When I started this blog in May I gave you all an introduction to Music Together in a
previous post of mine. I had no readers at the time so I don't know how many have actually seen it...but backtrack and check it out!
We are totally MT groupies! Oliver had his first class of the summer session on Saturday (his fourth consecutive session). AND he is registered for the fall session! We are very excited to be able to continue him in these classes.
I would love to hear from other parents of the Music Together program, or any other music program for that matter. Share your child's musical journey with me! I am so amazed to see what Oliver has taken from these classes that I'd love to compare experiences.
When we started our first session last fall Oliver had just learned to crawl. In fact, he graduated from army crawl to hands-and-knees crawl the evening after his very first class. Now, he is a runner! That in itself is such a change. I love seeing how his independent mobility is incorporated into his musical appreciation. I, myself, have learned so much since we started last September that I know he doesn't need to be sitting still to be getting a ton out of the class. He sits still the least, but in my opinion, participates the most.
Unfortunately, our regular teacher had something come up and missed class this week. Fortunately, our substitute Val brought her baritone ukulele and allowed the kids to explore the new instrument. We are definitely looking forward to seeing Nik next week for class. I know Oliver will be so excited to be reunited after the break between sessions.
Oliver's Musical Breakthroughs:
Oliver leads the class- he is anxious to get started and lets Nik know that it's time to start the show at the beginning of class. He then anticipates what Nik is going to do and will do it just a second too early. It's adorable. It melts my heart a bit. "You're going to steal my job," Nik said to him one day.
Oliver dances- Baby's got moves! It started as some quick stepping and has turned into spinning and clapping. He will even do the Imagination Movers dance moves ("Reach High, Think Big, Work Hard, Have Fun".... but he really only "works hard"; and from the closing song "Jump Up, Get Down, Stand Up, Turn Around" ...he does every one of those moves).
Oliver remembers music- with every class we get a set of two CDs. We pretty much focus on whatever the current CD is and replay the others during breaks between sessions. We recently rediscovered the first CD we got almost a year ago (Oliver was around 9 months old)... and he remembers the songs! He remembers them so well that started clapping along with a song seconds before the clapping started. I was driving the first time he did this and was so surprised that I didn't have to coax him to clap. So cool. We've also gotten him to "shake those 'simmons down" along with the song and it's too cute. Too cute!
Oliver loves instruments- we learned this very early on but I hadn't realized just HOW much he loves instruments. I had gotten a ToysRUs rewards coupon for $5 and thought, "Hey it's a rainy day, let's take a ride and see if we can find a cheap little toy." Well...he was miserable the entire time we were in the store. No toy held his interest at all. Then I took him over to where the instruments are and showed him a ukulele. Loved it. Found a Handy Manny guitar. Double loved it. Keyboards? Oh we wish that $5 rewards was more like $100!
Oliver sings- it took me a second to notice that was what he was doing, but he started singing along to the Sesame Street theme song and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. It's just a high pitch squeal but it's definitely him singing along. In the car, I've also realized he is singing along to songs on the radio. He has joined in on two different Mariah Carey songs, The Who ("Whoooooo are you? Who who? Who who?" of course), and the intro to Alice in Chains' Rooster. I think as long as there is some very high notes he is going to join in.
Here is a picture of Oliver during his first session of Music Together
And here he is now!
Our Music Together experience is offered by Musical Folk. Again, I expressed my love for Musical Folk back in May, so be sure to read that post!
Here it is.
