The Return of Miss Mary

You may recall our love affair with Miss Mary. When we moved, we assumed we'd have to check out of her class forever, and went in search of another Music Together class in a neighboring suburb.

Well, I should have known that it's not "The Program" that makes Music Together a successful program (though it's certainly a contributing factor), it's the teacher. Duh. Needless to say, we were less than impressed with our new version of Miss Mary.

We decided to return to music class in the city, which is conveniently located around the corner from Brad's office, so we used that opportunity (only once so far) to hook up with him for lunch after class. It's a great excuse to get back into the city once a week, and to remind ourselves why we left in the first place (traffic, for one). :o)

Miss Mary has enjoyed watching The Munchkin grow up. She met him at seven months of age and watched him learn to crawl, walk, talk, and experienced his temper-tantrum phase (the first of many, I'm sure). Now he actually enjoys participating with me, as opposed to across the room from me, which has been a nice transition for me, too.

Part of the Music Together curriculum includes encouraging parents and kids to listen to recordings of the music used in class, because the MT gurus know repetition is the key to learning. Often, the songs will culminate with a short echo exercise, either rhythmic or melodic. This encourages kids to repeat vocal patterns and practice matching pitch. The Munchkin usually ignores those little practice sessions....until now.

One of the patterns starts with a man making a horse clip-clop sound with his tongue. After four beats, another musician says a pattern (ba, ba, bababa ba), which the listener is supposed to repeat. Watch what happens now:


Hee hee!