We like to give children 4 and up the opportunity to really learn to play their first instrument through a unique class that we've developed: the Growing Glockenspiels™. They also learn to read and write music through a fun gradual process that helps make reading music intuitive. Each child gets their own Glockenspiel to keep forever and take home between classes (a glockenspiel is a xylophone-like instrument that is laid out like a piano with the black and white keys). However, at first, their Glockenspiels only have the note middle-C on them, and are “one note old”. Each time that the children learn how to write a note on the music paper and play a new song with it, they then get a new note, and their glockenspiel grows up (the kids say “my glockenspiel is 9 notes old today… it’s almost a teenager!”, etc). Each song is introduced through a fun story that gives historical and cultural context and a familiarity with the great composers from different cultures. For example, the story of Curious George Gershwin discovering rhythm in the basement of Duke Ellington’s castle leads to learning the Gershwin classic “I’ve Got Rhythm”. The children learn to write music, and when the glockenspiel has grown all the way up, it looks just like a piano, so any song that the children know on the glockenspiel is then directly transferable to piano or whatever other instrument they choose to pursue. The goal is not just to execute the correct notes, but to really understand how music works in the process. For this reason, the class is valuable both to children who have never played another instrument before and to those who are taking instrumental music lessons separately. **Note: The semester tuition is for the classes, and there is an additional $50 price for the actual glockenspiel instrument. This instrument will belong to you and you can keep it forever after the class as well.