Hop, Skip and Sing
Music Education for Little Ones
What we do
What we do
Singing and moving to music is not only the most fun way to learn music but also the best way to understand the form and feel of the music. It’s best to start this from the earliest age possible (Kodály stated that the best time to start is 9 months before birth!) as music making develops confidence, coordination, social and listening skills.
Musical development using the voice can develop as early as babyhood. Singing is an engaging, sociable activity that can feed the spirit as well as the musical mind. It’s the most straightforward way to learn and internalise music and to develop musicianship skills. Through unaccompanied singing a child can begin to acquire skills essential to all musicians: musical memory, inner hearing, true intonation and harmonic awareness.
When you come along to one of our classes you will be encouraged to get involved and participate fully so that your child feels free to do the same. A child with a parent reluctant to sing will also be reluctant to sing!
We also have lots of fun exploring instruments!
We don’t use backing tracks but sing songs unaccompanied as this is the best way for children to learn to sing in tune. The songs use a limited number of notes so parents generally find that they learn them quickly. We also get some of our songs going in parts which gets the children used to two part hearing.
Our aim is for our children to start singing and continue singing and never to develop a complex about not being able to sing. I’ve come across so many adults who say “I can’t sing” or “I’ve got no rhythm” which they have consistently proved to themselves is untrue after a bit of experience with learning music by ear.
We use a mixture of songs and rhymes some of which will be familiar and some will be new. As well as using our voices we also do a lot of moving in our classes; wiggling, swishing through the air, bouncing and clapping so children and parents quickly understand how to listen for and move to the beat.
Come along and try a class!