I’ve never particularly been one to angst over what to wear before an event – I was lucky enough to have parents who instilled in me the importance of substance over appearance. However my cool was well and truly blown recently on meeting the parents of my son’s new senior school classmates because a good percentage of them remembered me from when they attended the very first Mini Mozart classes back in 2005 with their then new babies.
In those days rather than a techy booking system, we had an ‘honesty’ pot on the piano that people would drop the class fee into and collect any change they were owed. We didn’t cap the numbers so often had over 40 children in a class crammed next to one another like sardines!
It was through necessity then that I developed the techniques that have the babies and toddlers in our thrall – a simple sing a long session for that many children would have been mayhem. Through trial and error, the early Mini Mozarts taught me that the best ways to get babies to engage with the rudiments of music is to reinforce what they’re hearing with another sensory cue.
We all have a dominant learning style – either Auditory (learning through listening), Visual (learning through watching) or Kinaesthetic (learning through doing). The secret to keeping the babies and toddlers engaged throughout a 45 minute class was to develop exercises that tapped into all three learning styles. I heartily recommend investing some time and effort into figuring out how your child learns by following this great 10 step process; it will shed light on all sorts of parenting conundrums and may even influence your choice of school later on. As an easy first point of call that you can do easily at your next Mini Mozart class, consider this:
If your child’s favourite part of the class is
The Parachute; it’s likely that they are a Visual Learner – they are seeing the parachute move in a way that corresponds to what they’re hearing.
The Songs & Music; it’s likely that they are Auditory Learners – great for traditional methods of school teaching.
The Scrunchie; it’s likely that they are Kinaesthetic Learners. Having something to touch, move and feel enables them to engage with and process the pulse of the music physically.
Head over to our Facebook Page to take part in our poll: It’ll be interesting to see how the class splits up into different learning styles.