Today was our second music class with the new music teacher.  Last year we had a program that involved music, songs, and an instructor who played the guitar.  I am not musically inclined, but really wish I was.  To be able to read music, play an instrument, wow, what a gift.  Circumstances were such that I needed to find a new music program for the school year.  I am a firm believer that if cannot do something yourself, like teach music, find someone who can.  Because music is offered as an enrichment program at my school, I really wanted to offer the parents a program that I could not give.  While taking my 6-9 Montessori training, we were introduced to a lady who was musical.  The kind of person that you watch and say wow, she is a children's music teacher.  At that moment there was not a need for a new program, but I kept her information.  Over the summer I began to reevaluate what I envisioned in a music program for preschoolers and contacted Renee.  Her professionalism from the onset was fabulous.  She emailed me her program which listed out the national standards for music and how she incorporated them into the music class.  I had shared with her that I wanted the children to know beat, rhythm, tempo, etc.  but wondered if there could be more.  I have learned that young children are far more capable of retaining and gathering information than we sometimes give them credit for. Could we introduce classical music and composers, notes, and music composition, vocabulary, and even possibly an instrument at such a young age for a group?  The first meeting we had was very enthusiastic.  I shared the glockenspiel, tone bars, rhythm sticks, and box of music notes that I had acquired over the years with Renee and she shared her thoughts and plans that would get them playing the recorder in January.  There's enthusiasm for you, but with a realism that made me believe she was going to make it happen.  I told her that we could take it one step at a time and see how the group did.  For me, I wanted to see how this class was going to be different from the last.


Today I sat in on music class for both groups.  As I took notes of the things they were doing, and as I watched the students interacting with each other, I thought wow, what a lucky group of kids.  My daughter who is 2.5 years old was in the group of 4-5 year olds along with a couple other toddlers that had signed up.  There weren't enough toddlers signed up to form their own group, so I included those with the older group to see their interest level, and they were doing pretty well.    Miss Renee showed them a charactercure of Mozart before playing one of his pieces, and told them how he began to play the violin at age 5 and wrote his first piece at age 6.  She used movement with scarves and used words like legato and staccato alternately with smooth and choppy to give them an understanding of the words and the movements.  She showed them drums and a xylophone and explained how they were percussion instruments because they made sound by hitting them.  I was really impressed with the second day of Miss Renee's music class. 

Research shows that the brain responds positively to patterns, learns through repitition, and delights in novelty.  Early exposure to music and rhythm plays an important role in wiring the brain for reading, language, math, and social skills. 
Music class has the novelty in itself that the children look forward to it.  They love to sing songs and move about.  As a Montessori teacher I would sometimes feel guilty that the students were getting too much or not enough of the music I could plan for them.  I have found the balance.  Could I research and figure out which instruments are woodwind, percussion, or brass, absolutely.  Does it save me so much time to learn from someone who has taught it for 20 years, and in turn can find materials to implement into the classroom as extensions so the students are able to practice the vocabulary and actually learn the propers of music rather than just songs and fingerings--ABSOLUTELY. 

The students at Greenhouse are very fortunate that their parents have chosen a school such as this for them.  At the end of the day we must remember that they are children, and they learn despite us.  The letters and numbers, shapes and sounds will come, it is a part of every school's curriculum.  What isn't always a highlight of the week often is: nature, the outdoors, food prep, peace, culture, geography, discipline, music, art appreciation, freedom, individuality, animals, parents who are involved, a staff that puts the children first, and the ultimate goal of creating well rounded children.  Welcome to Montessori.  Welcome to Greenhouse Montessori.