By Melody Easter-Clutter
Melody's Beat
www.stirringthegiftmusicstudio.com
1103 North 9th Street
Indianola, Iowa 50125
515-490-6096
Melody Easter-Clutter is passionate about teaching music to children, and her enthusiasm is contagious! While watching lively lessons on DVD, your children will be exposed to music concepts such as rhythmic notes, melody, staff, note reading, scale degrees, down beat, measures, quarter rest, steady beat, musical alphabet, chords, tempos, musical phrase, melodic line, whole note, ostinato, and more! Whew! My children have been taking music lessons for years, and although they are proficient on their instruments, they have missed many of these critical music theory elements in their studies. Under the guise of helping their younger siblings with this program, I was able to help them learn some new music fundamentals they were lacking.
The Preschool Level #1 kit includes eight lessons on DVD, colorful charts, teacher's lesson plans, a music CD, egg shakers, and rhythm sticks for $80. Children will need access to a ball, a hula-hoop, a drum, and a xylophone to get the most out of the course. The spiral-bound book is organized well--something I always appreciate! Each lesson in the book begins with the lesson objective, a list of materials needed, and a lesson outline. This is followed by the words and music for each song that will be used in the lesson, questions to ask your children, tips on things to explain, ideas for activities to help make the lesson more concrete, and colorful charts to reinforce the concepts taught in the lesson. I was really pleased that each chart I needed to teach the lesson was right there with the lesson, not tucked into an appendix. Subsequent lessons also include a review of previously learned material. It is recommended that you spend at least a week with each lesson so that your children have time to absorb all there is to learn. The songs are catchy and the activities simple enough that it is easy to review concepts throughout the week. This is a very kinetic program that has the kids moving continually--perfect for wiggly preschoolers!
I'm excited about the music theory my children can learn with this program. I do wish that the videography and set design were a little more professional, but my kids didn't notice one bit. Melody's enthusiasm had them marching to beats, bouncing rhythms on balls, singing and jumping scale degrees, all while learning lessons that won't be easily forgotten. Anyone wanting their children to actually remember their music theory lessons should take a serious look at Melody's Beat.
Product review by Lisa Kjeldgaard, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, April 2009
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