VISION AND PHILOSOPHY
Remember back in the old days when families used to gather round the living room for an evening of singing, playing simple instruments, dancing, and laughing together; that delightful feeling of acceptance, inclusion, and no judgment about each other's musical offerings? Well, take that family, add to the recipe a teacher offering the musical and pedagogical principles that give rise to Dr. Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory, stir in Dr. Cynthia TAGGART, add two cups of LABAN, a generous portion of WEIKERT, a slice of DALCROZE, (and many others), and multiply it by several families and you've got a taste of FAMILIES MAKIN' MUSIC. My program nurtures a musical bond between parents, grandparents, and their young children. When families come to sing, dance and learn together, musical community is created. Ultimately, isn't that what we all want; flowing, harmonious relationships with every person we meet? It can be a fabulous world, and one that is possible to create if we all do our part.
Through the use of a wide variety of musical activities
and teaching techniques, including tonal and rhythmic patterns,
word and wordless melodies, flow, beat, dance, rhythmic rhymes,
structured and improvisational movement and percussion instrument
free play; to name just a few, music is learned in an informal
and fun way. Dr. Gordon, Dr. Taggart et al in the book Music Play
(1998) explain this is how young children learn music best, much
as when they are exposed to their native language. Sensitive parents,
caregivers, and early childhood music and movement specialists
realize that MUSIC
DEVELOPMENT, LIKE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, IS A PROCESS, OVER TIME. The
process of music development must be fostered as early as possible
(in utero) and allowed to unfold naturally among children for several
years. The intent is not
to prepare children to be professional musicians or for parents and
teachers to identify or foster musical geniuses. Rather, it is to
teach adults how they might informally guide young children to an
understanding of music the way they have already guided them to an
understanding of their spoken language. Through music children gain
insight into themselves, into others, and into life itself. Most
importantly, through music children are better able to develop and
sustain their imaginations and unabashed creativity. Because a day
does not pass without children hearing or participating in music
one way or another, it is to their advantage to understand music,
initially, in an informal way through play, repetition, and imitation
leading to AUDIATION. Only then will they learn to appreciate, to
listen to, and to partake of music that they believe to be good.
It is through such awareness that life becomes more meaningful.
My vision is to have a more joy-filled
planet where families are singing, dancing, playing and learning
together. Is there any greater gift parents can give their
children, and consequently their community, their city, their
country, and for that matter, the planet? My commitment is
to continue to bring musical joy to families with children
from ages birth to five for the well being of EVERYONE on
the planet, AND in my late parents' memory.
MINA & LEO BAUER. |
"Music is a higher revelation than philosophy".
- Ludwig van Beethoven
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