Studio3Music Blog

Posts Tagged ‘music’

Jan
22

Immediate Scholarship Openings

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Education

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.

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Jan
6

When it comes to your child’s education, why music matters.

Posted in Child Development, Education, Music and the brain

I’m a Suzuki momma. I have a flute playing 7th grader. And my 6 year old uses a glockenspiel in her Kindermusik Young Child class. To me, music is as important to children’s development as eating your vegetables. And your fish. And getting enough vitamin D. Oh, and washing your hair when you are a pre-adolescent and don’t take a shower voluntarily anymore.

In fact, as I write this, I am sitting here doing my best to force motivate my violin player through his practice.  It’s not always easy. He’d rather be playing Xbox, or tug-a-war with his dog, or making up stories with his Halo Megabloks – anything but practicing. (Except, well, taking a shower and washing his hair, of course.)

But I know something he doesn’t. Finnish researchers (Did you know my maiden name was Koivisto? Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I like these scientists so much) have just developed a new method that shows the wide neural networks (including motor, emotions and creativity) that become activated all over the brain as music is listened to. Now scientists have an even better way to understand how music affects us.

Just like eating your vegetables and fish and getting enough vitamin D have a profound impact on my children’s physical health and development, regular music lessons/classes from an early age increases my children’s ability to learn. That’s a scientific fact, not just my opinion.

Here are a few examples of how scientists and researches believe music helps the brain:

  • Studies have shown that music lessons/classes assist the brain to process sounds more efficiently. This means that when your child is trying to stay focused on reading a history text in a noisy classroom, he or she will have an easier time concentrating than a non lesson taker.
  • Fast forward to a grown up job in one of those tiny cubicles. Multi-tasking and concentrating in a busy, loud office is an essential skill, one your violin player is much more likely to have.
  • One researcher has found that the silence between two musical notes triggers the brain cells and neurons, which are responsible for the development of sharp memory.
  • Other studies demonstrate that children who undergo musical training have a better verbal recall than those who have none. The amount of information that can be recalled increases the longer their period of musical training.
  • Learning a second language is mandatory for high school graduation. Musicians are much better than non musicians at discerning the subtleties in pitch in foreign languages. This is especially helpful for tonal languages, like Mandarin.
  • Coordination and concentration are also improved when a child takes instrument lessons. Think about what a flute player does all at the same time – moves both hands, reads music, listens to the players around him, watches the conductor – that’s a lot to coordinate!
  • We know that music stimulates the areas of the brain that are responsible for planning and analyzing, thereby improving your organizational skills and making you more capable of handling math, reasoning and other cognitive tasks.
  • And I think most importantly, when a child masters a piece of music or a difficult technique, it provides a sense of accomplishment, and gives a boost in confidence that spills over into all areas of life and produces a desire to tackle more challenges.

I want my children to grow up and have a good work ethic, an eagerness to try new things, the ability to reason and think, and the confidence that they can successfully navigate life.  The music they participate in now will help them accomplish just that.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is going to make salmon burgers tomorrow night for dinner. After she wrestles her violin-playing 9 year old into the shower in the morning.

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Dec
25

Listening to the Music Inside

Posted in Music and the brain

As a little girl, my first musical memory was singing “I’m a Little Teapot” for my family.  A lot. I either sang it really well, or was just incredibly cute doing it- I prefer to think I was both.

 

Can’t you just hear that song in your head right now?  I also remember sitting next to our stereo speaker, asking my dad over and over to replay “The Chipmunk Song” (Christmas Don’t Be Late).   Now, if you were a kid in America in 1958, (see picture of my older brother and me), the previous sentence should immediately trigger your memory to play that silly melody.

 

What song does this snowy picture immediately remind you of?  Yes, “Frosty the Snowman!” Did you brain “play” it for you when you thought of it?

This silent, “inner hearing”, or audiation, is the ability to “hear” music when no musical sound is present. When you audiate, you have internalized and are “thinking” music. For example, have you ever found yourself with a song “going through your head?” You’re audiating! Being able to hear music in this way is an important part of musical literacy, just as being able to think thoughts without speaking them aloud is an important in language and thought development.

Dr. Edwin Gordon defined audiation as “the hearing and comprehending of sound that is not physically present.” According to Gordon, “audiation is to music as thinking is to language.” Just as children babble before speaking and thinking in language, they also progress through steps in music before they fluently speak and think in music.

Tips for parents: This is a fun game to play with in the car, in the kitchen, or while cuddling on a lazy Saturday morning when the children pile in bed with you. Start singing a favorite song, and then stop before you sing the last note of a phrase or the end of the song. Wait and see if your child sings it for you. If he does, he is successfully “thinking music,” or hearing it in his head.  – Theresa Case

What I think is really cool, (being a music geek), is all the ways we can use this “inner hearing” in our everyday lives.  When someone asks you, “what is the 10th letter of the alphabet?” your mind automatically plays the ABC song to help you find the letter “J.”  When faced with a word we do not recognize, we “sound out” the syllables in our heads to try to figure it out. (Like the word, “audiation”)!  We use familiar melodies to help children with everyday tasks when we sing, “toys away, toys away,” or “this is the way we brush our teeth.”

In Kindermusik classes, we practice “hearing the music inside” in many different ways:  Asking children what a bear or a train sounds like before playing the sound clip for them, leaving out successive words in “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,”  or the letters B-I-N-G-O in you-know-what song.  We take familiar melodies and change the words to suit the situation, as in “Got a Rock in my Pocket.”  We then use this song as a humming activity.  Humming is another way of “hearing the music inside,” as we usually think of the words of a song while making humming the notes.  We expose children to many types of music to provide them with a broad and varied musical vocabulary on which to build their future musical experiences.

And remember, when we share all these musical experiences together in class, whether playing drums to “African Noel,” dancing to “The Sugar Plum Fairy,” or rocking to Greensleeves, we are sharing all of our collected memories and feelings about that music with all the other children and grownups in class.  We all bring to each activity our own life experiences and are allowed to share in the joy of the moment with others, in addition to creating new ones for our children.

One more picture for you, so I’ll know what classic song is playing as your part of “listening to the music inside.”

-posted by Miss Judy, who constantly gets music “stuck” inside of her head, and loves it!

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Dec
20

The Latke Song for Hanukkah, Studio3Music Style

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Symphony Concerts

If you came to our Holiday Concert, you were at the premiere of a brand new Hanukkah song! We thought you and your children would like to see it here. Be sure to note how the kitchen gets messier and messier as the days go on! Here it is in digital format.

Click on the image below to see the book full-size. For the best viewing, click on the double page button to the left of the X on the top bar. As you listen to the song, flip the pages in time to the words.  Please feel free to share this with your family and friends via Facebook or email them the blog link. Enjoy!

-posted by Miss Analiisa on behalf of all of us at Studio3Music, who wish you a very warm and happy Hanukkah and Christmas season, filled with love, joy and peace.

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Dec
17

Reimagining Jingle Bells

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family

If Jingle Bells is the first Christmas song you remember, you’re in good company.  Jingle Bells is possibly the most performed and recognized secular holiday song all around the world.

Just imagine you weren’t slightly sick of this ubiquitous song and think about it as though it was the first time you’d ever heard it.  It has a lively tune. It’s really easy to sing along with, and the lyrics paint a compelling picture. Dashing through the snow.  A one-horse open sleigh, Laughing all the way. Making spirits bright. A sleighing song tonight. No wonder people love this song. Wouldn’t you enjoy riding in that sleigh on a dark, starry night, being pulled behind some Belgian horses with steam coming from their nostrils as they tossed their manes and bells jingled in the crisp night air? I would!

Back in the 1800’s, when horses were still the main mode of transportation, sleigh riding was popular.  James Lord Pierpont wrote his song originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh” about the sleigh races held on Salem Street in Medford Square, Massachusetts.  Records show Pierpont’s song about this winter event was copyrighted September 16, 1857.

Today in Medford, you can find a plaque commemorating the “Birthplace of Jingle Bells” at the Simpson Tavern–19 High Street, in case you go looking. The lively tone and mood of Pierpont’s song befits a tavern.  I can picture the men and women, exhilarated and flushed from the brisk outdoor air, coming in to Simpson’s place to laugh and talk about the race. I picture Pierpont at the piano, coaxed into entertaining the crowd, coming up with this lively ballad about their winter night reveries as the fire of the tavern crackles in the background.  Laughter rings through the warm room and the horses bells can be heard in the distance. Perhaps some races are still in progress as the group warms up with ale and friendship.

To be fair I must tell you that there is some controversy about the writing of Jingle Bells. Some claim that the song was written by Pierpont for a Thanksgiving program for Sunday school children while he lived in Savannah, Georgia. The citizens of Medford, MA, refute that claim and historians continue the debate.

I obviously think Jingle Bells is a song worthy of a fresh look this holiday season. So, here are the lyrics for you to enjoy as you picture yourself back in New England during a snowy Christmas season. Frankly, I’m having trouble imaging Pierpont writing this song in Georgia!

Dashing thro’ the snow,
In a one-horse open sleigh,
O’er the hills we go,
Laughing all the way;
Bells on bob tail ring,
Making spirits bright,
Oh what sport to ride and sing
A sleighing song to night.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what joy it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago,
I thought I’d take a ride,
And soon Miss Fannie Bright
Was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank;
Misfortune seemed his lot,
He got into a drifted bank,
And we, we got upsot.

Chorus

A day or two ago,
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed as there I sprawling lie,
But quickly drove away.

Chorus

Now the ground is white
Go it while you’re young,
Take the girls to night
And sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bob tailed bay
Two forty as his speed.
Hitch him to an open sleigh
And crack, you’ll take the lead.

Chorus

Additional song notes:  Jingle is not a kind of bell, it is an imperative verb. And bobtail simply means that they “bobbed” or cut short the tail of the horse, which was the style of the day.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who has actually ridden in a one-horse open sleigh on a starry night in Montana—one of the highlights of her life!

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