One thing that amazes me about Kindermusik is the way its classes prepare kids for a lifetime of music making. Yes, it's true, there is so much more than musical learning going on in the Kindermusik classroom, all that other great development in the social, cognitive, and physical areas of the brain...but oh, the musical learning.
For example: Audiation. Now what on earth, you might ask, is audiation. Well, you know how sometimes you get a tune stuck in your head. As it happens, that magic ability to sing something in your head is called "audiation." It is a learned skill, and one that some of us are much better at than others. Your Uncle Fred who can't carry a tune in a bucket. At the heart of his struggle to match pitch is poor audiation. This skill is essential to building true musicianship and those who really master it use it to be able to hear in their heads music they've never heard out loud, but only seen written on a page!
We are actually working on teaching audiation in class right now with our babies and early toddlers, kids from 0-18 months. The kids love it. We sing a little song, and then leave out the last line. By doing so, we are teaching them to fill in the rest mentally (and sometimes out loud). It's an activity that is great for all ages. Try it at home with songs your kids know or an old favorite like "B-I-N-G-O."
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