Of Joshua Bell, Beauty, and Children

A couple of years ago, the Washington Post conducted an experiment at a busy D.C. metro station during morning rush hour.  They asked Joshua Bell, one of the finest classical violinists in the world, to play his violin at the station and see what would happen.  Bell was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a [...]

Random Thoughts from Summer 2009

As I write this, my Summer 2009 session has just concluded and my summer piano lessons are nearly over.  Here are some random thoughts as I reflect upon this summer:

Babies can go from crawling to walking confidently in just a few weeks, and it’s an amazing thing to behold.
According to Landon, age 3, the new [...]

Why Does Your Child Say “Again”?

We’ve all been there.  It’s bedtime, and your child is demanding that you read “Good Night, Moon” again.  Why do they do this?  Do they want to see you pull your hair out, or develop a facial tic?  On the contrary!  As Alice Lieberman says in The Emotional Life of the Toddler: “There is a [...]

Those Amazing Babies!

Thanks to a couple of my fellow Kindermusik educators, I’ve recently come across 2 articles discussing research done on babies and music. Both of them suggest that babies are born with sensitivities to rhythm, pitch, and melody.
The first article, Babies Have A Strong Sense of Rhythm, said that newborns’ brains register changes in [...]

The Importance of Having Fun

I have written other posts in this blog about the importance of playtime and fun for young children. Here is an article on this subject from one of our nation’s strongest child development advocates. Jone Bosworth is the founding director of the Department of Early Learning for the state of Washington, and [...]

Things I Wish I Knew When My Kids Were Babies

I just finished reading an article in Parenting magazine entitled, “How To Be a Great Mom To a Baby.” If you are interested, you can read the article at Parenting’s website. (Yes, the article is from May. I’m a little behind on my reading these days.) However, it got me [...]

Which Kindermusik Class is Best for My Child?

One of the many strengths of the Kindermusik philosophy is its focus on the different developmental needs of each stage of childhood. Each level is designed to give your child the most appropriate, most stimulating environment to nurture their developmental needs. We celebrate and explore each age rather than rush forward, coaxing forth [...]