Infants, Toddlers, and Music
Children are naturally fascinated with sound and movement.  Children, even before birth, are surrounded by musical sounds.  Whether a child is listening to music, singing, or moving creatively to the sounds around them, music is a vital part of every child's life. Young children create music as a part of their play experiences, sustaining imagination and creativity. Music enables children to express feelings and release energies and emotions in new and novel ways. Early childhood is an opportune time to reinforce children's natural music abilities. Although music is not a language, music is learned in much the same way that a language is learned. Children need to hear and experiment with extensive amounts of language before they actually learn to speak, read and write. Imagine placing a child in a school setting where they were asked to read before they had been exposed to a wide vocabulary and developed a speaking vocabulary of their own. In the same way, children need to hear a wide variety of music and experiment with it before they can sing accurately, chant rhythms with precision, and eventually read and write music.

An Early Childhood Music Program

Music Moves for Kids offers a rich music environment for children.  Music Moves for Kids is based on the empirical research of Dr. Edwin E. Gordon and focuses on how children learn and process music, when learning music.  Classes expose children to a wide repertoire of songs and chants.  Teachers model simple, creative movements which encourage children in playful movement activities where music becomes the toy.  Children are encouraged to interact with the music in whatever way they feel most comfortable.  Correct responses are not required from the children, rather each child's uniqueness and response to music is valued.  The children's responses often become the springboard for creating further music dialogue.  Facilitating music interaction and building upon children's natural responses are key components of Music Moves for Kids classes.  

Music Development and
Music Moves ....

One’s potential to learn is never greater than at the moment of birth. The early years of life are crucial for establishing a foundation for lifelong music development. A child’s musical experiences from birth to age five have a particularly profound impact on the extent to which children will be able to understand, appreciate, and achieve in music as an adult. Children must be exposed to a rich variety of music during these years in order to develop the necessary readiness for formal music learning when they are older.

Children learn music in much the same way they learn a language. After listening to the sounds of their native language for many months, a child goes through a stage of language babble, in which they experiment with speech sounds that do not make sense to adult listeners. Soon afterwards, they “break the code” of their language and are able to first imitate words, and then use them meaningfully in phrases and sentences of their own.

Children also go through stages of music babble, in which they make sounds that typically do not make musical sense to adults. In tonal babble children sing in a speaking voice quality. In rhythm babble they move erratically, without consistent tempo or discernible meter.

Children who have not yet emerged from music babble do not benefit from formal music instruction. They should not be taught as if they are young adults or kindergarten children. Parents and teachers should instead informally guide them to an understanding of music just as they informally guide them to an understanding of their spoken language before they receive formal schooling.

Music Moves for Kids Classes

Music Moves for Infants (Newborn to 12 months)
Music Moves for Toddlers (Ages 1 and 2 years)
Music Moves for Preschool (Ages 3 and 4 years)
Music Moves for Mixed Ages (Mixed age group from newborn to age 4)
Music Moves for Keyboard Games (Ages 4 & 5 years, includes time at the piano)
​Music Moves for Kids and Gregory Chase Music Studio is proud to work with Creative Kids Saskatchewan.  
​For families unable to meet the lesson fees, funds may be available from Creative Kids Saskatchewan.  Visit www.CreativeKidsSask.ca for details.