Ms Carol needs no introduction, as she is our esteemed Studio Director who began our beloved Song of the Heart Studio over 20 years ago in her family room! Her primary instrument is her voice, and she also plays the piano, the guitar, and the ukulele. Her favorite genre of music is choral music, with her favorite piece of all time the Duruflé Requiem. Did you know she sang with the Salt Lake Symphony Chorus for many years?
When asked what she loves most about teaching Kindermusik Ms Carol says “Absolutely everything! The joy that is felt, the connections that are made, the amazing growth that we see and the love that permeates it all. Kindermusik is magic!”
Her favorite part of a Kindermusik class is the hand stamp ritual at the end. Stamping her student’s hands at the end of each class gives her a chance to sing with every child (improving pitch matching!), to look them in the eye, hold their little hand, speak an encouraging word, and make sure they feel noticed, heard, and important. She strongly believes that every child needs to feel valued and validated for who they are. This special moment with each of them is a little point where time slows down and a precious connection is made.
She eats, breathes, and sleeps Kindermusik as she nurtures our studio, our team, our families, and other Kindermusik educators around the world. In her free time she loves to read, spend time at the family cabin, and travel. She recently went to Cuba!
Ms Maren is our newest educator. She joined the JOY team one year ago, as the teacher who works in our satellite studio in South Jordan, bringing Kindermusik to the families in that side of the valley. She originally began teaching Kindermusik more than a decade ago in her own home, but took several years off to focus on raising her little children. Now that her kids are a bit older, she has returned to her mission of educating other children through the power of music.
Ms Maren’s primary instrument is her voice and she also plays the piano. She has dabbled in the guitar and ukulele and would love one day to learn the pedal harp. Her favorite music is Romantic era French music. The soaring melodies of Debussy, Chopin, and Fauré always bring her a feeling of bliss.
What she loves most about teaching Kindermusik is seeing first-hand the power of music in a child’s development. To watch a child learn how to wait and anticipate and take turns and follow directions. To watch a child learn how to listen and express themselves creatively. To watch the bonding that occurs between children and caretakers. To watch a child learn how to find and use their voice.
What she loves most about a Kindermusik class is the Hello Song and opening ritual. It’s the moment when adults put distractions away and ready themselves for complete presence with their child, preparing themselves for joy and fun. It’s the moment when children anticipate the next step and their eyes light up with readiness and eagerness. It’s the moment that barriers melt away and a group of friends can have a shared experience. It’s simply beautiful.
When Ms Maren isn’t teaching Kindermusik, she is busy raising three little kids, hiking in National Parks, and playing with power tools in her woodshop.
We like to call everyone that works here at Song of the Heart Studios our JOY Team. While we’re busy teaching your children’s little brains and bodies, our mission is to bring you developmental benefits with a healthy dose of JOY.
Here’s a little spotlight for you to get to know a couple of members of our JOY Team a bit better.
Ms Chris is our FABULOUS Studio Concierge. Surely you have communicated with her at some point. Perhaps she helped you enroll or helped you with a problem. She sets up our makeup scheduler, sends out your Kindermusik Online materials each month, and is Ms Carol’s right hand woman. On top of all that she is an incredible educator! Here’s a little bit more about her:
As a child she bore the nickname Crispy Conrye. Her primary instrument is the piano and she also plays the classical guitar! When she’s not teaching Kindermusik, she spends time with her son (a Kindermusik graduate), cycles, hikes, boats, and water skis. This woman loves to be active!
She is an audiophile and listens to music all the time. Her favorite modern artists include Barbra Streisand, Annie Lennox, and her favorite song is Love is the Answer. Her favorite composer is Beethoven.
Her favorite moment in a Kindermusik class is watching your little one’s eyes light up with wonder and joy. What she loves most about being an educator is seeing the growth in her students and making a difference in little people’s lives. She loves making a connection with students and loves them ALL.
Ms Chris claims that she’s really a big kid who never grew up. Maybe that’s why she’s so great at connecting with little ones!
Ms Katie’s full name is Katherine, but she’s always been called Katie or Kate. Her primary instrument is her VOICE, and if you’ve been lucky enough to be in her class, you know how beautifully she sings. She has played a little piano and guitar, but mostly just rocks out now to the shakers and the jingles! Oh, and she is one excellent GONG player!
In her spare time Ms Katie loves to watch her children in their activities as they play soccer, cheer, dance, and tumble. If she’s not busy being an amazing mom, she loves to go running, and also loves to attend concerts and Broadway shows. Her all-time favorite Broadway show is Wicked, though her most recent obsession is Dear Evan Hansen.
Ms Katie’s favorite thing about teaching Kindermusik is that it is so JOYFUL. She loves to witness the connections made between families, between you and your child, and between children and the music. She loves to experience what she calls the “magical moment” in class. She says “A magical moment is where everyone in the room is physically and emotionally engaged. Sometimes it’s during cuddle time or maybe a dance, but when it happens it’s MAGICAL!”
If you ever are in a class with Ms Katie, make her tell you the story of her trying to get a selfie with Katherine Heigl, whom she spotted in Park City once, who basically just ran away from her. Katherine Heigl clearly didn’t know how amazing Ms Katie is or she would have been the one asking for a selfie!
If the hours of cute baby footage on YouTube are any indication, watching a baby babble is a pretty solid form of entertainment. Just check out one of the hundreds of videos with titles like “cutest baby babble videos ever,” and you’ll see what we mean. You won’t be able to resist the urge to giggle—and perhaps even babble right back yourself.
Actually, choosing to babble back to a baby is a great instinct. Babies love hearing you mirror their speech sounds right back to them—and doing so encourages them to continue with their own babbling. This is how babies first experience verbal back-and-forth communication and learn the patterns that characterize speech. So those seemingly nonsensical sounds are actually quite significant. After all, sounds—which have absolutely no meaning in isolation—are the building blocks of words. When your baby babbles, he or she is putting together sounds in pleasing ways and learning how our language works. Babbling also helps develop the muscles a child needs to speak.
Beyond Babbling
You can also respond to baby babbling in more sophisticated ways. Notice what’s prompting your child’s babbling (did he or she see something exciting or interesting? Is he or she imitating a specific sound?) and respond by affirming it. Use rich vocabulary to describe what’s going on: “Yes! That is a cute dog. Look at his big eyes. He is wagging his tail. He likes you, too!”
To help your child begin to develop listening ears as well as speaking skills, focus attention on specific sounds: “What’s that sound? It’s a dog barking. Woof, woof!” Don’t be surprised if the sounds then become part of your child’s babbling vocabulary.
Embrace Your “Baby Voice”
Don’t be afraid to use that high-pitched sing-song voice that comes so naturally when you’re talking to a baby. This type of speech, characterized by a slower cadence, shorter sentences, exaggerated intonation, and lots of repetition, is known as “motherese,” or “child-directed speech.” Research suggests that speaking to your child this way can actually boost their language development and learning, since babies are better able to attend to and understand “motherese” than regular adult speech.
Whenever you talk to your baby, be sure to make eye contact. This is a very important part of meaningful communication. Even if your baby can’t answer you in words, you’ll know from his or her facial expressions that he or she is participating in the conversation.
Cut Down on Cell Phone Babbling
This comes as no surprise, but it’s a good idea to put away your phonewhen you’re spending quality time with your baby. Save texts, emails, and calls for later, and just focus on your child. Continually glancing at your screen not only interrupts the critical one-on-one interaction that teaches your baby about communication, but also distracts you from the important cues your child is giving you.
Don’t Have Preconceived Notions About When “Real Speech” Will Occur
Every parent waits for that magical moment when a child first says “Mama” or “Dada.” But that will come in each baby’s own time, not according to any particular schedule. It’s good to have a sense of the typical language development trajectory and milestones, but it’s a broad range, so try not to get too caught up on specific deadlines.
In the meantime, keep up that back-and-forth babbling! As with almost everything, music makes it more fun and interesting. And (surprise!) we even have some babble-friendly suggestions for you: Try singing along to “Dipidu” during your morning routine—during diapering, feeding, or dressing. And play “Bubbles on Me” during bath time, so your baby can practice forming syllables as he or she blows buh-buh-buh bubbles in the tub. These are the moments when you truly realize how important you are as your baby’s first teacher.
The last two weeks we have started incorporating I Love You Rituals in our classes. We LOVE these rituals as they perfectly align with Kindermusik’s child-development centered curriculum and our mission here at Song of the Heart Studios. Not only do I Love You Rituals promote our studio values of JOY, CONNECTION, FAMILY, GROWTH, and HEART, but they have a direct and literal impact on your child’s brain development. Research based, these simple rituals soothe cortisol and release oxytocin in the brain. Without getting into the neurochemistry of it all, what this means is that these simple, quick, and fun rituals are a tool that will bond you with your child, will increase their self esteem, lengthen their attention span, promote cooperation, decrease power struggles, reduce hyperactivity, and facilitate language development. Can you believe that all those benefits can come from such a simple ritual? It takes less than a minute to do, and can reap huge rewards. We have been teaching the Twinkle Twinkle ritual in our classes in the hopes that it will inspire you to implement it at home. Here are some ideas of when to throw it into your daily routines:
In the morning, upon waking up
On the diapering table
During nap time and/or
bedtime routines
When getting in or out of the carseat
Before or after meals
When saying goodbye
These delightful rituals were designed by Dr. Becky Bailey, renowned child education and developmental psychology expert, and founder of Conscious Discipline. Please let us know how you incorporate I Love You Rituals into your family life. What benefits have you experienced?
Here at Song of the Heart Studios we never stop working our hearts out to bring you the best educational musical experience for your children. Summermusik may be over, but we have been working behind the scenes to get ready for you to come back to us!
We’ve been planning all the fun and engaging events we will bring to you throughout the year.
We’ve been honing our skills to make sure we bring you the most talented and loving and skillful educators you could find anywhere.
We’ve been brushing up on our child development fluency to be able to communicate during class the benefits that are happening as they are happening.
We’ve been learning the best loving and gentle discipline practices and hope to impart them to you to help you at home in your parenting challenges.
We’ve been coordinating as a Joy Team to make sure our classes are both consistent yet distinct from teacher to teacher, from level to level, and from location to location.
Our commitment to you is that no matter what class you bring your child to, if you are in a new level, or if you are with a new educator, you will LOVE your experience. Not only are our classes jam-packed with JOY, CONNECTION, FAMILY, GROWTH, AND HEART, but you can rest assured that behind all of that fun is the invisible and crucial work of optimal whole-child development.
Kindermusik does ALL THAT. Who wouldn’t want THAT for their little one?
Can’t wait to see you. Monday classes start August 27th. All other classes start after Labor Day. Haven’t reserved your spot yet? See what’s available.
Our annual Spring Sing brought joy, laughter, and lots and lots of singing to the studio this week!
Voice teacher, Lana Burke, brought a singing masterclass to our Kindergarten and 1st grade students. She taught them about posture, breath, warming up the voice, Solfege, and more. She made them giggle and oh, how she got them singing!
When she finished her presentation she asked if there were any questions. A beautiful little hand rose up in the back of the room and a quiet, high voice asked, “Why is music so important?” SUCH a profound question from such a young child. I couldn’t wait to hear Ms. Lana’s answer. But in the way of a master teacher, Ms. Lana immediately asked the group why they felt music was so important. Another beautiful little hand rose up and a louder voice answered, “Well, if we didn’t have music then life would be grey and dark.” WHAT? Both of these kids are in Kindergarten yet they KNOW that music is meaningful, important, and profoundly influences their young lives. I smiled through my happy tears and immediately thought of this quote from Plato.
This is why I teach Kindermusik. I know that’s why Ms. Lana teaches music, too. Because music is the most important vehicle for education. Yes, I could show you the research and bore you with the science (which is really very fascinating) but I don’t need to do that.
Today, two beautiful, musical little souls reminded us that music is important because without it life would be dark. Let’s spread the light. #kindermusikhelpswiththat
Kindermusik class is like one long I Love You Ritual, isn’t it? We think that eye contact, touch, presence, and a playful structure are a fantastic combination. Mix them with MUSIC and it’s absolute perfection. We believe it’s the best combo for kids!
Why? Because music is the only activity that lights up the whole brain and I Love You Rituals are simple yet astoundingly powerful. Caring touch, kind words, and intentional routine will help form the kind of bond and connection that opens not just the heart but also the mind and the will. Because of the dopamine that’s released and the emotional connections that are made, I Love You Rituals actually wire the brain for greater impulse control, spur a desire for positive behavior, and increase attention span – all things that are crucial for children to succeed in relationships, in school, and in life.
Just as important as the I Love You part is the Ritual part. Rituals are those special ways you do things – the way you greet one another, the way you reconnect after time apart, or what you do every night before bed time. Rituals are not only meaningful, they are also deliberate and predictable. A simple I Love You Ritual strengthens relationships, builds trust, and makes life kinder and happier. Who doesn’t want that for their family?
4 Musical Resolutions for 2018
Make your everyday routines easier and special memories a little more lasting. Music does it all. 1 – Sing More With Your Little One
At first, you’ll almost need to make a plan to sing MORE. But once it is second nature, you’ll find you can find a song – or make up a song – for nearly EVERY part of your day. Your daily routines will become easier, and even the unexpected moments will become a little more manageable when you have a song or two to ease you and your child through.
And remember, whether you would ever sing in public or not, to your child, YOUR voice is the most beautiful sound in the world. Filling your child’s heart with special songs makes for precious memories that your family will cherish forever.
2 – Cuddle and Dance Every Day
Taking more time to use music to cuddle and dance together will definitely bring you closer. You’ll probably find that your own stress levels are reduced and that your child will have fewer meltdowns as a result of taking more time for intentional and loving connection.
Enjoy a few extra musical cuddles before naps or bedtime. And dancing? A spontaneous dance can happen anytime throughout the day. Nothing gets rid of the grumps or brings a smile of delight more quickly than a dance around the room – to singing or recorded music.
3 – Create Family Playlists
A musical environment comes from experiencing music. Take a few minutes to create some playlists of your child’s favorite music. Your Kindermusik Online Parent Guides are the best place to start.
Organize and label your playlists according to the kind of music each playlist contains. For example, those soft, sweet lullabies are perfect to play when your child is settling down for a nap or for bedtime. A playlist of fun, energetic music inspires your child to dance, move, and play… and expend a little energy! A sing-along playlist of your child’s favorite songs to SING helps errands in the car go so much more quickly and smoothly.
4 – Commit to Fostering Your Child’s Musical Development
The window for benefitting from playing, making, and listening to music is open the widest in the very early years of childhood. We ALL want our children to have every possible advantage – academically, socially, developmentally, and even musically. So, give yourself a little round of applause for commiting to your child’s overall development with your regular Kindermusik classes.
I’ve been thinking. Singing TOGETHER in Kindermusik class is such a gift. Not only for the children but for the grown-ups, too. Did you know that communal singing has long been on the decline in the United States? That fact kind of makes me want to put my head in my hands and cry. But then I realize I get to sing every day. A lot. And, I get to help families do the same. That makes my heart just sing!
The conversation.com shares,
“Shows like American Idol have promoted the notion that singing is a rare ability reserved for the talented few, and that those without such talent entertain us only by being ridiculed and weeded out.
This “talent mindset” of music runs counter to what psychologist Carol Dweck calls the “growth mindset” that is considered critical for learning: Students who view their success as a result of hard work will persevere through challenges, while students who believe their success lies with some innate ability – like “talent” – are more likely to give up.
My own research found that if children have a negative view of themselves as singers, they are much less likely to participate in music of any kind.
These self-perceptions of a lack of musical talent can then become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Research shows that adults who dropped out of music as children may lose their singing skills through lack of use and opportunity.
Kids who love music but do not think of themselves as musical could miss out on many of the social and cognitive benefits of music participation, on the experience of feeling connected to others through song.”
What is a music teacher to do? Sing! What is a parent to do? The same.
Sing in Kindermusik class, in the car, at home, at bed time, at meal time, at play time. How about just about ALL the time?
Karen Loew in The Atlantic says,
“In these divided times as much as ever, we need to do some singing and feeling together, united as both citizens and amateurs.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Let it begin with Kindermusik!
Oh, how we LOVE our PlayDates with a Purpose. We are finding that children and Grand-Friends are the perfect combination for joy. We partner with Beehive Homes to bring this multi-generational class together to sing and laugh and share.
Today, after our Halloween PlayDate at Beehive Homes, one of the dear ladies stayed to talk. She shared that some of the residents don’t attend activities but when the Kindermusik kids come they make their way to the beautiful living room and sing, sway, laugh and play with us. She pointed out a particular Grand-friend who rarely interacts with others but who, today, laughed and shook her shakers and tossed a ball back and forth with a new friend. She was thrilled to see this woman come out of her shell and said she couldn’t wait to have us back again next month.
We adore the Kindermusik families who want to not only share their hugs and smiles but introduce their kids to the joy of friends of every age. We feel so lucky to be a part of this gift. You can join us here and you can learn more about what we do in the video below. Get out your tissues!
Ms Carol needs no introduction, as she is our esteemed Studio Director who began our beloved Song of the Heart Studio over 20 years ago in her family room! Her primary instrument is her voice, and she also plays the piano, the guitar, and the ukulele. Her favorite genre of music is choral music, with her favorite piece of all time the Duruflé Requiem. Did you know she sang with the Salt Lake Symphony Chorus for many years?
Ms Maren is our newest educator. She joined the JOY team one year ago, as the teacher who works in our satellite studio in South Jordan, bringing Kindermusik to the families in that side of the valley. She originally began teaching Kindermusik more than a decade ago in her own home, but took several years off to focus on raising her little children. Now that her kids are a bit older, she has returned to her mission of educating other children through the power of music.
