. . . It's What's Next!

Many parents of 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds ask, “What’s next?” and “Is my child ready for piano/violin/instrument lessons?” Music Together Big Kids is an ideal preparation for—or complement to—that kind of formal music instruction. By continuing the path of Basic Music Competence begun in mixed-age classes, Big Kids lays the foundation for Basic Music Literacy in a playful, engaging, and familiar setting and paves the way for musical enjoyment in school, in lessons, and in life.

The Big Kids program is a curriculum specially designed for 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds, whether or not they have participated in Music Together mixed-age classes before. Along with the the same philosophical underpinnings, there are many new elements to a Big Kids class that help children complete their path to Basic Music Competence and lay the foundation for Basic Music Literacy. If your center has a trained teacher with at least six (6) semesters (excluding summer) of Music Together teaching experience, your center is eligible to offer the Music Together Big Kids™ Program! 

The Basics

• Music Together Big Kids™ is for 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds. We have learned that children under 5 usually don’t have readiness in one of more of the social/emotional/cognitive areas necessary to do the MTBK work even if they have the music readiness (i.e. BMC).
    
• Music Together Big Kids provides a cumulative learning sequence: over time (a recommended minimum of three semesters, with six or more preferred) children develop their capacity to respond to music as listeners, as learners and as music-makers.
   
• The classes are 45 minutes long.
   
• Parent participation is optional. Many children of this age are ready for more independence in the classroom, so parent attendance in each Big Kids class is welcome but not required. Parents (or another caregiver) should plan to attend their child’s first class so they can better understand the program. 
   
• Younger siblings should not attend due to the structure of the Big Kids class. However, parents AND younger siblings are welcome and encouraged to join the last 10 minutes of every class.

What’s in class…

• Structured activities such as conducting, game songs, solo and ensemble experiences, improvisation, movement, music-reading readiness, and solfège to name just a few.
   
• Activities satisfy both the fun-loving and challenge-ready natures of 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds and provide opportunities for leadership, confidence building, social interactions with peers 
   
• Mixed-stage approach means that children’s individual temperaments, learning styles, and developmental stage are honored and participation is choice-based. Children this age are ready to learn about being a part of a group, about taking turns, and about following rules.  
   
• Secondary musical development is the period in which children start on the path to Basic Music Literacy. Basic Music Literacy is simply being able to recognize the elements that can be associated with music and the focus is on pre-literacy behaviors and skills.
  

What you get…

• A more mature window onto each Music Together collection: to allow for mastery, we’re using the same collections, minus the songs and graphics which are oriented to the younger child.
   
• For each of the nine Music Together song collections families receive:
   
      – Family Songbook in a looseleaf notebook and 2 CDs
      – set of HomePlay pages
      – set of Tonal Solfège cards   
  • The Family Songbook is filled with suggestions for things to do at home. An important feature of the parent’s page are the “Ask Me About” questions that help parents open a conversation with their child and share a musical moment.