As an early childhood music teacher, I am often asked to recommend the most suitable music class for 3 and 4-year-olds. Answering that question doesn't take me very long at all: the most enojyable and educationally sound class for this particular age group is Musikgarten's The Cycle of Seasons. The following paragraphs, adapted from Musikgarten's official publications, describe in some detail the contents and purposes of this wonderful curriculum.

At first glance, The Cycle of Seasons looks a lot like music classes for toddlers. There are parents and children sitting around in a circle singing a hello song, doing a finger play, or perhaps echoing patterns.  But in just a few minutes, both the look and feel of the class begins to change, and the resemblance to earlier classes is much less apparent.  Depending on the personality of the class, your child may leave you and move closer to me to hear the story, for the listening lesson, or the movement activities.  S/he may engage in all of these actions on his/her own, or s/he may pull you in for one or more of them.  We encourage you to let your child set the parameters regarding your participation at this point; come willingly if s/he invites you, and bask in her/his independence if s/he does it on her/his own.  And don’t be surprised or resistant if s/he changes her/his mind mid-way through the activity!

When browsing the social media world, one notices that the word "Orff" is used playfully in many different constellations, some funny (as in, "I'm orff to bed"), others apparently meant to be offensive (as in, "Orff You!"). Though the word "Orff" may have a strange, even ominous ring to it, conjuring up images of giant creatures in the woods or on the bottom of the sea, it actually is closely associated with one of the most wonderful methods of teaching music to children.

Carl Orff (1895-1982) was a visionary German artist and pedagogue whose work has enjoyed a lasting presence on the concert stage as well as in the music classroom.  Though a prolific composer, Orff is now celebrated primarily for his large-scale 1932 oratorio Carmina burana.  By contrast, his pioneering pedagogical research seems generally far less known, though it is very much alive and thriving in school systems around the globe.  

In 1924 Orff and Dorothee Günther co-founded the Günther-Schule in Munich--a new type of school that offered instruction in music, dance, and gymnastics.  As head of the music program of the Günther-Schule, Orff developed his educational philosophy that music should be learned in combination with movement, rhythm, dance, and speech.  Orff's ideas were highly controversial at the time, requiring music teachers to acquire special skills--knowledge of Orff's preferred instruments (recorders, glockenpiels, small metallophones, marimbas, drums, etc.) as well as the ability to improvise, i.e., to create music spontaneously.

Orff's music classroom functions as a "lab" where students explore sounds and develop their innate creativity in a relaxed and friendly group setting (Orff Ensemble).  With students singing and dancing to improvised rhythms, and communicating with each other in "call-and-response" situations, music study becomes an enjoyable, playful activity, and an experience involving multiple senses simultaneously.  

From 1932 to 1935, Orff collaborated with Gunild Keetman and Hans Bergese in publishing his Orff-Schulwerk: Elementare Musikübung, which presented an introduction to group improvisation and techniques of playing various percussion instruments, as well as a few ensemble compositions.  Music teachers at the time were flabbergasted by the Orff-Schulwerk since it ran counter to established concepts in traditional music education.  

It was not until 1950, when the Orff-Schulwerk was reintroduced with a second publication, Musik für Kinder (Music for Children).  This 5-volume work represents the basis of Orff instruction, providing teachers with a discussion of what is often called the "Orff Approach" or "Orff Method," and a number of ensemble compositions.  Due to its universal appeal, the "Orff Method" has since been adopted by music educators around the world.

Though rates for private music lessons may vary between instructors and music schools, they tend to be higher than tuition rates for group classes.  Why?

As with almost anything else, you get what you pay for!  In the case of private lessons, your tuition dollars provide you with the undivided attention of your teacher, who tailors style and content of his or her instruction to meet your individual needs.  For many students, the individual lesson format provides the ideal learning environment to make progress as quickly as possible.  In that sense, a

If we stick with the sports analogy for a moment, some of us are not particularly crazy about working one-on-one with a trainer, or working ourselves through all that exercise equipment at the gym, one machine at a time.  That can be tedious and a bit solitary at times.  By contrast, joining an aerobics class or a sports team to play soccer, football, basket ball, and what not, is an entirely different experience.  Although as members of a team, we may not be getting all that individualized attention, we're having fun, working collaboratively, laughing, and sharing victories and losses.  And on top of it, we're still toning those muscles and losing a few pounds!  Not bad at all.