Background: Music Preschool is a group music class in Aptos, California for children ages 2-6, specially designed by Heather Thompson. Even though preschoolers are not ready to sit at the piano for a 30-minute lesson, they are ready to learn about music and have fun with it! Heather signed up for many different baby and toddler music classes after having her own children, but never found a program that really prepared children for formal music lessons. As a result, she decided to use her unique training in piano performance, private piano instruction, music theory, and dance to create a multifaceted music class for young children.
Class Activities: Music Preschool is designed to make music education fun! We will sing, dance, listen, and really learn about music. Your child will study musical terms like treble clef, quarter note, allegro and staccato (Yes! Even your 2 year old can say “legato”). Musical concepts like tempos and major / minor tonalities will be taught. Your child will also learn about composers, various genres of music and motor skills will be enhanced with finger play and movement activities. Other fun activities will include choreographed dances and instruments.
What Makes Music Preschool Unique?: Many child music classes teach cultural diversity, but the music is usually generated from a recording that has the same singer for each style of song. Music Preschool will expose children to the authentic sounds of Bali music, Opera, Latin, Reggae, Broadway, Classical, and more. Music Preschool will actually prepare your child for formal music lessons with an education about musical concepts, terminology and composers.
Why Is Music So Important for Preschoolers?
ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2009) — Children exposed to a multi-year program of music display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers, according to a study published in the journal Psychology of Music.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2008) — A Harvard-based study has found that children who study a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no instrumental training on tests measuring verbal ability and visual pattern completion.
Stanford University research has found for the first time that musical training improves how the brain processes the spoken word, a finding that researchers say could lead to improving the reading ability of children who have dyslexia and other reading problems. November 17, 2005|By Carrie Sturrock, Chronicle Staff Writer
ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2006) — Researchers have found the first evidence that young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.
