In my almost 10 years of experience leading early childhood music classes, I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many others who do similar work. We’re therapists (of the music, physical, speech, developmental, and occupational sort), music educators, music specialists, general education teachers, volunteers, parents, and the list goes on. But the bottom line is the same: we all help kids learn and grow through music.
I’ve been writing songs and sharing them on my blog since 2008, and those songs make up much of my early childhood music class curricula. This summer I partnered with a fellow music therapist, Katey Kamerad, and we have been collaborating to provide early childhood music programs ever since.
Katey and I put lots of time and energy into songwriting, recording, crafting, and creating print materials for each and every class session we offer. We go through this process every 6 weeks or so, and while it is exhausting, we absolutely love the work.
But we know that not all leaders do. Maybe you are passionate about marketing but not songwriting. Perhaps putting together your curriculum together completely stresses you out, but you are passionate about putting songs into action with your students. It very well could be that you just aren’t interested in writing your own songs, but you need fresh material.
No matter which category you fall under, we created this site for you. We’ve taken the classes that have already been put into action here at our studio in Springfield, IL and packaged them up so that you can do the same. The songs (including lyrics, chords, and recordings), instructions and material lists are all there and ready for you to implement in your own early childhood classes.
And this is just a jumping off point for us. We have lots of plans in the works for other resources and materials, and in the meantime will be sharing tips, techniques and tool right here on the blog.
So please stop by regularly, and don’t hesitate to share your feedback! We’d love to hear what you need most when it comes to resources for leading children through music.