This is the essential Music Together® class, one that a child can attend from birth through age five through all nine song collections. This basic class follows the recommendations of child development researchers—grouping children of a variety of ages because this fosters natural, family-style learning. Younger children enjoy watching and imitating older ones; older children learn by leading younger ones; and adults are happy because the children in the family can go to class together. Each child participates at his or her own level in singing, moving, chanting, listening, watching, and when exploring musical instruments. Any caregivers—parents, grandparents, nanny—can bring the children. The whole family is welcome for this important family music experience.
A child is never too young to hear and respond to music or language! This version of our program has been especially designed to introduce babies from birth through 8 months and their parents and other caregivers to the Music Together experience. The music activities have been carefully chosen to suit you and your infant. The Babies Song collections represents a balanced and rich vocabulary of music and movement for your baby's development and for your whole family to enjoy. The Infant Class will be offered at 12:00 pm on Tuesdays, with Michelle Jamail.
Our Heartsong Children's Choir is for 5 to 7 year old boys and girls and will be offered on Tuesdays from 4:00pm - 5:15pm beginning September 14th through December 7th during the Fall Session. We will have 12 rehearsals during the session; Heartsong will be closed the week of Thanksgiving. The choir will perform and lead their families and friends in songs at a local assisted-living home as their performance for the semester. The choir is led by Carey Youngblood who has been teaching children's choirs for 30 years. The cost of the choir includes the Flute songbook and 2 identical CDs (one for the car, one for home). The Heartsong Children's Choir enjoys singing songs from the Music Together song collections. The children come to class without their parents. They become the music leaders, developing each song in their own way using rhythm instruments, resonator bells, drums, scarves or small to large movement while often singing in harmony. We will use solfege (do, re, mi hand signs) to begin experiencing chordal structure within the major and minor scales. We will use rhythmic syllables to experience rhythmic structure. We invite the parents to join us for the last 15 minutes of each rehearsal where the choir will sing for their parents and then invite the parents to sing and move with the choir. If you have an interested 5 - 7 year old who loves to sing, play rhythm instruments, and move to the beat, please call 371-9506 to schedule a visit to experience a choir rehearsal as a free demonstration class!
Music Together Class for Children with Developmental Delays: This class is a mixed-age Music Together class specifically modified for preschoolers with developmental delays taught by Carey Youngbood, Director of Heartsong Music. The goal of our program is to share music in a patient and reassuring manner that is easily understood by your child (i.e. songs that use repetitive vocabulary, picture schedule on the wall to show the order of events to help with transitions, slowing down, etc.). A social story will also be provided to better assist your child in the transition to Heartsong Music. As a parent, you will gain knowledge of how to foster your child's musical development and involve music in everyday routines. You may also benefit from informal social support through the sharing of experiences with individuals in similar situations. This class will be offered on Thursdays at 3:30pm starting September 16th.
The Musical Spanish Classes at Heartsong Music are designed to give families fun and interactive ways to incorporate Spanish into their homes. The class is meant to expose children to Spanish in a more natural way rather than through formal academic instruction.
Our classes are based on a similar format to Music Together classes. There are tremendous parallels between children’s musical development and language acquisition. We use musical tools like audiation, repetition, tonal patterns, and movement to teach, communicate and reinforce vocabulary and concepts in Spanish.We begin and end with a ritual hello and goodbye song, and use a combination of small to large movements to teach songs throughout the class.
We’ve created 3 different song collections to allow families 3 full semesters of class before a song collection is repeated. The vocabulary in the songs is relevant to children’s interests, for example: animals, dancing, instruments, chores, colors, numbers, family members, foods, parts of the body and so forth. Tuition for the class includes a CD with all songs presented in class, along with a beautifully illustrated songbook with lyrics and translations to help families further explore the songs at home.
Everyone is welcome to take the Musical Spanish Class! It’s not necessary to know Spanish in order to follow along. There is usually a good mix of families-some are fluent and some are totally new to Spanish, although most parents fall somewhere in the middle. During class, song lyrics are displayed on poster boards to help adults become familiar with the songs. The music selected for the class is also very repetitive, because that’s how children learn best. So, even adults who are new to Spanish will be able to chime in by the end of a song. The Musical Spanish class is also not a Spanish immersion class. While all the music and simple instructions are communicated in Spanish by the teacher, English is also used to convey more complex instructions and ideas to help parents stay connected throughout the class.
Natalie Kane will be teaching this music-filled, action-filled, fun-filled class. Natalie spent her childhood in Mexico and moved to the states when she was 18 years old to go to UT. She is a beautiful singer and is passionate about helping families speak, learn, use and sing the Spanish language! Classes will be offered on Mondays at 3:30pm and 4:30pm, and Thursdays at 10:30am during the 12-week Fall Session. The session begins September 13th and goes through December 11th (there is no class the week of Thanksgiving). We will offer FREE sample classes on Monday, August 30th at 3:30pm and 4:30pm.
The tuition for the Fall Musical Spanish Session for the first child is $220, reduced rate for a sibling is $150, and for a third child in the family, $120.There is a $5.00 registration fee for returning families and a $15.00 registration fee for new families. Babies 10 months and younger at the time of registration are free when an older sibling registers.
We are also offering two Inter-Generational Music Together classes that will take place at Renaissance-Austin Retirement Residence and Emeritus of Austin, assisted living facilities for seniors in the Austin community. This is an opportunity to offer Music Together to the elders of our community who might not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in the Music Together program! The 12-week class will include both the children and their parents/caregivers and the residents of the homes. The class at Renaissance-Austin Retirement Residence will be lead by our teacher Edie Elkjer on Wednesdays at 10:15am beginning September 15th, 2010. Please come experience a FREE sample class for you to experience what the class will be like on Wednesday September 8th. The class at Emmeritus of Austin will be lead by our teacher Becca Myers on Thursdays at 10:00am beginning September 16th, 2010. Tuition for the first child is $220, reduced rate for a sibling is $150, and for a third child in the family, $120. There is a $5.00 processing fee for returning families and a $15.00 processing fee for new families. Babies 10 months and younger at the time of registration are free when an older sibling registers. Tuition includes a beautiful songbook and 2 CD's from the Flute collection.