2022-05-05

JOIN OUR BABY CLASSES THIS SPRING!

Young children are unpredictable by nature, making every Baby Piano class a fun and new challenge. Capturing the attention of a child, while providing them with the tools to develop a love of musical learning is the basis of the Baby Piano program. Our group classes are designed to engage and retain the attention of even the youngest child, while allowing us to see to their individual and unique needs as no child is the same. Each class offers custom work materials and activities that encourage the child to improve their small and gross motor skills, deepen their language and intellectual skills, and explore their love and curiosity of music. Listening to the live sound of the piano is one of the key elements of Baby Piano classes as it motivates the children to begin playing on their own pianos and develop a love of music.

Whether the children are playing along or completing games and activities, they will be serenaded by our wonderful Ms. Justina as she plays everything from children's songs to masterpieces by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and more! Our Baby Piano class starts off on the mat where we sing familiar songs and learn new ones with the use of sign language (ASL), allowing the children to relax and get comfortable. We make sure to call out each child's name during our song session to build a personal connection and help the children to get to know one another. We then bring out our bright red baby-sized pianos which are enticing for little hands. For learning musical notes, colours and animals are used to identify each key, making them easier to memorize. Depending on the age group of the class, we'll learn 3 to 5 notes used in a variety of simple songs that are played along with Ms Justina.

Our preschool groups love the performance part of the class, where they take turns coming out on stage and showing off their skills in front of each other. This prepares them for a mini concert performed for their families at the end of the 10-week program. Next, we move over to the gym space and focus on the activation of gross motor skills by playing fun musical games. One of our kids' favorites is our animal game.

We listen to which music belongs to which animal and as we are completing other activities, whenever we hear any of our animal songs we need to turn into that animal, stomping like an elephant, running like a cheetah, or leaping like a frog. Sometimes these animal songs catch us at unexpected times, so we need to keep our ears sharp! After we've burned up that extra energy, we sit down at the table to work on reinforcing fine motor skills with musical themed activities. We use our fingers, tweezers, brushes, markers, play doh, and other tools to complete activities created specifically for the Baby Piano class. These activities support early childhood education and reinforce what we are learning about music and notes. An example of one of these activities is placing the right size and coloured felt ball to the same note. Now that the children are more focused, we head back to the mat for one more short session on the Baby Pianos followed by a tremolo by Ms. Justina on the grand piano, which is the signal for the kids to stand up and take a bow! Our older groups also take part in exercises where we learn about different instrument groups, notes and rhythms while exploring the children's wonders and answering questions. We wrap up each session with more fun singing and then saying goodbye!

The Baby Piano independent learning class is a great step before taking one-on-one lessons as it gives a positive introduction to music and provides a professional, well-rounded musical experience in a child-friendly way. For our youngest learners attending with parents/caregivers, our program is a rich hands-on experience that challenges their little hands and growing minds. The health and safety of your children is our highest priority. As such, we are taking measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 including smaller classes, no shared items, thorough disinfection of materials and surfaces between classes, face masks, and other precautions.