Infectious Enthusiasm!

Today was a wonderful day at the Plaza Hotel. Perhaps it was all the sun we’ve been having, but everyone brought their biggest and brightest smiles. One father in particular, who was new to the class, seemed to be having just as much fun as the kids (if not more!), and delighted in seeing his daughter playing and sharing. There was a lot of supportive encouragement from parents and siblings alike, who helped the little ones find their left and right hands, and helped them sleep and hop for Sleeping Bunnies. The class loved the agogo as the instrument of the week, and we had a great jam with lots of sharing. Pure joy!

Calming Sounds

Another great class at Robertson House this week. We featured the Tibetan singing bowls and tingsha bells, both of which brought a nice sense of calm to the class. With a big difference in ages among participants, these kinds of enigmatic instruments help draw the group together. The singing bowls in particular can be a bit tricky to get the hang of, so I was very impressed to see a young participant make a bowl ring out on the first try! Looking forward to more fun next week! 

Chime-a-Mania

The kids just loved ringing and ringing away on the chime bars that I brought this week. They proved to have excellent rhythm when I taught them The Firetruck Song, and managed to tap the chime bar exactly five times on each chorus. 

Dance to the Music

Redwood brought its usual high-energy exuberance to our session this week. We made sure to get a lot of movement into our class, so we tried out as many dancing, clapping, and jumping songs as we could. We let that feeling carry over into our instrument, the caxixi, where we had the players shake the instruments while the rest of us were shaking our bodies. We ended our time together with an extra special song, because we had a birthday in the room! I was so honoured to be able to play for our friend as they blew out the candles on the cake.

Opening Up!

This week’s class at Ernestine’s was tons of fun. The kids and parents were not at all shy to see a different instructor for the week and were ready to show me all that Steven had taught them so far. Great staff too! There was one boy, however, who seemed a bit shy at first. I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the crowd, “What do the doors on the bus do?”, and he finally opened up and confidently said, “Open and shut!” From that point on he was very involved. It’s always great to see kids gain confidence through music. 

PA Day Celebration

It was nice to see some past clients who were able to join the RSF class due to it being a PA Day. We had a nice large group again today, and the energy was contagious! Everyone was really excited to see and try out the Tibetan tingsha bells and the Nepalese singing bowls. 

Back At It!

Today we started the new, revised session at Redwood, and it was all about the things we eat. Raindrops and sunbeams turned into lemon drops and jellybeans, then we got stuck on ourselves with Sticky Bubblegum. The theme almost continued into our special instrument: a bowl! Not for soup, but a singing bowl from Tibet. We had everyone feel the vibrations on the bottom of the bowl as we took it around our circle. It was a good way for everyone, from babies to grown-ups, to experience the music. 

Valentine's!

The kids were very excitable this week. Lots of running around the class, which was occasionally distracting, but luckily the grown-ups were there to help keep everyone together or take anyone who needed a breather outside the room. We continued singing songs about body parts, but this week we sang love songs to body parts, like Everybody Knows I Love My Toes, and My Belly Button. We finished off with You Are My Sunshine, and a parachute version of Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Everybody was feeling the spirit of Valentine's.

Parents are Engaging!

This week was a great group for building connections between parents and kids. While there were some kids who were super engaged, a few shy ones were helped by the grown-ups in the room, and eventually everyone was singing along. This is a very supportive group, so shy people are never an issue because they always have the support of their friends and caregivers. We had enough grown-ups to help with the big parachute at the end of class, and the kids were beyond enthralled. One of the parents even said that he hadn’t seen his daughter that excited in a while.

Keeping a Beat!

Today’s class at Robertson House was small but we managed to cram some good learning in! Since the group was small and a bit older, it was an opportune day to do some focused exercises. I was pleased to see all participants follow their cues with the wooden frogs during Little Green Frog. They all enthusiastically hit the wooden frogs right on the beat! Great to see and hear parents and kids playing music together.