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The Music Preludes® program began as an early childhood music literacy curricula taught in preschool settings by our music specialists to children ranging from infancy through age six. Over the past three decades, the Music Preludes® program has evolved into a multifaceted entity centered on the original Music Preludes® Curricula which is currently implemented in over one-hundred preschools in New Jersey and Westchester, NY. This curricula is unique, as we have designed an educational model that integrates the teaching of fundamental music concepts with critical developmental skills. Children learn music concepts such as dynamics, tempo, pitch, note values, rhythm patterns, the musical alphabet, music notation, and much more while developing social skills, fine and gross motor skills, and critical cognitive skills.
Our methodology is based upon, and continues to grow in response to, research in the fields of developmental psychology and music. The merging of these domains has yielded a compelling body of literature that consistently demonstrates the positive impact of early music education on the development of children’s capacities for attention, listening, memory, problem-solving, and especially spatial reasoning which is the foundation for higher-level learning in math and science.
While the research is exciting, our primary focus remains on the quality of the learning experience we create for each child, as the child’s receptiveness for learning, self-expression, and exploration depend upon our capacity to consistently generate positive and stimulating learning experiences. We achieve our goal in this regard by creating a non-threatening, non-competitive, supportive group context in which we present children with music concepts through an array of engaging and developmentally-appropriate, hands-on games and activities innovatively designed for our program
Music Preludes® is not a performance-focused program, as we think asking children to demonstrate the discipline and fine motor dexterity necessary to play non-percussion instruments in early childhood is unreasonably challenging in the early stages of development. Music Preludes®’ goal is to provide ample opportunities for creating, singing, moving rhythmically, experimenting with sound on various types of percussion instruments, and listening to genres of music from cultures around the world.
Our thirty-year journey with Music Preludes® has led us in some interesting new directions in recent years. We invite you to further explore our Music Preludes® Curricula as well as our other ventures, including the Around the World With Music Preludes® Summer Program, Music Preludes® Curriculum for Preschool Educators, Music Preludes® Workshops, Music Preludes® CD and Songbook Series, and Music Preludes® Licensing.
Our years of experience have shown that our method of teaching music in early childhood allows children to communicate in the universal language of music and both appreciate and understand music on a deeper level. These capacities profoundly enhance children’s lives and are carried with them into their futures.
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