Expanding into Early Childhood Music and Movement Classes
As Director or Manager of your own Music School or Performing Arts Academy you are constantly faced with the problem of attracting new students. Given the influence of new media, parents are finding out more and more about the benefits of music in early childhood, and so expanding into this area seems like a good option for getting known by more families. This may provide you with potential students for years to come.
How do you handle behaviour?
But how on earth do you know what to do yourself, or how do you convince your young and talented staff that they are able to teach the performing arts to tiny tots? How do the early childhood experts handle the behaviour of the youngest children and keep them from crying?
How do you choose content?
What’s more, how will you and your staff know what topics and activities engage preschoolers or are indeed appropriate for the delicate sensibilities of the three year-old who seems to be frozen in fear when spoken to?
The Musical Child approach
For starters, we can get you up and running with lesson plans but – at Musical Child we offer much more than just the sale of resources to those who join our community of educators. Our approach is in line with current thinking about early childhood education frameworks in Australia, U.S., Canada, U.K. and New Zealand. Because we are passionate about curriculum design, we are happy to take an interest in the design of your school curriculum and pedagogy suitable for infants. We can also put you in touch with the latest research findings that you can share with your parents.
A taste of the features in the Musical Child approach
Musical Child has a distinctive ‘sound and feel’. For example, we recommend that the parent/carer stays in the room and actively participates in the lesson. This is critical for children aged 3 and under and maybe even best practice for the 4 year-olds. These children are not yet ready for school and need the emotional support of their caring adult. A possible advantage is that the parent will have so much fun contacting their own inner musical child that they will want to enrol for their own music lessons.
Another feature is that each “lesson” stands alone so that a child can drop into your timetable system at any time. The lessons are activity-based and non-sequential. The reason for this is that each child develops at their own pace by gaining familiarity with the musical elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, expression, form and style. Improvisation with these elements is seamlessly crafted into the theme-based lessons. Experiential learning is paramount in the early years and enjoyment is a critical factor.
We also encourage you to use each of our lesson plans as a guide and to change it up with your own creative ideas. Remember it’s not a franchise, it’s a resource. You can use the backing tracks to sing live, or play your own live versions of the songs on instruments available in your studios. One of our colleagues has a grand piano in his toddler music space and at the end of each lesson, all the children stand in front of the keyboard and help him play the Goodbye Song. His rule is “If you can reach it, you can play it”. He keeps his precious instruments well out of reach! Follow the link below to see him at work.
What do other Music Academy Directors say?
‘Thanks for publishing a well-structured lesson plan with clear explanation. I’m going to use it for my new music centre’s main course – English Music Foundation Course.’
‘Thank you for creating this curriculum. I searched long and hard to find something of this quality, and would have ended up spending a very long time writing one myself if I hadn’t found yours!
Hope Valley Church has recently launched Hope Valley Creative Academy, a not-for-profit educational organisation offering tuition and classes in a number of areas to the Cessnock community.
I have a BA in Linguistics and an M Teach (Primary) and will be teaching the Musical Child curriculum to groups of parents and children. The curriculum looks fantastic, and as far as I am aware it is the first of its kind to be offered in the area. The Academy hopes to enrich the cultural, arts and educational opportunities available to the Cessnock community and I think the Musical Child program will be an excellent part of this!’
Here’s a short sample of our music
Watch this short video of an engaging song for toddlers ‘A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea’. We’ve changed ‘sea’ to ‘knee’ so we can play some games – ‘tap your knee knee knee’, ‘play your bells on your knee, knee, knee,’ Children love the activities because the music programs we design are always just right for their age!
Want to see how we help you before you buy?
A high quality early learning music program needs to be based on the right songs and the right activities. ‘9 Popular Preschool Music Activities’ will give you a taste of what we offer. Tap the ‘Join’ button!
Would you like to talk to Carol Biddiss?
Book a time on the Calendar that suits you for a FREE 15 minute Zoom chat with the Director of Musical Child.