Listening & Movement Videos

Music & Motion KinderConcerts Ann Arbor Symphony

In Tune With Babies

Now I know my ABC's . . . Is That What It's All About?

So . . . What Can Those Babies Do?

Nurturing Baby & You: More Than the Music

Music & Movement For the Very Young

Music and Parenting: Somewhat Like A Symphony

What? Me, Teach Dance?

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• Handel: Statues & Movers-Queen of Sheba
• Mozart: Dancing w/Baby
• Verdi: Hammering-Anvil Chorus
• St. Seans: Take Dino for Walk-Fossils
• Rossini: Giddy-Up-William Tell Overture
• Delibes: Tiptoe Dance-Pizzicato

Workshop Handouts

Enclosed workshop handouts include introduction and informational page. Additional work page and outline are supplied at the workshop.

• Birds & Fish & Cows: Oh My!
• Music That the Seasons Bring: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
• For Arts Sake: The What, Why, How of Process Art
• Strike Up the Band
• Musical Mornings to Bedtime Good Nights:
  Nurturing Infants & Toddlers
• Sing, Dance, Play Keynote
• Activities
• Forward, Backwards, Upside Down
• Classical Moves
• 10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes
• A Hop, Skip & A Jump for Tots to 6s
• Rock-A-Bye Babies
• Songs, Stories and Singing Games
• Moving and Learning
• So Many Books
• So Many Books List
• Just For You Keynote Outline
• Just For You Keynote
• Moving with Mother Goose

        The essence of these presentations is to not only provide ways to use music & movement through out your day, but to acknowledge the magnitude of your profession. What you do is the most important job I know of. Many children in your care get their first view of the world from you. They learn about love and trust from you. Thank you for what you do.

        Infants are born, seemingly, pre-wired for music and movement and that is how they learn. With hearing being the 2nd sense to develop in utero, babies are born ready and expecting to move. Everything about appropriate musical experiences is positive. Year after year, the research builds in support of the importance of music in a young child's life.

        Movement is now 'moving' into the spotlight with an emphasis on increasing learning. We know that music and movement affect all areas of development, nourishes the brain, can help to strengthen learning, listening, literacy, body and spatial awareness, co-ordination, language, problem solving, motor skills, and perhaps, most important create opportunities for social competence and emotional well-being.

        Music will enrich children's lives and tap into their creative energy. It has the power to slow things down, instantly transforming a cranky environment into one of harmony and joy. With infants often coming to child care as young as six weeks, a simple song can calm the uncertainty of transition for baby, mom and dad. As an infant-toddler care provider, music can be your best friend.

        The current focus on academics may leave the crucial role of social-emotional development behind. It is difficult for children to develop cognitively if the emotional component is not stable. Trust lays the foundation for that social-emotional piece and music can greatly enhance that sense of trust. Musical experiences can be at the core of social connections formed between children and their significant others. Music can be a dialogue for bonding, a dance between baby and caregiver. These early musical experiences will affect the children and their families for years to come and it is a gift that will last a lifetime.

        Making music is a very easy skill to learn. There just has to be somebody willing to teach it. So if you think, "What, Me Teach Music?" You can and you must. For some toddlers it may be their only form of self-expression and for some parents it may be the only tool readily available to help them out of a frustrating situation.

        In our hurry up dot com world, we are sitting children as young as 12 months in front of computers. We need to nurture their natural love of music and movement. They desperately need their childhood and often, we are taking it away sooner and sooner. The media is telling us what our children need. But what is important for healthy development has not changed. Love them, hug them-hold them close, keep them safe, sing and read to them-babies too, dance with them, do open-ended art, write down their stories, tape record their songs, make eye contact with each child everyday. Take time to listen-time to just be.

        But it's not just for the children. It's for everyone. Musical experiences can positively affect staff efficiency, productivity and stress levels. Invite your families for a potluck, an evening program to celebrate the seasons and to join together in Music, Movement and More. So when all else fails, try singing a song & dancing along. It really works! No talent necessary.

Little children are not logical-they are motor. To give a child joy, give him something to do. --Lucy Gage (1800's)

Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift. The power to work is a blessing and the love of work is success. --David O. McKay