Kindermusik® methodology is supported by scientific research which reveals that exposure to music enhances the learning process in young minds. It continually develops and enhances its music and movement curricula by incorporating the latest early childhood development research. A wide array of well-known experts in the field of early childhood development inform and advise the development of Kindermusik curricula. The perspectives of several nationally acclaimed specialists about the developmental benefits of Kindermusik are included below.
Don Campbell
World renowned authority on the transformative power of listening and music, and author of The Mozart Effect® for Children
“Kindermusik provides the sound nutrition to improve movement, listening, and expression in young children. Through activities and music making, skills for parents and children alike create inroads for the great orchestration of a family’s hearts, minds, and bodies.”
Melissa R. Johnson, Ph.D.
Pediatric psychologist, Cary, N.C.
“A major task for toddlers, that can confuse parents at first, is resolving the conflict between their passionate desire for closeness to their parents—after all, they are still barely out of babyhood—and their equally fierce drive for independence. Activities such as story time in the Kindermusik Our Time curriculum provide toddlers this opportunity. A child can move into the circle during Music and Movement Story Time and actively participate if he wishes, or he can stay close to mom or dad and listen to the story being read. Given this security, most toddlers will naturally move to greater, and more appropriate, independence as they approach pre-school age.”
Anne Green Gilbert
Movement specialist, author of Creative Dance for All Ages, and director of Creative Dance Center
“Current research has shown that movement is the key to learning at any age. Our brains fully develop through movement activities such as crawling, rolling turning, walking, skipping, reaching and much more. When children and adults participate in Kindermusik classes they are developing both sides of their brains through structured and creative music and movement activities. As we approach the millennium it is even more important to keep moving and making music! Television, video games and computers have helped to produce a generation that struggles with learning problems, hyperactivity and obesity. Many of these problems can be helped through systematic music and movement exercises and patterns. Kindermusik classes have always been fun! Now I feel strongly that they are also part of our essential learning process!”
Jim Powell, Ed.D.
National director of Assessment and Evaluation, Kaplan Companies
“As an early childhood advocate I have found good music invaluable as a teaching tool. Kindermusik has taken the art of combining music with learning to a new and higher educational level. When children experience music in their early years, it lasts throughout their lifetime. Recent literature may attempt to refute the value of music as it relates to IQ, but experts cannot deny the effect music has on the development of a child’s complete well-being. Kindermusik is pioneering a movement that will prove valuable to children for many years into the future. As a trainer, with more than 20 years tenure, I welcome the new millennium and the music it brings, and I thank Kindermusik for its contribution to holistic learning.”
Claudia Quigg, M.Ed.
Founder and executive director of BabyTALK, a program dedicated to helping parents become better parents to their children
“When introduced appropriately, music and literature play an amazing role in the development of infants and toddlers. I’m happy that Kindermusik has extended their programs to include this time of life when brain development is most vulnerable and parents are most in need of support and direction.”
Carla Hannaford, Ph.D.
Biologist, educator, and author of Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head and The Dominance Factor
“Kindermusik is elegant in its integrated approach to a child’s development. Physiologically, touch, movement, rhythm and sound are the keystones to developing a healthy vestibular system and optimizing nervous system and brain growth. The importance of having families working together, where everyone benefits from the sense of belonging, gets directly at the heart of what we, as a society, are needing at this time to raise healthy, loving children and ensure a world of peace. All of this is provided in the Kindermusik program.”
Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
International family educator and author of Raising Your Spirited Child, Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook, and Kids, Parents and Power Struggles: Winning for a Lifetime
“Kindermusik brings parents and children together for fun and education. The learning is active, engaging and developmentally appropriate. Children are exposed to diverse learning materials and are provided with rich opportunities for hands-on experiences with developmentally appropriate instruments. The joy is in the process of learning and the result is children who are more attuned in reaching their full potential.”
Patricia Campbell, Ph.D.
Professor of Music at University of Washington and author of Songs in Their Heads: Music and Its Meaning in Children’s Lives and Lessons from the World
“One of my strongest impressions of Kindermusik’s work is the variety of musical selections for children. The selections are of high quality and of considerable diversity, such that children can listen and respond to the music of Bach, Mozart, contemporary composers, and cultural traditions around the globe. Kindermusik understands that children deserve opportunities to know a palette of musical colors, and thus through the program provide windows to the world of people and their artistic expressions. This rainbow of musical colors is the stuff that surrounds children through their Kindermusik experiences, so that their listening, movement, singing, and playing possibilities are grounded in history and across cultures. These musical beginnings set children straight for a lifetime of well-considered choices in their musical and cultural valuing.”