One of our Kindermusik moms is casting for a national diaper commercial.

She is looking for babies who will be 7 – 14 months in January.

(The babies should not be steady walkers yet – it makes the shoot too tough!)

She would also like to audition the real moms and dads and cast the real family if possible.

AUDITIONS WILL BE JANUARY 4 – 9, 2012

CALLBACKS WILL BE JANUARY 10 – 12, 2012

SHOOT WILL BE JANUARY 16 – 20, 2012

WE WOULD NEED THE BABY PLUS THE MOM AND DAD (IF BOTH ARE AVAILABLE, IF NOT, JUST ONE PARENT) TO COME AND AUDITION ON ONE OF THE ABOVE DAYS. AUDITIONS WILL TAKE ABOUT ½ HOUR, THEN IF NARROWED DOWN, COME BACK FOR A CALLBACK AUDITION TO MEET THE DIRECTOR.  IF CHOSEN FOR THE SHOOT, THE BABY, MOM AND DAD (OR WHICH EVER PARENT IS AVAILABLE) WOULD SHOOT ANYWHERE FROM 1 – 5 DAYS DEPENDING ON THEIR AVAILABILITY!

THE PAY FOR THIS CAN RANGE FROM $1000 – $15,000 IF THE WHOLE FAMILY IS BOOKED!

PLEASE EMAIL US FOR AN AUDITION TIME!

PLEASE NOTE YOUR BABIES NAME AND AGE, AND THE NAMES OF THE PARENTS AND WHAT DAY AND TIME YOU WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST AUDITIONS, JANUARY 4 – 9.

Babycasting2012@gmail.com

GOOD LUCK!

A creative arts collective presents Breathe: Family Yoga & Yoga for Kids!

Do you want to bond with your child in a patient environment?  Do you want your child to be more focused at school?  Then register your child for Yoga classes at Kindermusik With Notable Kids!

The benefits are numerous.  They include:

• relaxation and anxiety-reduction
• greater focus and concentration
• improved quality of sleep

The 8 week session begins Thursday, January 19, 2012, and ends Thursday March 8, 2012.

Yoga for Kids (4-6 years) 3:30-4:30 – $96+tax

Family Yoga 4:30-5:30 – $144 + tax

Registration forms are in the studio or can be emailed.  Deadline to register is Friday, January 13th, 2012.  Or call 604-836-2787 to sign your child up!

Cancer is hitting families everywhere.  My grandmother had it.  My father-in-law had it.  I had it.  Grandmothers and grandfathers in our Kindermusik family have it.  Mothers and fathers have it.  And children have it too.

Finn was a little boy who lived with cancer.  He also died from it.  His family keeps Finn’s legacy alive – a bright, energetic, happy spirit – through Team Finn.

Grab yourself a kleenex and listen to Finn’s dad tell their story, and why they’ve raised over $1,000,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation.  (You’ll want to watch this one without the kids)

Please share their story so that together we might change someone else’s.

I’m often asked how early a parent should put their child into piano lessons.  Short answer? Not before 6 years of age.

I got to thinking of this because I’ve got a choir concert coming up, and I’m putting in some extra private rehearsal hours.  I LOVE my choir: the music is challenging, the harmonies are exciting (I’m a nerd), the choreography is cool, the director can be scary.  And yet, even I am finding myself picking my nose during my set time for practice.

Imagine you are 4 or 5, not so internally motivated, and more interested in the fly that is crawling up the wall than playing a major scale.  Again.  Children need to practice 15-30 minutes EVERY DAY in order to achieve any kind of progress.  And they’ll know if they’re not getting any better.  If they don’t achieve success – and quickly – , they typically quit trying.

You’ve now lost several hundred dollars in private piano lessons, and possibly several thousand dollars on a new piano.  You’ve probably gained a few gray hairs and a few dozen headaches.  The most tragic loss, however, is your child’s innate love of music.

This doesn’t mean that you should keep your child away from the piano.  There are lots of things to do with them that involve the keyboard!  Let them make up a song (best if you’re in a good mood).  Tell a story using the keys.  The billy goats cross the bridge?  Biggest goat crosses at the bottom of the keys (low notes), Middle sized-goat crosses at the middle of the keyboard, and littlest goat crosses at the top of the keyboard (highest notes).  Come up with your own stories!  Minor chords for scary or sad parts, major chords for happy parts.  Play with legato and staccato sounds.  We do all of these things in Imagine That classes for 3-5 year olds and they love them!

If you’re going to go ahead with private or group lessons, I would encourage you to find someone who is a good fit with your child.  If they have a kinesthetic approach to music, all the better.  I, myself, would LOVE to find a Simply Music instructor.  If I haven’t found one in the next few years, I’ll take the training myself.  I just can’t find the extra time to teach it right now.  If you are one, or know of one, I’d be interested in hiring for after school lessons!

The witching hour doesn’t just happen at Halloween.  It’s every day.  Sometimes feels like all day.

Sometimes I forget to implement all those tricks from Kindermusik class at home.  I get busy, caught up in the minutia, and yes, sometimes just plain lazy.  (Crazy, I know!)

Recently, however, I’ve been implementing quiet time at home around 4 o’clock.  Just squeaking it in before an inevitable implosion of whining, which only leads to a strong desire on my part for a different vintage, if you catch my drift.

We sit down together and listen to a song or two from the classical playlist on the ipod.  Sometimes it’s a celtic ballad (which just happens to be what I need to learn for choir…).  The song itself doesn’t matter, it’s the practice of breathing together, of getting quiet and centered in our bodies, that leads to a calmer approach to the hiccup before the end of day routine.

I LOVE Halloween!  Any excuse to don a costume and a wig is a good one.  I do, however, sometimes forget that Halloween can be scary for little ones.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the fun!  But as my children get older, and I see the choices out there for bigger children, I can see how trick or treating could be terrifying for the children in my classes each week.  (And dads, brace yourselves – the choices for young girls are even more terrifying for completely different reasons…)

If this is your first time heading out, here are some common sense tips for a happier Halloween:

1. Head out early while it’s still light outside.
   
2. Hold hands and go all the way to the door with them.
3. Visit people you know.
4. If a house is totally decked out with the spooky stuff, just skip it.  (Take my word for it – we had to skip a whole year of trick or treating after one spectacularly spooky experience!)
5. Only visit a few houses.  Stop while it’s still fun!

There’s nothing like Kindermusik to get all the learning juices flowing. When we did “Once I Caught a Fish Alive” in class, we were doing fine motor control and finger isolation by pointing to each of our fingers. Of course, we did it over and over again, as children who know 8 nursery rhymes by the the time they’re 4 are typically the best readers in their class by the time they’re 8. Owen took it home and made it into a steady beat exercise that required lots of hand eye coordination. Click here to see what he and his dad showed me what they practiced.

Sing like no one’s listening!   If you think you sing worse than this dog, think again. Your child loves, even craves, your voice. YOUR voice. So sing, sing, sing, whether you’re in the bathtub, changing a diaper, doing the dishes, driving the car, or sitting in Kindermusik class. (Sitting – hah!)

Ever wondered what Kindermusik educators do when they’re not singing, dancing, and rolling on the floor with you and your children? Well, Katie has been very busy lately and she’s eager to share it with you!

One of life’s greatest pleasures for me is performing, on any kind of stage whatsoever. In May, I will be singing, acting and dancing on the Surrey Arts Centre Studio stage with Fraser Valley Gilbert & Sullivan Society in their upcoming production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers. If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Gilbert and Sir Sullivan’s operettas, they were written in late 19th century England, and feature ridiculous plot-lines, witty, dry humor and beautiful scores.

The Gondoliers is set in Venice and tells the story of two gondoliers who discover that one of them is the heir to the throne of an island called Barataria; however, it is impossible to tell which of them should be king. Meanwhile, a family of nobles from Spain arrive to claim the queen-hood for their beautiful daughter, claiming that she was married at birth to the future king. The unfortunate problem is that both gondoliers were married on this very day, therefore causing one of them to become an unintentional bigamist. The confusion continues, and the problem is eventually solved, but not in the way that any of them foresaw.

I get to sing the role of Tessa, who marries one of the Gondoliers and gets to envision life as a royal queen. Rehearsals have been a lot of work, but incredibly fun and I am working alongside a marvelous and talented cast!  I invited you to come join in the fun May 11-21 and see what your child’s Kindermusik teacher does after hours. Tickets are available by calling 604-501-5566 or clicking https://tickets.surrey.ca/TheatreManager/1/login&event=0

I hope to see you there!

In a word?  Yes.  Yes, we have.  And we’ll do it again.  Children learn best through repetition, so our first 5 weeks are going to be highly repetitive.  We’re establishing a ritual, a routine, and a safe place to be.  So yes, folks, we’re doing it AGAIN.

From here on out, you can expect that about 30% of each lesson will be new, but we will be keeping a lot of what we did last week in the current lesson plan so that the children can experience mastery.  Don’t you LOVE doing what you’re good at?  So do children.  We’ve taught them what to do, and now they can do it, and they LOVE showing it off.  (Our Timers will be happy to note that we will no longer be Rolling Over, Rover.  One of my friends in class rediscovered yoga today and asked specifically if she would be required to do this feat on Friday…she was planning on taking a preemptive Advil if required).

As a side note, sports bras and stretching are recommended for all Kindermusik classes…  Who needs pilates when you’ve got Kindermusik on your calendar?!?