talking at that moment. When they go up to the top of the sea, we all swim our fish up and sing up a scale at the same time -nice little auditory/visual connection there!

When the fish come back down, our voices descend the scale, too.  The kids can clearly see/hear/feel the patterns in the song.  The more senses we include in the learning process the deeper the learning is!

My favorite part is the verse in the middle whose words we can change.  Does your child love sharks? See the shark- hear him bark, his teeth are so scary!

Dinosaurs? See the dinosaur – and hear her roar, I think her name’s Marie!

What about Lightening McQueen? See Lightening McQueen – hear his engine scream, He’ll win the Grand Prix!

Come to class and sing me your verses. I’d love to hear them!

So go ahead – sing a fishy song with your child today to encourage their vocal development. By all means, play with your words! They are the best and cheapest toys our children will ever have. And, unlike plastic sharks and dinosaurs and Lightening McQueen cars, they will last the longest.

-posted by Miss Allison, who adores words, spoken, sung and written.