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Years ago I asked my music families to share some cool ways they make music a part of their home life.  This article is a collection of those ideas.  Hope you will enjoy trying some of these out as a family!

We show how much we value something by making consistent time for it. Keep it simple at first. Choose 1 small thing to implement- let the family choose and they’ll be more on board!  Keep in mind that it is easier to start when children are young! The longer you wait the less cooperation you’ll have, but don’t let that stop you!

Practical every-day ways to make music part of home life:

• Sing while combing hair- it’s fun and it takes the mind off the snarls!
• Take a minute to sing or dance along with the music already playing!  Have FUN musically with your kids!  They will see music as a fun time together!
• Play “name that tune” and sing along with different songs that the whole family might know- very fun on long car drives
• Play instruments together
• Listen to uplifting music right before bed or right before school
• dancing with ribbons or a wind wand( tie strips of grocery bags onto the end of a stick for a simple homemade one) as a family.
• Sing around a campfires- bring a ukulele!
• Attend musical events together (ex: operas, musicals, concerts, etc).
• Writing stories to music- as the song goes on write a story to describe it.  A Doodle-Sketch works well for younger children.
• Family mini recital- everyone shares a talent or something they achieved that week.

Christmas/Holiday specific:

• Play Christmas music in the evenings
• Go Christmas caroling as a family
• Light an advent candle every night and sing songs and read until it burns down to the next mark
• Sing a Christmas song at bedtime
• Share Christmas music your kids can play/sing with elderly neighbors

Some Additional Points to Ponder:

• Remember… Keep musical experiences “informal” for children. Performance opportunities should come only AFTER informal music making has been enjoyed. When family and friends ask to hear what you have done in music class, show them together, or ask them to join in. At these times do not push the child  to share. A healthy approach is to simply give him or her the opportunity and leave it to his or her decision, but those who are ready should go ahead. Always praise the effort they make and focus on how their sharing made you feel-rather on the quality of the performance.
• It has been said that often some teens will take a “social detour” in music during their teen years. If the parents have given them something good to come back to… they will!
• Classical music develops musical sensitivity and musical concentration and mental organization

Here’s a list to help you get started:

*starred selections are especailly good to promote learning and order

• The Planets, Holst (esp Jupiter)
• New World Symphony, Dvorak (esp Scherzo movement)
• Pictures At An Exhibition, Mussorgsky
• Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saens
• Sleeping Beauty ballet, Tchaikovsky
• The Creation, Haydn
• Elijah, Mendelssohn
• **Water Music Suite, Handel
• *The Messiah, Handel
• *Any Mozart symphonies, quartets, piano concertos, opera overtures, ect…
• *The Four Seasons by Vivaldi (Concertos for Violin and orchestra)
• Any Beethoven symphonies, esp No’s 4,5,7,9
• **Any of the Brandenburg concertos by J.S. Bach
• Rhapsody in Blue , Gershwin
• Bach French Suites (piano)
• Bolero, Ravel
• Chopin E minor and F minor piano concertos
• Grieg Piano Concerto
• Saint Saens Piano Concerto
• Beethoven Piano Concerto #5
• Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos (there are 2)
• Piano and any other instrumental concertos are also wonderful!

Operas:

• Hansel and Gretel
• The Magic Flute

Recording Artists for Piano (my favorites and suggestions from former student and master teacher Brooke Reynolds)

• Chopin: Daniel Baremboin, Danil Trifinov, Artur Rubenstein
• Bach: Rosalyn Tureck, Mayan Esfahani (harpsichord)
• Beethoven: Claude Frank complete sonatas, Valentina Lisitsa, Trifinov
• Mozart: Krystian Zimerman, Nelson Freire, Murray Perahia, Stephen Hough, Alicia de la Rocha, Mitsuko Uchida
• Bach: Andras Schiff, Gould, Rosalyn Tureck
• Scriabin: Trifinov or Horowitz

Ask if you want more suggestions! This is only the tip of the iceberg!

Experience Days

We are so happy to introduce this wonderful FREE GIFT of Experience Days to our Currently Enrolled Students this year!  

What is an Experience Day?

An Experience Day is where/when students can participate in a valuable opportunity that cannot be easily provided as part of the regular class or lesson.  It also gives students a chance to “experience” another instrument or type of class/lesson.  Experience Days will be close to the normal class length, and can include the following types of experiences:

• Paint Class
• Play in a Band
• Nursery Rhymes Class (6 months – 4 years)
• Drum Circle
• Crochet Crazy
• And more!

When?  Soon, you’ll find it on the Current Sept-May Calendar.  As of this writing, the best place to find it is on this post. You will find Experience Days scheduled on some of our tricky weeks, when all students would not normally receive a lesson due to a holiday.  This way all of our classes/lessons stay on the same week. Currently we are planning to have Experience Days in October 2021, January 2022, and February 2022. 

The Content of Experience Days is the BEST part!  Every week Experience Days (EDs) are held, you will find a variety of EDs to choose from, many of which will be applicable to your student’s current study.  

• Example:  An Instrumental student chooses to attend JAM SESSION so they get the experience of playing with other musicians playing other instruments – just like playing in a band!  
• Example:  Your student is expressing an interest in drumming, so they attend DRUM CIRCLE.
• Example:  The student just needs a tiny break to switch things up for a week, so they attend PAINT CLASS.

Which ED to Choose?  Your student’s teacher will make a recommendation of which ED will suit your student best, but of course you/your student may choose.  Look forward to this wonderful opportunity to spread your wings!  Did we mention that EDs are FREE to Currently Enrolled Students this year!

Wait – no regular class on Experience Week?  Is that fair?  As mentioned on the Current Sept-May Price Sheet, we based Tuition prices on 28 classes/lessons, held between September 13, 2021 and the end of May 2022.  This is the SAME NUMBER of classes/lessons that we scheduled last year.  This means we have a few weeks over the 28 to utilize in case of a closure or for Experience Days.

FREE for Who?  Currently enrolled students may attend ONE Experience Day each week they are offered, for FREE!  (Remember, EDs are not part of the 28 weeks.) If there are additional EDs your students would like to attend, you may register for them also, at the same price as the general public. 

Bring a Friend!  EDs are open to the General Public, and it’s a great time to Bring a Friend to experience the magic we make together here!  Eventually, these attendees will enroll from our website, http://www.harmonyarts.net/events/.  For now, they just call/text the HAMA phone number to register: 435-239-3059. These events are NOT free to the General Public, so they will pay upon registration for the event.

PROS of Experience Days:

• Your student still attends class that week, which helps keep them motivated and in a routine!
• Exposure to other areas of the arts, 
• Experience utilizing existing skills in new ways (like playing in a band),
• A little break from the normal content, a way to change things up a little so we stay excited,
• They are FUN, so we know you are going to LOVE them! 

To attend an Experience Day:

• Text the studio at 435-239-3059.  State the student’s first and last name, and the ED you choose.  You will get a confirmation text back.  
• If you sign up in the portal it will charge you, so don’t do that!
• Note:  Feel free to share this info with friends!  Ask them to mention you when they register!

Come have an enchanting Experience Day with us!

Natalie Crookston has been a committed Musikgarten/Harmony Arts mom since 2009 and loves the difference Musikgarten has made in her home.  She says, “There are so many things I love about Musikgarten!  I love the music education our entire family receives.  I love the connection of the studio as well as the connection my children learn as they learn about animals and people of different cultures.  I love that it is so fun.  My kids look forward to their classes every week and every year and usually don’t mind practicing because they love the songs they are learning and the environment of their classes.  I even feel that I am a better and calmer mother because of the parenting education I’ve received through Musikgarten.”

Natalie grew up in Idaho Falls and started learning to play the piano when she was 3 ½ years old.  When she was 6, she started participating in a Music Federation program.  After three years of consecutive superior scores, she received a trophy and realized she had started early enough that if she got a superior score every year she would be able to get four trophies- a rarely received award.  This became a driving goal to get the fourth and largest trophy, which she did.  This was such a long-range goal and took so much dedication, that it is one of her treasured achievements. 

Another dream Natalie had was to marry the love of her life and be the mother of lots of cute little children.  In 2005 she married her true love and now is a homeschooling mother of six sweet children.   She loves and feels grateful to be living her dream.  Of course, there are plenty of days when she has to remind herself to be grateful and remember that this is the dream she desired.  Some of their favorite things to do are turn some fun music up really loud and dance all over the house, snuggle and read together, explore in nature, and create. 

Now, Natalie is part of the Harmony Arts team writing blog articles, sharing what she has learned and loves about music, and helping other families along their musical journey.  Natalie is perfectly positioned to do this job having been a student, a parent, and now a teacher of the Musikgarten program. Natalie is thoughtful and insightful and has a strong desire to help other parents be successful with their music education.  We appreciate her so much! Stay tuned for more of her terrific articles!

The beginning of a new school year is always so exciting.  The season is changing and we all feel ready to get back into a good routine.  So, as you begin this new year at Harmony Arts and Music Academy, here are some tips to set you and your child up for success.  

First of all, take a moment to reflect on why you want your child to take music lessons.  We like our children to be well rounded, and music does so much for brain development, but beyond that, are there any other desires you and your child have?  Is it a dream to have a family band?  Do you want your child to be able to add beauty to the world?  Or serve in your community?  Maybe take a minute to ask and find out what your child’s desires are. 

Chances are, we don’t really plan on our children becoming musicians as a profession, or even performing for large public audiences.  And if learning and practicing are consistently a miserable experience, it is likely that either your child will want to quit, or you will want your child to quit to save the relationship; and either way the beautiful dreams and desires you and your child have now, will sadly be lost.  

So, as you enter the ride of “music lessons”, remember that all children learn differently.  The path from point A to point B for some is very streamlined, straight, and quick.  For others, the path is a calm, winding road that is slower and more scenic.  But in the end, they can all get there.  It might not be at the same pace or ability as the child they are sitting next to in class, but we must remember that our child’s dream is not the same as the neighbor child and that’s okay.  If you can be their supporting cheerleader and love and enjoy the musical journey your child is on, you can trust that your child will be able to learn the musical skills to be able to achieve their own personal dream.  

Setting up routines and expectations at the beginning helps everyone know the plan.  Discuss with your child and determine what will work best for everyone involved.  Some children are early risers, some are more alert in the evening, and some work better with a short practice session in the morning, and a second one after school.  Is the expectation to practice every day, or just weekdays? Does practice mean playing each assignment a certain number of times?  Or does it mean setting the timer for a certain number of minutes?  Try out the plan and adjust as necessary.

Having things in order makes things work better.  So, set up the practice space.  Make sure there is an audio device handy to play the card games.  Keep the bag with all supplies at the piano or in a designated location.  Having the instruments in a quieter room or setting rules that keep the music room quiet during practice times allows the child to be able to hear and focus better. 

What is the best level of involvement for you? It can be helpful to your child if you practice with them, at least at the beginning of the year while they are learning how to practice.  You can even just practice with your child the first couple days when it’s the trickiest and can be the most frustrating. Remember, practicing does not always mean to do everything every day.  Some days, it’s okay to just work on one tricky part of the assignment.

So to review: find joy in the journey of your child’s musical education. Stay positive about their abilities and what they are learning.  Stay calm when the ride gets rocky, and remind them that they’ve got this!  They can do it!  Always, celebrate the successes.  And look for solutions that will keep the challenging experiences positive.  Reach out to the teachers at the studio.  We are here to help you and your child, and we know lots of tricks!  Here at Harmony Arts, we love music!  And we love sharing that love with your child and your family.  We are excited for the journey of this coming year, Welcome aboard!

The Musikgarten curriculum for babies, toddlers and little children is more than a mommy/me play time.  These classes are looking at the long-term musical education of your child and capitalizing on the child’s inborn love of music to teach foundational skills.

Musikgarten uses a holistic approach to learning, which leads to a total musical experience, and these foundation classes are no exception.  Here are a few of the purposes behind the fun activities we play with during class.

VOCAL EXPLORATION: As children experiment with their voices, they become more aware of their ability to manipulate and use their voice.  One of the most basic ways we do this is through imitating the animal and insect sounds we hear in the listening corner.  We also echo simple rhythmic and tonal patterns that build our musical vocabulary. Even young children who don’t otherwise sing or even speak yet will participate in the echoing patterns games. 

LISTENING TIME.  The world our children are growing up in is very noisy!  There is such a bombardment of noise that it makes it hard for children to learn to focus.  In the listening corner we develop the ability to focus on a particular sound by having your child focus their listening on a specific familiar sound.  Focusing like this, even for just a few seconds, will start building your child’s aural discrimination skills and establish a “listening attitude”.

INSTRUMENTS: Children learn through exploration and experimentation.  By allowing them to explore and experiment with instruments, they are able to discover lots of ways to play the instruments which also allows us to accept and follow their ideas, validating that their ideas are worthwhile thus creating safety for them to explore and discover and learn further. 

MOVEMENT: This is Huge! There are so many reasons we include lots of movement in the foundation classes.  Number one, children love to move and while it is helpful to have children move to get all the wiggles out, this movement also energizes the brain and gives the child mental energy to learn and participate in the next activity.  We also use movement in these classes to help children learn how to use and master control of their body.  Because the ear’s primary function is providing one with a sense of balance and spatial awareness and its auditory function is secondary, our children will be better listeners as we help them develop the skills of making their body stop on command, learning where their space is, and learning how to manage their body inside that space!

So, while it’s true that we want to nurture the musical bond between you and your child, and we want to help you make music a part of home life, the activities in these classes do so much more than that.  

Come, connect with your child and join the fun in laying a solid musical foundation with us!

By Natalie Crookston

The piano is a common instrument for children to learn and for parents to encourage.  The Musikgarten Keyboard Program uses an aural approach to lead children to understand the language of music and gain true music literacy.  Because learning to play the piano often starts around the same age that children are learning to read, and because piano music is most commonly learned by reading the notes; we think that the first step to learning to play the piano is for our child to learn how to read music.  What we don’t realize is that long before children begin reading words and books, they have a strong foundation of speaking the language.  Through Musikgarten we are laying a foundation of how to speak the language of music.  

What is Music Literacy?

Language literate people are not only able to read, understand, and convey what an author wrote, but they are also able to take all the sounds and thousands of words in their language and arrange them into sentences that express their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas.  Music literacy is that same skill.  It is being able to not only read the note names on the page and then find the right keys on the keyboard.  It is understanding the notes, the phrases, and the styles and having an ability to improvise and compose with those notes. Musically literate people are able to express what a composer wrote as well as being able to express their own ideas.  This is the education your child will receive through the Musikgarten Keyboard program.  Your child will be able to hear a melody and add chords according to their own ideas, play the melody in several different keys, add introductions and endings, and improvise on a chord progression. 

Why are the Musikgarten Keyboard classes held as a group?

It’s fun to make music and it’s even more fun to make music with other musicians, but this is not the only reason we meet and learn as a group.  Through the process of learning in class, children are able to give and get support as they need it.  It is a safe place to make mistakes and learn together with other children.  They gain confidence in being able to play in front of other people as they learn and play for each other,  regularly sharing and exploring ideas of how to play the songs they are learning.  They are able to receive from each other and share together, thus expanding their creativity.  And they are able to develop refined listening, self-discipline, deep concentration, and social awareness as they work together to produce a desired musical outcome. Remember, we are not just playing a song, we are making music, and this often involves others. 

Musikgarten Keyboard “Piano Lessons” are FUN!

This isn’t your typical lonely piano lesson. We sing, play games with, and learn group dances to the songs we are learning to play.  We work together as we learn to play the songs, and we become friends!  Coming together as a budding musician community, listening to each other’s musical ideas, we grow together and learn to fill our homes and our world with beautiful, uplifting music.  

So, although learning to play the piano is a common endeavor for many, the approach your child will experience here is far from common — as we explore and experience the joy of music.  Come and see!

Hi! I’m Emma Bailey and I work as an Office Assistant here at Harmony Arts!

I am the oldest of three younger brothers and have played the violin since 7th grade. I have a passion for music and I have enjoyed playing for the high school orchestra. I hope to further my musical abilities as I get older!

I also enjoy photography, reading (specifically Harry Potter!), calligraphy, and am a huge BYU fan!

I am excited for this opportunity to work here at Harmony Arts and am excited to learn new things! ✌

Emma has experience starting her own business, including developing her own branding, social media advertising, and selling products online. She is a hard worker and we are so happy to have her on board!

Summer 2021 is a terrific time for a change in routine and trying something new! Taking art and music classes in the summer sounds like a great idea, but what about if your family is going camping for a week? Or leaving on a cross-country trip? Or going to the big game? Does that mean you shouldn’t sign up for summer lessons?

Never fear! HAMA is here with flexible scheduling options! Now you can enroll in summer classes and plan ahead for those weeks where you might be having other adventures. Read the makeup policy in detail here on our website: http://www.harmonyarts.net/private-lesson-policies/

Happy Summer Adventuring!!

Childhood is a magical time of wonder, and the Musikgarten curriculum is so good at helping adult caretakers slow down and enter that magical world with a child.  Following the joyful movement of Toddler class, and the exploration and creativity of Cycles class, the next steps are At Home and World.  This is a turning point in a child’s musical growth where they are first introduced to writing and reading music, as well as beginning to develop the ability to play music with other people – like a duet. 

Music Makers HOME and WORLD

Up until now, our music classes have tuned in to the sounds children will hear around their home and yard or on a farm.  Now, through the Music Makers classes, we will expand a child’s world from the comfort of their home out to the world around them and the world at large, learning about the homes of other creatures/animals and about the homes of other people and their cultures in the world.  The “Home” class develops the awareness that people are not the only ones with homes.  Birds have homes, squirrels have homes, bugs have homes, and so do many other animals that live in the woods, meadow, and marsh.  By learning about these creatures children begin to gain a respect for the world around them.  Then in the World class that respect is expanded to different cultures around the world such as British, American Indian, German, and African-American.  

But Wait!  I thought this was a music class! 

Yes! We are learning all of this through music while expanding musical education.  So, here is what we are learning musically:

A Holistic Approach

Musikgarten uses a holistic approach to learning, which leads to a total musical experience.  In each class we involve the voice, the ear, instruments, and movement.  

The Voice is used not only for singing, but in mimicking the animal sounds and in chanting the rhythms.  The Music Makers curriculum builds on the rhythm and pitch patterns learned in the foundation classes and adds language to them; much like giving alphabet letter names to the sounds a child has been speaking. 

The Ear is further trained to listen closely, not only to the animal sounds, but also to the detailed differences in similar instruments.

Instrument Exploration provides many benefits.  With drums, we explore what it feels and sounds like to play it in different ways: loud or soft, fast or slow, smooth or bouncy, on the carpet or in the air, or with different parts of our hands.

Movement is a child’s favorite way to learn.  In the Musikgarten setting, many magical things happen through the fun movement of dance and animal imitations.  First, children are speaking the movements they are performing which develops their inner speech. Second, children are learning to control their body; to make it stop and go at their command. They are better able to do this because of the inner speech that has developed.  Third, their ear is developing superior listening skills which are required as they continue their music education.  Fourth, their body is becoming an instrument; a way to express music and a way for them to express what they are feeling inside.   And fifth, as they experience what it feels like to scamper like a mouse, stalk like a cat, blow like the wind, or creep like a bug, then when they begin playing the piano or other instrument they naturally are able to put that feeling into the music they are playing.

Ensemble Development.  The other area of music ability that we begin to develop in the music makers classes is the ability to play together with other musicians.  Each child is learning to hear his/her own part, match it with others who are also playing that part and then learning to fit their part with others who are playing something different, thus working as a team to create a more complex musical performance.  This is such a powerful skill to learn at such a young age and the effects are more far reaching than just music class.

So, enter this magical world with your child, deepen the musical experience in your home and come, be a Music Maker with us!

Watch for future articles about our through-planned Music Learning Sequence where you will learn why our approach to Music Literacy works so well!

Harmony Arts and Music Academy is excited to bring you a NEW OFFERING for Summer 2021! Playing Outdoors Family Music Class is for children ages 12 months – 5 years and an accompanying adult.  

Every week in this warm, inclusive environment, you will share in your child’s curiosity while together we sing, chant, move, dance, listen, and play as we immerse ourselves in music! Experiencing outdoor activities that bridge the natural connection between music and movement together will give you wonder-filled memories to cherish. Watch your child’s face as they delight in discovery and grow in confidence! 

Class will be held at the Harmony Arts and Music studio. You and your child will love these vibrant activities which also facilitate coordination, body awareness and control, exploration of space, sound and instruments. 

MATERIALS: The illustrated Parent/Child Book and the variety of music on the recording will capture your little one’s attention with photos of children their own age and colorful illustrations that bring the songs and rhymes to life. Delight in experiencing a variety of animal and nature sounds with your child for her very first time! Parent Book (24p) and CD with digital code. MATERIALS INCLUDED.   

Registration is OPEN for our Playing Outdoors Family Music Class. Class begins June 17. To register, visit http://www.harmonyarts.net/class-descriptions/ and scroll down to Summer Group Music Classes.