Top 7 Music Resources for Kids (Guest Post)

With the soaring popularity of music
enrichment classes and private instrument lessons, nearly everyone
knows that music
resources can be a fantastic way to jumpstart your
child’s learning and development. From Baby Mozart to mommy and me
classes, there are numerous options for exposing kids to music. With
these materials, your family can begin reaping the benefits of a
beginning music education and hopefully instill a lifelong passion
for song in your kids.

1. Classical Kids Live!

Classical Kids Live! is a non-profit
music education concert with five shows which travel each season and
are also available on recording. In five tales called Beethoven
Lives Upstairs, Hallelujah Handel, Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage,
Tchaikovsky Discovers America, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, Classical
Kids Live! weaves biographies of famous composers with gripping
historical fiction about kids who meet the composers and share wild
adventures with them and their celebrated music.

2. Music Together

Celebrating its 25^th
anniversary, Music Together is an early childhood music program which
has gained international acclaim for pioneering the importance of
music curriculum amongst youngsters. Music Together represents just
that combining little ones from newborns to seven-year-olds with
their parents or even grandparents and providing a safe environment
in which to learn how to sing tunes, keep beats and gain confidence.
Various classes are offered throughout local communities, so check
out their website for a group near you.

3. Music and Reading

Reading
Rockets offers a list of books and programs which
combine music with reading for your child’s development. This
organization offers various fiction and nonfiction ways of
integrating literacy and music offers.

4. “Peter and the Wolf”

Serge Prokofiev famous composition
combines the story of “Peter and the Wolf” with the symphony.
This musical story utilizes the various instruments in an orchestra
to embody the personalities of the animals in the narrative from the
robin to the wolf. This is a fun way to expose kids to the many
instruments which combine to make the big sound of orchestra music.
It is available as a sound recording and in several film versions as
well.

5. Percussion Toys

Another simple way to bring music home
for your kids is through toy instruments such as maracas, cymbals and
tambourines. Turn play time into learning time by teaching them how
to clap in time with music and to shake, rattle, clang and roll their
percussion instruments. Most children are naturally drawn to music
and to making noise of their own. Providing them with basic
instruments to play with can help to cultivate this fascination.

6. Check Out Your Local Library

It’s close and free. The library is a
great place to find children’s books about classical composers and
instruments. Many public libraries also serve as centers for
community programs with morning and afternoon programs which bring in
live children’s music and story times. Exposing your child to the
library can have an extra benefit of inspiring a love of books and
reading in addition to an early appreciation of music.

7. Share Your Music

While it is popular to play classical
pieces for your children’s benefit, it can also be fun and
educational to share music from your own generation. Playing music
from various decades and genres sheds light on the changing nature of
music composition from Frank Sinatra to rock and roll. This can also
begin to develop a sense of history as well as music.

There are many ways to share the love
of music with your children, so pull out those clapping hands and old
records and get started today.

Image from
www.kidzcentralstation.com