Musik at Home

Marilyn was a genius in the field of piano pedagogy! She says, learning to play piano “is an aural (listening) art as well as an oral (performing) art.”

“To make music with understanding, you first need to acquire a music vocabulary.”

“Movement activities, singing, chanting, and learning tonal and rhythm patterns build both music vocabulary and musicianship.”

Marilyn was my piano pedagogy mentor. I stand on her shoulders in my approach to teaching piano.
She stood on the shoulders of Edwin Gordon, the world-renowned music educator.

It is a beautiful legacy I aim to pass on to my students both in person and virtually.

Join me at mymusikathome.com.

I’ve been on a beautiful adventure with my children….as their mom, homeschool teacher and piano teacher.

When my oldest daughter turned 5, she couldn't wait to start piano lessons. I began teaching her the beautiful, aural based method I had taught my own students for years.

At the same time, we were reading incredibly imaginative literature in our homeschool lessons. As we were making music every day together in my home, I began to see how literature can light up a child's musical imagination.

I began intentionally bringing themes of literature into my piano lessons with daughter.
Her love for piano, literature and composing took off so much that she won an international award for a four part piano suite she composed at age 7! 

Soon my second daughter began piano lessons with me at age 4.5 and I could see that all of the imaginative, musical play we had done together around themes in literature and poetry was naturally coming alive in the music she created at the piano.

She would (and still does) sit at the piano for hours, improvising her own music by exploring what the piano can do. 

It was astonishing.

That's when everything clicked.

I realized that I too was mesmerized by the stories I was reading to my children. 

My own imagination was on fire and the desire to express my own musical ideas was uncontainable.
I began writing songs to go with the stories we loved that would be easy enough for beginners to learn to play on the piano, and I saw that many of them had a common thread of Nordic themes.

That's how my new piano curriculum and course, Creative Keys: Nordic Adventures came to life!

The song with this post is one I wrote called, “Northern Lights.”

What do you think?

My piano course launches 8/16/2023!

Do I hear a second? I believe Debussy got it right!

Rhythm is the foundation of music.

Much of Debussy’s impressionistic work is so fluid and beautiful, I think sometimes it’s easy to be so deeply immersed in the music that you forget that rhythm is the backbone of his work.

Yet…

When you listen for it, it’s always there.

Children can learn to feel the rhythm in his music.

Move. Dance.

Get the rhythm in your body.

When the time comes,

… begin playing it on your instrument. It is life changing.

Are you a Debussy fan?

What is your favorite piece by Debussy?

Meet my other half! I couldn’t do what I do without him. Stanton and I just celebrated our 14th anniversary last week vacationing with our kids in the Golden Isles of Ga.

It was an incredible week of remembering what makes life meaningful, vibrant and full of joy!

A strong family bond is what keeps us going to live out our callings.

Stanton supports me in everything I do, from homeschooling our kids to running my piano studio, to sharing music education with the world through Musik at Home.

When he asked my parents for my hand in marriage, they told him that marrying me meant supporting me in all the things I love to do, with music being at the top of the list.

He said he was “all in,” and there hasn’t been a day he has gone back on that promise.

You’ll find Mr. Brunner in our Family Music for Christmas series in the Musik at Home Membership. He puts a new spin on some familiar stories to make sure everyone is listening closely. ☺️ Many families have let me know that his stories are their kids’ favorite part of the Christmas classes.

Learn more here:
https://www.mymusikathome.com/collections/musik-at-home-membership/products/family-music-for-christmas-classes

I can honestly and wholeheartedly say that we are better together. 😊

When we travel, we take as many of our instruments as we can fit in our van!

Sweet family time is made even sweeter when we get to play music together without any other demands on our time and no agenda.

I couldn’t believe I captured this sweet photo of my precious girl practicing guitar. She is just beginning to learn and is having so much fun picking it up.

We are loving this guitar!! See my linktree for the info on how to get one.

I love this quote so much! Music empowers parents!

It is a pathway to the heart of our children.

My mom will tell you herself that singing wasn’t and still isn’t her thing… but she sang to me all the time when I was growing up. She played with me musically all the time.

Her voice calls out beautiful things in me, even today.

Those musical moments we shared when I was a child deepened our relationship and developed lasting memories we still hold.

Music doesn’t have to be your main thing for it to empower your parenting.

Develop a repertoire of songs to boost you through your days with your kids.

I love sharing Musik at Home classes because the classes show parents how to play musically with their kids!

They also provide a wide range of songs to sing with your kids.

Your kids will gravitate toward the songs they love and those are the ones you can easily incorporate into your everyday life together.

The sweet moments await.

Mymusikathome.com.

Early-early-early!!! ☀️ The sooner children begin being immersed in musical environments and have access to structured musical play, the stronger their musical foundation will be for life.

Sing.

Dance.

Play.

And…

Enroll in a music class with structured musical play that will steer your child’s musical development along the sequential music learning pathway.

Musik at Home makes it easy to give your child a strong musical foundation through structured, sequential music education classes.

You can access the video classes anytime on the web, mobile app for iPhone and Android, and channel apps on Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV.

Musik at Home is for you if you:

-Have a child, infant to age 10, who loves music!
-Don’t have access to music classes near you or can’t make it to a class outside of the home
-Need a low cost option without studio fees
-Want to bond with your child in the comfort of your home.
-Want to see your child’s musical imagination take off!
-Are excited to start your child on a sequential pathway for music learning

If any of these describe you, then you’ll love all that Musik at Home has to offer.

I’m Kathryn Brunner, the founder and the instructor of all the courses inside the Musik at Home membership.

You’re invited to see what it’s all about!

Kids who take our classes alongside loving grown-ups always ask for “more, more, more!”

Go to mymusikathome.com.

I’d love to have you in class!

This!!! Every day counts!

It's science: Reading aloud to your kids makes them smarter and kinder The best thing is that it’s completely free, it takes just 10-15 minutes a day, and anyone can do it.

Which comes first, the music or the notation?

It’s an important question to be asking ourselves as we endeavor to help our children or our students flourish in musical understanding.

For me, this question changes everything about how I approach the beautiful task of music education.

Students who have an internal understanding of music through moving, singing and thinking the music first before reading it are the ones I find who approach music intuitively and naturally.

When the foundation of movement, singing, audiation and musical imagination are strong, the struggle with notation is either very small or non existent.

Move.

Sing.

Audiate.

Create.

Then read.

I love this progression and my students do too!

What do you think?

🪘Rhythm is essential to developing musicianship!

It starts in the body.

Tap rhythm patterns into your child’s body.

Chat rhythm patterns on a neutral syllable, “ba ba ba—, ba ba ba—-.”

Dance while you chant the same rhythm pattern.

Tap the rhythm pattern with your hands on a drum.

Click the pattern using rhythm sticks.

Shake the rhythm pattern with a shaker or while bouncing a scarf.

Rhythm development starts in infancy.

Early Childhood Music Education expert, Dr. Jennifer McDonel, goes on to say:

“Students need to develop a vocabulary of physical feelings related to rhythm.

Students must recall those sensations, applying them in performance.

This recalled movement in performance aids music understanding.”

Ed Gordon, one of the most influential music researchers of our day, was asked, “If you could make only one recommendation to music teachers of the next century, what would it be?”

His answer:

"My best recommendation to music teachers of the next century is to improvise, improvise, improvise! ...Follow religiously the process of the way we learn language. That would be the most important thing they could do for themselves and for their students."

What has your experience learning music been like?

Learning music the natural way (sound before sight...or understanding before sight) takes patience, but the reward is great!

In my teaching, I work carefully to make sure students experience musical ideas by having the chance to audiate the music in their minds and feel the music in their bodies before seeing and interacting with the notation.

This frees students to create, improvise and compose with their own ideas.

Once students understand the language of music, learning to read notation becomes so much more natural!

It’s a brilliant way to learn music… and the brilliance is simply in observing the learning process that is most natural and intuitive to a child.

That’s what Ed Gordon did for more than 50 years, and students today get to experience the fruit of his research through teachers who carry out his life changing findings.

I couldn’t be more grateful to be one of them! I’ve been teaching music for 22 years and I love teaching music more and more every day!

The world is our playground.

I have so many dreams. I don’t count anything impossible!

It’s a beautiful thing to teach our kids to explore, discover, create, invent and experiment!

Ed Gordon, one of the most influential music researchers in our day, was asked, “If you could make only one recommendation to music teachers of the next century, what would it be?”

His answer:

"My best recommendation to music teachers of the next century is to improvise, improvise, improvise! ...Follow religiously the process of the way we learn language. That would be the most important thing they could do for themselves and for their students."

What has your experience learning music been like?

Learning music the natural way (sound before sight...or understanding before sight) takes patience, but the reward is great!

In my teaching, I work carefully to make sure students experience musical ideas by having the chance to audiate the music in their minds and feel the music in their bodies before seeing and interacting with the notation.

This frees students to create, improvise and compose with their own ideas.

Once students understand the language of music, learning to read notation becomes so much more natural!

It’s a brilliant way to learn music… and the brilliance is simply in observing the learning process that is most natural and intuitive to a child.

That’s what Ed Gordon did for more than 50 years, and students today get to experience the fruit of his research through teachers who carry out his life changing findings.

I couldn’t be more grateful to be one of them! I’ve been teaching music for 22 years and I love teaching music more and more every day!

How does music help children develop balance through movement? There are so many ways!!

Before I dive into that, we have to understand what is going on inside a child’s inner ear.

The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, is responsible for sensing motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation. Movement activities, such as spinning, swinging, and rolling, stimulate the vestibular system and promote its development.

When children engage in these activities, their vestibular system sends signals to the brain, which helps them develop a sense of balance over time.

Music can play a significant role in helping children develop a sense of balance with their movement.

1. Rhythm and Timing: Music is inherently rhythmic, and the rhythmic patterns provide a structured framework for movement

2. Tempo and impulse control: Different types of music have varying tempos, ranging from slow and calming to fast and energetic.

3. Spatial Awareness and Body Coordination: Music often evokes a sense of space and movement. By incorporating movements that explore different directions, and body parts in response to musical cues, children develop spatial awareness and body coordination. All of these movements are incorporated into Musik at Home membership classes.

4. Engagement and Motivation: Music has the power to captivate and engage children's attention. When movement activities are accompanied by music, kids love it!! Once a child knows how to move imaginatively, the sky is the limit for creativity!

5. Multisensory Integration: Music engages multiple sensory systems simultaneously, including auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

6. Creativity and Expression: Music offers a creative outlet for children to express themselves through movement. It encourages them to explore different ways of moving, experiment with variations, and develop their unique style.

Once the primary function of the ear is established, the ear can move into its secondary function, which is listening.

So let’s get our little moving!

This is exciting news for toddlers and preschoolers!

All of your worries about your toddler or preschoooler’s wiggles and lack of focused attention can melt away.

As you work on balance and give them movement and balance exercises you will begin to see them moving into the listening arena.

One movement at a time.

One moment at a time.

You’ve got this!

How important are the early years? …They are vital to a child’s lifelong success with learning.

Filling the early years with musical exploration, discovery, and sensory musical play boosts neural networks in the brain for faster, more creative thinking.

Make music education a priority.

We’ll show you how at mymusikathome.com.

Start your free trial today.

Cancel anytime.

Don’t wait another day to give your child access to the life changing benefits of structured, sequential music education.

Happy Mother’s Day! It’s hard to believe I’ve been a mom for 11 years! If you’re a mom, how many years has it been for you?

These are the sweetest, most challenging, and most joyful years of my life.

“Yes, I’ll carry these rocks for you. What a beautiful blade of grass. Sure, I’ll put it in my pocket for you too.”

And…she’s out of bed again, asking for water, needing another snuggle, needing her stuffy, needing whatever it is, I want to be there for her with a smile and an understanding heart.

It’s the small moments that add up to great big love.

It’s the lullabies they will remember and sing to their own children.

It’s the miraculous moments of learning, growing, becoming and instilling in our children what we hope they will live by…

That’s what motherhood does.

We grow as we help them grow.

Here’s to the beauty of motherhood.

This blows my mind! If we think that ages 5-18 are the most important for learning, we have some reconsidering to do.

The early years are the most important for establishing the learning foundation for the rest of life!

It’s a call to make our children’s early learning environment as rich as possible with sensory, movement, critical thinking, and music-making experiences.

This is my mission at Musik at Home—- to give every child the chance to have access to early childhood music education.

Consistent with exposure to structured musical activities in the early years can raise the IQ, boost earning potential in adulthood, boost literacy and math achievement, and help balance emotional wellness.

Music is a powerful tool for early learning.

Start your free trial with Musik at Home to enrich your child’s early learning experiences.

You’ll get unlimited access to our video classes on the web, mobile app, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV .

It’s accessible, easy to use, and so much fun for kids.

You’ll be able to smile inside knowing you’re giving your child a lifelong foundation for learning, growing new skills, and faster creative thinking pathways.

These are some of the pets in our lives. None of them belong to us, but we were close to owning the sweet Siberian kitten. We are wanna-be pet owners… and are waiting for the day when allergies calm down.

Anyone else with us on that?

If you have a pet you love, give this post a heart! ❤️

What are the best, small hypoallergenic dogs?

Don’t you think making music would be even more fun with an adorable, furry pet around for inspiration! 🎶❤️🎶

It’s every mom’s dream for music education… get the Musik at Home Membership today!

🎶no musical background required

🎶no lesson prep

🎶accessible anywhere, anytime

🎶kids love it!!!

🎶your child will be prepared for any instrumental venture after taking our early childhood classes.

🎶learn music the way we learn language, sound before sight.

🎶sequential classes for age 0-10

🎶one membership for everyone in your house

🎶no high priced studio fees

Brighten your child's future with vibrant, wonder-filled, open and go, developmental music education classes from Musik at Home. Your child, infant to age ten, will naturally develop a strong foundation in musicianship while bonding with your family through interactive, sequential video classes. A Musik at Home membership offers unlimited access to over 500 musical activities, singing games, imaginative musical stories and more, including beginning piano lessons. Because a child's potential for learning music is at its height from birth to age ten, there's no better time to invest in music education than in the early years.

Sound good?

Start your free trial today!

Go to:

Mymusikathome.com

Classes are accessible on the web, mobile app, Amazon FireTV, and AppleTV.

Simple instruments, lyric books and more are available in our shop.

My Linktree has all the info you need.

Don’t wait another day to give your child an incredible start in music.

You’ll never regret making music education a priority for your child’s growing heart and mind.

Mother's Day isn't complete without treats!! These will melt your heart.

5 Healthy Treats for Mother’s Day: Family Make & Take Deliciousness Spread the loveI don’t know about you, but sometimes Mother’s Day can be a bit unhealthy and even still kid-centric...

How fun and easy is this! What a wonderful way for kids to appreciate their momma.

A Simple, Meaningful Mother's Day Gift & A Giveaway Just for Moms! - Hip Homeschool Moms A meaningful & creative Mother's Day gift idea. Dress up any jar with ribbon, paper, and craft items, then fill it with sweet notes from each child

I am going all in with Mother's Day! Why not try a spa day!

How to Have a Spa Day at Home - Mom For All Seasons Since we are celebrating homeschool moms this month, I think a spa day sounds like the perfect idea. Unfortunately, spa days can be quite expensive…so what if there was a way to recreate the perfect spa day at home? Well, you’re in luck- because I’ve put together the perfect template for an at...

Here's a super fun craft for Mother's Day!

Craft for Mother's Day Are you looking for a simple craft for Mother's Day that will leave you with a cute sentimental project at the end of the day?

How adorable are these!! My favorite thing to do when I was a little girl was to bring my mom flowers! Now, I love receiving them from my kids. Have fun making these and don't forget to enter the Mother's Day Giveaway!

Mother's Day Flower Paper Cones {FREE PRINTABLE TEMPLATE} + GIVEAWAY! - The Art Kit Celebrate Mother's Day with our beautiful Mother's Day flower paper cones.

Grab these free printables for Mother's Day! And, enter the Mother's Day Giveaway!

All About My Mom Free Printable and Giveaway - True Aim Get these free all about my mom printables to ask fun questions to your kids and get answers you’ll charish for a lifetime.

Do you know a homeschool momma? Share this post and make her day!

Best Mothers Day Gift Ideas for Homeschool Moms These are the best Mothers Day gift ideas for homeschool moms. Check out the top five most meaningful & affordable gifts every mom will love.

When Plato speaks, I listen. We are studying Plato in our homeschool lessons and I was so excited to come across this quote from him about music. I appreciate learning more about what mattered to him and what he thought was of great value.

I love that it’s not just music, but “musical training.”

Listening to music is one thing. Being trained in music is entirely another thing unto itself.

Training develops a deeper understanding that changes our perspective on many facets of life, especially the “inward places of the soul.”

Mother’s Day is coming! Check out these fun ideas for spending special time with your son or daughter.

Fun Mother And Child Date Ideas One of the best things a mom can do is spend personal one-on-one time with her children. Here are some fun mother child date ideas that you can do with your children!

You're invited! I'll be teaching a FREE Live class Friday, April 21 at 1:30 PM EST.

Come ready to sing! Bring all of your children! This class is going to be so much fun!

You'll learn to sing harmony, recognize all kinds of musical patterns, and you'll learn how easy it can be to begin reading music even if you've never read music before!

Are you in? Let me know in the comments.

I hope to see you there LIVE!

Get the link for the free class by signing up for the Music and Art Homeschool Summit in my linktree.

Take action to add music and arts to your homeschool! Find out how in this free summit… it’s only free through Friday.

I’ll be doing a live class called Musical Games on Friday afternoon at 1:30 EST.

Sign up for free in my linktree or right here:

https://musikathome--jusclassical.thrivecart.com/mahs-2023-free-pass-1/

I don’t know about you, but when I hear this from J.S. Bach, it seems like a bit of an overstatement, right?

But, if we step into Bach’s world and think of how much music was included in the home environment of the average family in his day, we can understand why he would say this.

Because music was so built into the culture, a child’s developmental music aptitude was nurtured every day.

Playing an instrument was just as natural as anything else they did in their lives.

With determination, anything was possible!

It’s still true in our day!

When we fill our home environment with music, our children learn the language of music without even realizing it! Then, when it comes time to learn an instrument, it happens naturally… yes, there is work involved, but it’s the kind of work that comes from a internal understanding of how all of the elements of music fit together.

Do you agree?

**Picture Book Giveaway- $100 Value**

Do you love reading aloud to your kids as much as I do? It's my favorite part of my day with my kids.

Would you love to add these six picture books about music and the piano to your home library?

I'm Kathryn from Musik at Home, and I have hand picked these beautifully illustrated children's books to help your child grow in their love of music, instruments and music history.

Head over to the link in my bio to put your name in the hat for the chance to get ALL of these books sent to your doorstep.

Captivate your child’s heart and mind with the wonder of music!

Do you have other favorite children's books about music? Drop the titles below to let me know which books you love!

https://pages.mymusikathome.com/childrens-book-giveaway/

More from Dr. Collins, Professor at the University of Canberra in Australia:

“Play with music and be surrounded by it in the home and outside the home from the very beginning of life. Take formal music education classes in early childhood and then begin playing an instrument that is age appropriate and one that the child seems to like as soon as you can.”
—
You can read the rest of my interview with Dr. Collins here:

https://www.mymusikathome.com/blogs/news/music-and-neuroscience-with-dr-anita-collins

With a Musik at Home Membership, you get unlimited access to music education classes for ages 0-10!! Don’t wait another day to give your child the brain-boosting power of music.

Happy Easter, friends!

Hallelujah, He is Risen!

More from Dr. Gordon about reading music the way we read our native language:

“The letters of the alphabet are important when constructing indexes. However, we read words not individual letters.

Just as we read groupings of letters (words) to discover meaning through language, we read groupings of notes (tonal patterns and rhythm patterns) to glean music understanding.

A pattern of notes is read, but an individual note is named.

Just as we do not think about theoretical structures of language when we read a story, we do not think about scales when we read music notation with comprehension.

In music literature, tonal patterns and rhythm patterns comprising scales are naturally audiated in one or more tonalities and meters. To read and write a tonal pattern or rhythm pattern with comprehension one audiates context associated with notated patterns.”

Learning Sequences in Music
Edwin E. Gordon
———
This fascinates me to no end! Patterns are the foundation of music learning. That’s why in every class I teach, pattern instruction is at the heart of my mission to help students succeed.

Join me along with other musicians and artists at the Music & Art Homeschool Summit! It’s free!

https://linktr.ee/musikathome

Are you afraid of teaching music and art?

Get the insider secrets to integrating music and art into your homeschool or to your life at home in the after school hours, and get help for integrating music and art with littles!

You’ll also learn:

How to simplify music and art in your homeschool and in the after school hours.

Where to get the best tips for adding music and art to your homeschool.

How to integrate music and art into your homeschool.

You’ll learn from the best at the Music & Art Homeschool Summit

Don't miss out! Get your free pass today! Link in bio— link tree!

Create a fun and engaging homeschooling experience with music and art!

It’s okay to outsource music and art.

Gain confidence in adding music and art to your homeschool.

Join music & art experts for 3 fun days of live workshops.

Share and help us spread the word to your friends and family!