Rainbow Songs® Program Descriptions:

Music for you and your Baby
In this class, since babies are not yet capable of singing, the onus is on the parents and caregivers to make the music. Our classes encourage group participation in the collective making of music. Your child will respond to being surrounded by people making music together. Attending these classes puts in place an organized structure for you and your child to learn more about music and to share it.

The baby class is an opportunity for parents to improve their own musical skills. This is done by learning new songs, making music as a group, and learning about and playing instruments. These abilities and songs are then passed on to your children over time.

The learning does not end in the classroom. This program is also an opportunity for parents to learn new songs that they can sing to their children throughout the week. We encourage our participants to make singing a part of their everyday lives. Songs to dress to, eat to, work to and play to.

Music for you and your Toddler (1-2 year olds)
As your child enters his/her second year, his or her ability to participate in music-making grows rapidly. In these classes there is greater emphasis on the children's participation in the actions of the songs. The actions, in songs that identify body parts or have simple movements, can now be done by the children in these classes. Learning to clap their hands and stomp their feet becomes the first way your child will count beats in music, thereby gaining an appreciation of the relation between words, melody, and rhythm.

Also in these classes children are encouraged to play percussion instruments. During jam sessions, children are allowed to explore and experiment in making music with their caregivers and the other participants in the classes.

Music for you and your Child (2-3 year olds)
In your child's third year many new achievements in music are possible. Learning to count beats and bars through clapping is one way that your child learns about the structure of songs. Learning to count beats is a great way to begin learning to count since in music usually one only counts to four.

Call and response songs are featured in these programs. The leader of the group sings a phase in a song and the children and caregivers respond in song. The children simply repeat back what the leader sings. This method of learning by imitation is the oldest, easiest, most natural, and perhaps the best way of learning music. One simple example of this method in action is our welcoming song used at the opening of each class:
Leader: Hello
Group: Hello
Leader: Hello everybody Hello
Group: Hello everybody Hello

This simple structure is repeated for each child in the class with each child's name substituted for the word "everybody" in each verse. A version of the song is used at the end of each class to say good-bye. Such songs can be used at home in many different family settings.

Music for you and your Child (3-4 year olds)
One of the exciting things that the three year old child can begin to do is to learn through games. In this program we introduce many singing games that teach musical, social and cognitive skills.

Music for you and your Child (4-6 year olds)
Many skills learned through musical play are continued in this program. In the disguise of games children can learn to perform more and more complicated rhythmic skills.
Through the use special instruments designed for early childhood you and your child will be introduced to ensemble playing. This important musical skill teaches the participant's to cooperate with each other to make music together.

Please note that all classes are 40 minutes in length although they are scheduled in 45 minute intervals. The last 5 minutes are needed for one class to leave and the next to get settled.

For more information or to enroll, please call
us at 416-535-5247.