Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 2, 1993 TAG: 9301010005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL HELTZEL SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS (staff)
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
LITTLE MUSIC MAKERS
The image of music lessons can be one of stern mothers, forced instruction and missed baseball games.Enjoyment is the idea, though, in Donita Moore's Blacksburg studio, where children and their parents join in an international program called Kindermusik.
Created in West Germany in the late 1960s, Kindermusik teaches rudimentary music skills to children as young as 18 months. The program can be followed until the children are 6 or 7 years old and ready for traditional instruction.
"They're learning through having fun," Moore said. "It's wonderful to watch children learning something that's going to be part of their lives forever."
Moore holds two Kindermusik classes each Friday. One group is made up of children ages 18 months to 3 years; the other has ages 4 to 7. Her studio, called Moore Notes, also offers a class called Musik Makers for the transition between Kindermusik and advanced musical training. Moore, dressed in a sweater covered with musical notes and wearing eighth-note earrings, laughed as she recounted a little girl's reaction to learning this verse:
"Dr. Foster went to Gloucester/ In a shower of rain/ She stepped in a puddle/ Up to her middle/ And never went there again."
The girl, taking the story literally, seemed horrified that the doctor would not be fulfilling her Hippocratic oath. "What about all the sick children in Gloucester?" she asked.
Moore decided to change the last line to "And had to go home and change" to avoid further distress.
"The children are so attentive and they notice everything around them. They're sometimes not sure what's reality," she said.
The younger children's group requires a parent to be present and interact with the child, Moore said. During the four-semester curriculum, the children learn vocal exploration, body awareness and coordination, simple percussion and sound discrimination.
Instruction continues outside the studio. The children listen to cassettes of songs taught during the class and read an accompanying illustrated book.
At 4 to 7 years, the pupils are independent enough to leave their parents at home, Moore said. They learn rhymes and poetry, traditional North American songs, and listening and ensemble skills. They also learn to read and write music and prepare for further instruction.
Moore, who also teaches piano, flute and organ to students of various ages, said instruction is based on the student's level of development.
"Of course you wouldn't relate to an adult the way you would with children," Moore said. "They're learning the same concepts; however, the concepts must be presented in a way that's easily understandable.
"You can have a group of 50-year-olds singing and playing together, but you would approach it differently."
Moore said Kindermusik teaches children in much the same way they would learn a second language.
Children usually receive their first musical training at age 6 or 7, Moore said. She decided several years ago they needed to start earlier, and began researching Kindermusik.
Moore was trained and received her license this fall; she's now teaching her first Kindermusik class.
Everyone is born with musical ability, Moore said, but the development of that ability to age 6 or 7 can have a great impact on what a person can do later in life.
"If the musical ability is developed, it will be active as they grow older," she said. "That's why adults at a certain level have a more difficult time than children. They're having to recapture something that hasn't been nurtured up to that point."