We focus on musical cues that help your child develop the skills to listen and follow directions: Walking, running, jumping, marching, tip-toeing, and galloping games which feature musical cues for starting and stopping. Musical listening games which link musical cues to certain motor activities. Role-playing games that link a song’s verse to one type of activity and a song’s chorus to another. And others.

More movement and music-making, less talking, better attention!  When we focus on listening and paying attention, we engage in musical play that appeals to our senses and encourages physical movement.  This attunes the students to the body’s felt sense.  As the students increase their ability to pay attention, variations can be added which increase both the complexity and the enjoyment of the play.

Using catchy songs, we encourage students to supply rhythmic fills either vocally or with an instrument. The student must be able to narrow focus to “the special part,” anticipate the rhythmic fill and supply it in time.  In order to do that, the student must detect a pattern in the musical phrase.  The student also internalizes the pattern in order to play a role in the song by supplying the rhythmic fill.  The final touch is using an instrument, be it hands, vocals, or rhythm instrument.

Instrument inhibition takes place when a student inhibits the impulse to play the instrument in a random, arbitrary manner in favor of using the instrument in a purposeful way. Instrument inhibition is a sign that a student possesses the necessary self-control to inhibit use of the instrument and has the listening and comprehension skills to understand how to respond appropriately with the instrument. We try to make it more fun to use an instrument purposefully than to use an instrument randomly.

We work on memory by performing multi-step musical tasks that encourage listening, sequencing and following directions. We also use coded commands during the course of a musical play exercise.  Sometimes the challenge is just remembering what the commands mean.  Sometimes it's recognizing a musical pattern that triggers the command.  By improving a child’s memory, recognition & sequencing ability, that child is better equipped for succeeding in any formal education environment.

Body imitation, mirroring, call & response are essential for brain development.  Imitation doesn’t simply signal development and mastery, such motions trigger development and mastery.  The kinesthetic learning inherent in bodily imitation later manifests as concepts and ideas (that can only emerge from kinesthetic experience).

Since music is essentially a means of communication, it inherently involves others.  In both music and dance, the ability to cooperate effectively is essential.  Cooperation can take the form of a circle dance, dance partners, call and response, taking turns, playing instruments in harmony, and playing a part in a song or play. 

In cooperation, we inspire each other and experience ourselves as part of a group.