A Simple, Fun Approach to Classical Music
Storytelling / Drama / Song / Movement / Instrumental Play
Robin Thorpe
Piano Studio add
Kids: they dance before they learn
there is anything that isn't music.
~William Stafford
Fun with Composers’ unique, interactive approach brings classical music to life! Let the power of storytelling draw children into the intriguing world of classical music! Fun with Composers brings classical music from what can seem to children like a complicated, mysterious form to one that is completely child-centered and fascinating!
Dancing Bugs, Ringmasters and Snobby Pears are just a few
of the fascinating characters unveiled in this unique union of
story and song. This approach nurtures the many ways which
children learn, providing fun visuals, imaginative stories, and
many opportunities for creative improvisation.
Fun with Composers promotes creativity by encouraging the
child to create fun, imaginative characters and bring them
to life through drama, song, creative movement and instrumental play. Our interactive approach caters to the many different needs of children, allowing every child to participate and feel successful.
Adults love this approach as it provides nourishing content. Children love our approach because it provides an outlet for creative expression, filled with new and stimulating experiences. This program is appropriate for children ages 4 to 12 and helps to build a musical structure that can be built upon for years to come.
Classical Music and Your Child
Creativity is a form of problem solving, involving problems which are neither easy to solve nor do they have any standard or conventional solutions. Creativity involves adaptability and flexibility of thought.
Educators believe these skills are critical for the success
of students, and that the focus of creativity should remain on the “generation of ideas.”
Fun with Composers’ approach advocates this process, encouraging students and parents to stimulate the
imagination through storytelling and then incorporate their own ideas at every opportunity.
Contact Information: Robin Black Thorpe
Accredited Simply Music Teacher 615.519.8324
Video Sample: The Marraige of Figaro
Click on the chef to discover how children can make "magical" soup through the music of Mozart. In section A of the "Marriage of Figaro" children will be adding spices from their imaginary spice cupboards with presto fast hands. In Section B, they will "stir it up" using a legato stir, and in Section C they will shout out to everyone in the land to "Come and taste their soup" using their forte voices. This video sample is taken after one 50 minute class with kindergarten students that had never been exposed to the materials.
Can classical music make your child smarter?
Plato once said that music “is a more potent instrument than any other for education.” Now scientists know why. Music, they believe, trains the brain for higher forms of thinking.
Research has proven that music exercises the same neurons used for mathematics and spatial reasoning. Music is the only activity that involves using both the right and left sides of the brain simultaneously. The skill for doing mazes, reading maps, copying patterns, and drawing shapes has been shown to improve with exposure to complex musical sounds. This skill later translates into complex math and engineering skills. “Early music training can enhance a child’s ability to reason,” says Irvine physicist, Gordon Shaw.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, studied the power of music by observing two groups of preschoolers. One group took piano lessons and sang daily in chorus. The other did not. After eight months the musical three year olds were expert puzzle-masters, scoring eighty percent higher than their playmates in spatial intelligence!
