Let's Play Music Recital!

Eliot participated in a music program called Let's Play Music this year. A good friend of mine discovered the program when she was living back east, and loved it so much that she became a teacher when there weren't any classes offered in her area when she moved to Arizona. It's a program started by a BYU Music graduate who wanted to tap into that amazing age when kids have such a natural ability to learn languages and music. From her own experience, kids in that preschool window of 4-6 are still too small to reach the pedals and stretch those little fingers wide enough to play the piano, so she wanted to start a program that would teach kids the foundations of music theory in a fun, interactive way when their minds are such great little sponges. The result was the Let's Play Music program, and though my friend had told me great things about it, I was blown away by what Eliot learned over the year! One of the neatest things about the program is that parents get to attend every other week with their child, which provides built-in one-on-one time to interact with your child. Together we learned the Solfeggio signs (something only my A.P. Music/Music Major friends learned by I never did in my 11 years of piano lessons and 4 years of violin lessons), we were introduced to four different classical pieces through amazing, fun puppet shows, and, though he doesn't realize it, learned how to read notes on the staff! He can even find the pitch for "Do" (middle C) without hearing it first, and knows several different rhythms. Cool, huh!?  The program will last three years, and then he'll be more than prepared to start private piano lessons. All I can say is "Wow!"

The recital was a little crazy (which happens when you have 30+ kids ages 3-8 all together in front of a large crowd!) and didn't fully reflect the kids' abilities. I think they got their first dose of stage fright (another skill I'm glad to see Eliot learn -- how to remain composed in front of a large group and perform under pressure), along with a fair amount of silliness and distraction, but even still, it was so cute to see them show off their impressive musical skills! This is Eliot clapping and singing "You Can't Bug Me" which taught the kids several different kinds of notes/rhythms like quarter, eighth, sixteenth, half notes, etc. It was one of the kids' favorite songs all year! 

 

With Miss Alicia, his teacher. We sure loved her enthusiasm for music and patience with her group of almost all boys. We had lots of wiggly days, but a ton of fun, too!

Eliot performing on the bells with two other classmates.

 

With Cousin Mikey, one of many family members who came to support Mr. Eliot!

 

The grand finale number, "Do, Re, Mi" (from Sound of Music ... but that's not where "do, re, mi" originated -- those are the basis of the Solfeggio names and hand signs that help develop perfect pitch). Took Eliot a while to want to join in on making the hand signs!