Here at Song of the Heart we are firm believers in the power of rituals. Rituals bind communities and cultures together, gives meaning to our days, gives people a sense of security, and helps us identify other members of our culture. Rituals can also give children a sense of predictability, comfort, and social safety.
We have cultivated a special Song of the Heart goodbye ritual to cap off every class. Each teacher may put their own spin on it, but the essentials are there. We’ve already covered the goodbye song and wishing well, but there is still a little more. Let’s dance out the door!
Your educator picks a song to play while your children line up at the door. Lining up is a learned skill that will help them with school readiness, and then they have to wait their turn. Inhibitory control in action! We’ve been practicing it all class long, and we get another dose of practice at the end.
Some classes utilize hand stamps as a final gift from the educator to the children. It always matches the theme of the class, and the children always look forward to it! This is a precious moment when the educator has the opportunity to help your child develop the pro-social behavior of making eye contact. This can be hard for lots of people, and learning to do it as a child, in a loving environment, with a beloved teacher is a gentle way to help teach it.
Eye contact, a hand stamp, and then the cherry on top . . . a personalized sung goodbye. Your teacher will use your child’s name, giving them a sense of importance and validation. This is also modeling good vocal technique. The teacher encourages your child to sing goodbye back, using their teacher’s name. This sweet exchange lets your child know they are cared for and are important as an individual. It gives them an opportunity to practice singing on pitch, in an appropriate range, in a call-and-response structure. They’re getting one-on-one attention and a mini music lesson all in one brief moment.
This out the door ritual prepares your child for the transition away from class, into the lobby, and back to the car. Transitions can be very difficult for some children, so predictability and routine are essential for making it doable for them.
This brief moment is one of our favorites in class. We love each and every child enrolled at Song of the Heart and want them, and you, to know it!
We’ve sung, we’ve danced, we’ve explored, we’ve imagined, we’ve played, and we’ve snuggled. Now it is time to say goodbye.
But this is Kindermusik. We don’t say goodbye. We SING goodbye.
Each level of Kindermusik has a different goodbye song, appropriate in complexity to the developmental range of the children. Read these simple, yet beautiful, goodbye lyrics.
Foundations:“Goodbye babies, goodbye grownups. Goodbye everyone, it’s time to sing goodbye.” This song is so simple, with gentle repetition — perfect for very young babies in their pre-language learning phase.
Level 1:“Farewell, my friends, until next time, let’s wave goodbye. Farewell, my friends, until next time let’s wave goodbye today.”
For older babies who understand more language and are starting to vocalize, this song is slightly more complex yet still highly repetitive. It involves waving which is the typical developmental way a child this age can express goodbye.
Level 2:“Goodbye, *goodbye* (echo), Goodbye, *goodbye* . . . it’s time to wave goodbye to our friends. . . .”
This simple song teaches toddlers to begin singing back as the educator models a simple “my turn, your turn” method to learning pitch recognition. For you music theory enthusiasts, you will recognize it as the descending minor third, an interval found almost universally across cultures in childhood folks songs and school-yard taunts.
Levels 3 & 4: “Everybody wave and sing goodbye . . . sing goodbye goodbye.”
This song continues to challenge the children as they develop language and musical skills with more participation, more singing, and an uptempo melody.
Level 5: “Fare thee well, fondly, my good friends. Fare thee well now ’till we meet again. Think of me fondly, my good friends. Farewell, for now, farewell.”
The most complex or our goodbye songs for our oldest musical makers, this song challenges their singing skills and continues to promote the socialization and bonding of the group that they’ve been learning all throughout the years.
Wish Well: To cap off our classes we like to wish each other well. This is a brief but sweet moment when we can make eye contact, think of the other people in our class, hold them in our hearts, and express empathy for them. This idea is inspired by the Wish Well Ritual from Conscious Discipline that offers a way to help someone by sending them calming, supportive, loving energy, when physical help is not an option. It teaches children empathy through modeling and provides them an opportunity to think of others.
Studies have shown developing empathy allows for building social connections, regulation of one’s own emotions, co-regulation of another’s emotions, and promotes other positive social behaviors. In this modern divisive world, we could all use a little more empathy. That is, in part, what Kindermusik is all about. And one of the reasons why we are Song of the HEART studios.
And with that . . . together, or apart, you are always in our heart. We wish you well!
Some caregivers are hesitant to let their child step up from Little Learners to Little Music Makers. We get it! You don’t want to miss out on the beautiful experience you have with your little one in class each week. You can to continue to be their partner and witness the joy they express at Kindermusik. But have no fear! Our drop-off classes still provide opportunity for you to partner and connect with your child.
The last few minutes of every Little Music Makers class, that’s Levels 3-5, include Sharing Time. This is when you join your child in class to learn about what they did that day. Every sharing time begins with some physical touch, eye contact, and an expression of gratitude from your child to you. This sets the tone for reconnection after your hour apart.
Then your child gets to show off a little to you about what they learned and what skill they developed. Not only do you get to hear about what musical concepts and vocabulary they learned, not only do you get to see and listen to the new instrument they explored, but you also get to share in a “connection activity.”
This is a carefully chosen activity specifically designed to promote connection and bonding between you and your little music maker. It might be an instrument play. It might be a creative movement activity. It might be witnessing your child’s mini-performance of a new poem or song. It is a chance for you to validate them, show them your enthusiasm for their music learning journey, and to joyfully connect with them.
Sometimes, however, Sharing Time can be a moment of stress for parent and child. Your little music maker has learned routines and expectations and behaved beautifully in class. Your child’s educator is a master at classroom management, understanding that all behavior is communication, and can skillfully redirect any challenging behaviors your child might exhibit during class.
And then you enter the room and suddenly your child might be crawling up the walls, refusing to focus, and is disruptive to the rest of the class. Have no fear! This is normal for some children. The transition from the leadership of their educator to the return to their parent can be jarring and some children don’t yet have the skill to handle that transfer calmly.
If that is your child, just be patient. Trust the process. Talk to them before class about your expectations for when you enter the studio. Tell them beforehand that even though you’re there to watch them and pick them up, you still want them to listen to their teacher for a few more minutes. It will take some children more time than others to learn how to handle this transition gracefully. Some will take a few weeks. Some might take all year. But that’s what this process is all about: growth.
So next time you come to Sharing Time, prepare to breathe it all in . . . and love it all out. Connect, witness the growth of your child, and share together in the joy of music making.
Our Little Learner classes ALWAYS include some cuddle time, with dimmed lights, and colorful “stars” on the ceiling. It’s a beautiful time to slow down and focus on the connection you’ve built with your child over the previous 30 minutes or so.
The benefits of cuddle time include giving both you and your child a flood of feel-good hormones, what Conscious Discipline calls “Joy Juice.” This hormonal cocktail is what calms your brain & nervous system, promotes bonding, and just makes you feel good.
Oxytocin is the “love” hormone, and it is produced when you engage in safe and loving touch with a loved one. It can be hugging, rocking, breast feeding, butterfly kisses, an I Love You Ritual, or our musical cuddle time. Any time you focus on and touch someone lovingly you this hormone bathes your brain. This love hormone also measurably decreases stress and cortisol levels in your body. It also has been proven to decrease the perception of physical pain.
Who doesn’t need more of that in their life?
This beautiful moment is often a favorite but can also be stressful for some parents. Maybe your child doesn’t calm easily. Maybe they are roaming about the room and vocalizing in loud tones. Maybe they don’t want to lie down, be held, and rocked gently to the music.
That’s okay too! Just by modeling relaxation for your child, they will receive benefit from this activity. Relaxation is a learned skill, and not one that always comes naturally to a toddler. So as you relax, breathe deeply, and calm your nervous system, so too can your child learn to as well.
So next time you come to a Little Learner class, lean in to this moment. Don’t let cuddle time just pass by without thinking about its intention and benefit. Engage in the I Love You Ritual that precedes cuddle time. Help establish a sense of calm and rest in the class by participating in the deep breathing and creating a “hush”. These cues will come to trigger a calm response in both yourself and your child. Then you can fully connect and enjoy the two minutes you have to simply be with your child.
We try to include an “I Love You Ritual” in EVERY Little Learner’s Kindermusik class. These are the brain-child of Dr. Becky Bailey of Conscious Discipline.
Conscious Discipline is an evidence-based and trauma informed practice of social emotional learning. It utilizes every-day activities to teach adults and children emotional intelligence and self-regulation.
One of the basic tenets of Conscious Discipline is that connection must come before correction. Additionally, Conscious Discipline teaches that connection breeds cooperation.
CONNECTION is one of Song of the Heart Studio’s values, and you will find it up on our walls, we believe in it so much! It is one of the foundational pillars of all we do in our studio and try to promote in every class.
I Love You Rituals are simply a tool that develops that connection between you and your little one. In order for the ritual to work and truly develop and nurture connection you need certain elements:
Presence
Eye contact
Safe, intentional touch
Playfulness
Any short song or game can become an I Love You Ritual when used consistently, with these elements at play. We’ve been using “On your face you have a nose, and way down here you have 10 toes!” In past years we’ve used “Twinkle twinkle, little star, what a wonderful child you are!” You might be familiar with “This little piggy went to market” which could be used similarly.
When you engage in just 5 minutes of connected play with your child each day, you can decrease power struggles and increase cooperation by up to 50%! That is a HUGE return on investment.
This is partly achieved by how the ritual hacks your brain chemistry by promoting the natural production of what we call “Joy Juice”, a hormonal cocktail of serotonin, dopamine, and other feel-good hormones.
Enjoy this short video from Conscious Discipline and learn more about the power and purpose of this simple routine.
In our baby and toddler music classes, we almost always include a circle dance in every class. Together we’re a circle of support, love, and belonging.Those circle dances are great fun, but there’s serious purpose behind them too.
A circle is a symbol of community, and in it we all contribute equally. For your child, our circle dances give them a chance to see everyone, be part of our community, and to belong. There is no beginning or end to our circle, we all create our dance together.
This is especially important in a post-pandemic world. Lots of children missed out on crucial developmental opportunities to learn social skills. Coming to Kindermusik and participating in group dances is the perfect way to boost the acquisition of those socialization skills.
Besides the power of the emotional connections created in our circle dancing, we are also igniting the brain to work at its fullest capacity. Only through music and movement activities can the brain fully develop. As we plan our movements and dance as an ensemble the brain has to work hard to coordinate everything.
Socialization and interpersonal unity is often developed in musical ensembles and athletic teams. Circle dances combine the best of both worlds and integrate music AND movement, done collectively. Circle dances are found in many cultures around the globe and throughout human history. They build community and belonging both historically and contemporarily. Dancing in a circle benefits the mind, the body, and the community.
Kindermusik is so much more than music. Hopefully you understand that now. It’s about whole child development. And as such, we do more than just musical activities. Yes, music is generally a part of every activity, but it isn’t necessarily the focus. Enter Prop Plays. Exploring new instruments is wonderful! But there’s so many other things to explore. Depending on the theme of your current curriculum unit you will find a plethora of props that your educator may bring out for your children to enjoy. Barnyard theme? Enter PUPPETS galore. And maybe a farmer’s hat.
Weather theme? Rainsticks. A scarf makes an impromptu umbrella. A bowl makes a rain hat. Transportation theme? Toy cars, airplanes, busses, bike horn, bike bell, and car keys. This list goes on.
Every prop is meant to spark your child’s imagination. It’s to help them make connections with the theme and put the unit’s music into context. And as your child interacts with the prop, there is a LOT going on developmentally. They are engaging their innate interpretation. They are employing decision making skills, as they decide how to play with it and how to use it. They are scaffolding skills, as you help them build upon what they are doing and taking things to the next level. They are using observation skills as they watch how others use the prop, and learn from watching and copying.
Some props are pretty specific, like puppets and vehicles. Other props are more open ended.
Our beautiful rainbow-colored scarves? Well it can be a horse’s tail. It can be the wind. It can be a blanket.
Our hoops? They can be a tunnel, a steering wheel, a cave, a hole, or a puddle.
A child’s creativity is boundless and needs fostering. As we age we often lose touch with our creativity and imagination, so it’s important for children to be supported in this exploration. And it’s good for you too! As an adult caregiver, it’s good and even healing for you to tap into your inner child and remember the wonder of your imagination. So play on!
I have a sound . . . a mighty fine sound . . . and it sounds just like this.
Oh the perennial favorite, the Instrument Demo!
Cymbal. Gong. Slide whistle. Rainstick. Tongue drum. Wood block. Slapstick. Guiro. Vibraslap. Den-den drum. Glockenspiel, and more. We’ve got ’em!
This is one of our favorite moments in a Kindermusik class because of the WONDER it brings to your children. When we pull out a new, interesting, unfamiliar, or unexpected instrument your children always respond with shining eyes and rapt attention.
Your educator sings a cue, letting the children know to focus on what’s coming next. Anticipation builds as the new instrument is revealed. Childlike awe is expressed as the instrument is played and its timbre (or sound quality) is revealed.
Then, usually, your children swarm the educator with pleas to have a turn and give it a try. Often the highlighted instrument is available for everyone to try. Your educator instructs them to return to their grownup to wait their turn.
Think for a moment about what is going on developmentally in this moment. Children are practicing:
Active listening skills as they listen to the new instrument’s timbre.
Visual tracking skills as they watch how the instrument is played.
Inhibitory control as they wait their turn.
Fine and gross motor skills as they, for example, reach, grasp, and strike the instrument.
Sense cause and effect as they calculate how hard or soft, fast or slow they strike manipulates the sound that is produced.
It’s magical! And it is a developmental FEAST for their brains.
What is YOUR favorite instrument you’ve experienced in class?
We just wrapped up one of our FAVORITE weeks here at Song of the Heart Studios: Share the Love Week! We love hearing what YOU love about Kindermusik and learning what your child loves most too.
Our classes this week were filled to the brim with FUN, PLAY, TOGETHERNESS, CONNECTION, JOY, FRIENDSHIP, and LOVE!
As early childhood music educators we spend so much of our professional brains making sure our activities are developmentally appropriate, research-based, and delivered with pedagogical best-practices. We are always striving to be better educators, to be well-versed in the ongoing research of child development, brain development, musical pedagogy, classroom management, etc. When you come to class and your educator facilitates a beautiful experience, there is SO MUCH going on behind the scenes in her brain, her preparation, her planning, her training, and more. We normally avoid coasting on our experience and are always striving for our own professional growth.
But on Share the Love Week? We rest back on our laurels a bit and just soak in the joy. Our objective this week is to give you the maximum dopamine hit with the most playful and delightful class.
Here are some beautiful things that YOU, our Kindermusik Grown-ups, love about Kindermusik:
“I love that it’s a safe, nurturing place.”
“I love how Kindermusik encourages connection and bonding between the child and parent. I love the gentle methods used to teach children.”
“We found a safe place to have fun, learn and meet the nicest people. We can’t wait every week to see each other!”
“Socialization. Learning words and movements. Sharing with others. Learning patterns in setup of class. Seeing her anticipate what is next. Connection and uninterrupted moments with each kid during class. Cleaning up & letting go of toys. I Love You Ritual! We use the songs at home to calm and connect.”
“I love making connections with other parents.”
“We love the playfulness, especially the bubbles and the balls!”
“We love the Kindermusik instructors! We also love using the music from class at home for our transitions & connections.”
THANK YOU for these beautiful words. We love to know what YOU love about what we do, because then we know how to do it even better. Knowing what you love helps us give you more of what you are looking for in your family’s Kindermusik experience, making it more more full of CONNECTION, FAMILY, HEART, GROWTH, and JOY.
“I have a sound, a mighty fine sound, and it sounds just like this . . .”
Occasionally your Kindermusik teacher will bring out something new, something different, something special. It could be a giant rainstick, or a cymbal, or a buffalo drum, or a gong! There are so many interesting and varied instruments to learn about and play with.
This fun activity always seems to captivate little children. Their eyes widen as they experience something novel, something they’ve never seen or heard or held before! This is one of those WOW moments in class.
Several things are going on during this moment. First, your child is practicing their active listening skills. They are tuning out the chatter of the adults, the movements of the other children, and any other distractions. They laser focus on the new sound, shape, and timbre of the instrument. Timbre is the sound quality or “voice” of the instrument. It what makes a violin sound like a violin and a flute like a flute. They sound nothing alike! Even if they are playing the same notes and rhythms in the same register. We can tell which is which by its “voice”, or timbre.
This exposure to a new timbre is developing your child’s inner musician. As they are exposed to more timbres, your child will develop auditory discrimination. This is the ability to distinguish one sound from a group others, such as recognizing their mother’s voice in a sea of other parents calling out to their children on the playground at the park. Having developed auditory discrimination will help them develop tonal awareness, the ability to match pitch, the ability to play in tune, the ability to harmonize, and more.
Sometimes the new instrument is appropriate and safe for your children to handle, and other times it’s not. If it’s safe to do so, your teacher will walk around the circle and allow each child a turn to play the instrument. They always LOVE this opportunity.
This is when your child is practicing their “wait their turn” skill. Also called inhibitory control, this is the ability to hold back their urges and delay gratification. This is a CRUCIAL skill for humans to learn to protect themselves, prevent injury, get along with others, work in teams, and get along in polite society. Practicing this skill will help prepare them for when they start going to school or out to restaurants, church, concerts, and other public venues.
As your children step up through the Kindermusik levels they will be introduced to more and more interesting instruments. It will spark a love of music within them that will last a lifetime. Giving them this gift of music appreciation will enrich their lives as they attend live concerts, ballets, theatrical productions, and more. Art in all its forms enriches our lives and music is a key part of that. Thank you for letting us be the ones to plant this seed of music appreciation in your child’s life!
