Submitted by Kim Gerst Bauer for Piper’s Playground
Children and parents in the South Sound are learning a new way to communicate – through the music and rhythms of an internationally recognized early childhood music program, Music Together®. The lively and fun music class is based on the theory that every child can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat and participate in making music with confidence. Music Together® classes are offered in 2000 communities and 40 countries around the world. For the first time, children in the South Sound can sign up for this esteemed program at Piper’s Playground, a new indoor play area for families in Olympia.
Kim Gerst Bauer, owner of Piper’s Playground, got licensed to offer Music Together® as part of Piper’s enrichment classes. “We are thrilled to offer such an engaging opportunity for our area’s children and parents,” said Gerst Bauer. “Music Together® classes are unlike any other early childhood music program. Based on the Suzuki method of strong parent involvement, children hear their parents practicing tonal patterns and rhythm patterns in class. These patterns provide the building blocks for their own musical development. It is the equivalent of teaching a child how to walk by walking in front of them.”
The program focuses on active music-making in a relaxed teacher and parent-led environment. The structure of the classes allows for children to do what they do best – be kids! They can play or sing along or simply listen. Children and their parents receive a CD and a songbook when they join the class, which they listen to throughout the week.
“When they come to class I sing the songs a cappella with the parents and some of the children,” said Music Together® Instructor Jennifer Huntley. “We also come up with silly rhymes or improvisations from the original melodies. It’s incredible to see a toddler’s face light up in the third or fourth week of class, when we begin singing live a favorite song of theirs from the CD.”
Music Together® classes at Piper’s Playground are currently being offered for children ages 6 months to 5 years. During a regular semester, classes are 45 minutes long, once a week and last for ten weeks.
Sign-up for summer session classes is now open. They run twice a week for three weeks in June, July and August. A once-a-week Saturday option begins in mid-June and runs through mid- August. For more information on the summer session of Music Together®, interviews, photographs or to attend a preview class, please contact: Kim Gerst Bauer music@pipersplayground.com (360) 584-9886
