FREE Spring Demo Class:
Early Childhood Music & Movement
Caregiver & Me:
Thursday, March 20, noon-12:45
South Park Church, Park Ridge
**Special Snack & Social Time!**
11:30 - noon (optional)
(Signup for a free trial is quick! Please send me your name, the child(ren)'s name & grade, and name, phone,
& email address of grownup attending with the child, so we know who to expect.)
& email address of grownup attending with the child, so we know who to expect.)
Come play with us!
Snack & Social Time: Because making friends and building community is important for everyone, kids & grownups! On Thursday, March 20 we will have a special "Snack & Social" time before music class. Kids can play, grownups can chat and exchange phone numbers, and everyone can have a snack before we get singing!
Music & Movement: We're "springing" into music for for kids & caregivers! Parents, grandparents, nannies, friend, aunts, and uncles are welcome to sing, dance, and play along. Babies, toddlers, preschoolers, Pre-K, and Kinders will have a fabulous time singing and learning about the springtime world around them!
Check out our course descriptions below for more information and to register for our full Spring Session!
Thursdays, April 2 - June 5 (10 weeks), noon - 12:45, at South Park Church in Park Ridge; handicap accessible
Music & Movement: We're "springing" into music for for kids & caregivers! Parents, grandparents, nannies, friend, aunts, and uncles are welcome to sing, dance, and play along. Babies, toddlers, preschoolers, Pre-K, and Kinders will have a fabulous time singing and learning about the springtime world around them!
Check out our course descriptions below for more information and to register for our full Spring Session!
Thursdays, April 2 - June 5 (10 weeks), noon - 12:45, at South Park Church in Park Ridge; handicap accessible
So much more than music!
Connection Musikgarten classes with Kitty-Orca Music and Piano bring children and their parents and caregivers music competency and so much more! Our theme is connection: connection between children and their caregivers, between classmates, between teacher and student, and between students and the musical and cultural world around them.
Confidence Everyone feels more confident when they do well! Combine practice and fun and you get confidence, for students and their parents and caregivers.
Skills All music classes can teach musical skills, but it takes a thoughtful curriculum designed with children at its heart to reach beyond music into Childhood Development Skills.
Musical Development Skills |
Childhood Development Skills |
Tonal: pitch recognition and reproduction Timbre Instrument: playing and recognition Rhythm: Recognition and reproduction Tempo Dynamics Independence Vocal Skills Music Literacy SLIM: Sing, Listen, Instutruments, Move Dance |
Language Listening Social & Emotional Cognitive Connection to Parents & Caregivers Independence Movement Fine & Gross Motor Skills: Stationary and Locomotive Expressive and Rhythmic Free and Directed Whole Body and Specific Body Part |
Kitty-Orca Music & Movement offers classes based on the Musikgarten curriculum.
We bring music and movement to children and their parents and caretakers in a fun and meaningful way that empowers parents to play with their children, fulfills childhood development skills, and plants the seeds for a lifetime of musical competence, confidence, and joy.
We bring music and movement to children and their parents and caretakers in a fun and meaningful way that empowers parents to play with their children, fulfills childhood development skills, and plants the seeds for a lifetime of musical competence, confidence, and joy.
What Is Musikgarten?
Musikgarten was created by a musician and a Montessori teacher to meet the developmental and sensory needs of children to experience music and movement as they explore and organize their concept of the world. Children delight in hearing and making music through listening, games, singing, dancing, movement, storytelling, and playing instruments. Parents–even parents who are convinced they are completely un-musical--are empowered to play musically with their child(ren). In early childhood music classes, parents have a beautiful and rare opportunity to focus on their child and to again experience for themselves the joy of childhood. The real goal of Musikgarten is to connect children and their parents in a shared musical and movement experience.
Classes
Class |
Ages |
Minutes per week |
Price |
Family Music for Babies & Toddlers |
Expectant Parents, Birth - age 3 |
30 |
$250 + $48 materials |
Cycle of Seasons |
Preschool, Pre-K, Kindergarten, ages 3 - 5 |
45 |
$250 + $48 materials |
Pre-Piano: Music Makers at Home in the World |
PreK 4–Kindergarten 2 year curriculum |
60 |
$350 + $60 materials |
Group Piano: Music Makers at the Keyboard |
starting in Kinder - 5th grade 4 year curriculum |
60 |
$350 + $60 materials |
**Note: Courses are cumulative in knowledge, but also easily accommodate students entering the curriculum at any time.
Quick Course Overviews
(keep scrolling for full class descriptions!)
Early Childhood
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Pre-Piano:
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Group PianoSo different from traditional piano instruction, and so much more successful! Children learn best in a social setting that honors what they do best: play, move, and learn. Using songs that are familiar and new, children sing and then recreate the music of their world. Set your child off on a journey of musical competence and life-long confidence.
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Scroll down for more info on each class.
Early Childhood Music & Movement
Caregiver & Me
Family Music for Babies & Toddlers
Birth - Age 3
Expectant Parents
The perfect class to connect with your baby
and meet your toddler's need to move, move, move!
$250 + $48 recordings & materials for one 10-week semester of 30-minute classes.
*Payment plan available
Please email to sign up for info on when this class will run:
We are compiling a list and will run this class as soon as we have enough interest!
For babies, parents cuddle close and supply the rhythm, movement, and dancing, with tons of connective eye contact. Toddlers gain independence at their own pace, singing, moving, dancing, and playing instruments. Babies and toddlers grow in listening skills as they hear and experience sounds familiar to their lives at home and in the neighborhood. One moment sitting and singing, the next jumping and dancing, the next playing instruments and experiencing rhythm and melody in our own bodies!
Expecting a baby? Come and be musical with us! Babies in the womb can hear Mommy singing at 18 weeks, and Daddy & other loved ones at 27 weeks! Pregnant moms and dads can join us to let Baby experience music and movement even in the womb, and expectant parents learn how to play with their newborn!
**Special: Expectant parents who register for & attend Family Music while pregnant get a FREE semester of Family Music after Baby arrives!**
Parent/Caregiver attendance is required for Family Music for Babies and Toddlers. Older siblings enrolled in Cycle of Seasons are welcome to attend and participate as leaders for baby brother or sister.
and meet your toddler's need to move, move, move!
$250 + $48 recordings & materials for one 10-week semester of 30-minute classes.
*Payment plan available
Please email to sign up for info on when this class will run:
We are compiling a list and will run this class as soon as we have enough interest!
For babies, parents cuddle close and supply the rhythm, movement, and dancing, with tons of connective eye contact. Toddlers gain independence at their own pace, singing, moving, dancing, and playing instruments. Babies and toddlers grow in listening skills as they hear and experience sounds familiar to their lives at home and in the neighborhood. One moment sitting and singing, the next jumping and dancing, the next playing instruments and experiencing rhythm and melody in our own bodies!
Expecting a baby? Come and be musical with us! Babies in the womb can hear Mommy singing at 18 weeks, and Daddy & other loved ones at 27 weeks! Pregnant moms and dads can join us to let Baby experience music and movement even in the womb, and expectant parents learn how to play with their newborn!
**Special: Expectant parents who register for & attend Family Music while pregnant get a FREE semester of Family Music after Baby arrives!**
Parent/Caregiver attendance is required for Family Music for Babies and Toddlers. Older siblings enrolled in Cycle of Seasons are welcome to attend and participate as leaders for baby brother or sister.
Cycle of Seasons
Preschool ages 3-5
"Feel that chill in the air?
It's time to visit the farm to pick out our pumpkins!"
$250 + $48 recordings & materials for one 10-week semester of 45-minute classes.
*Payment plan available
Please email to sign up for info on when this class will run:
We are compiling a list and will run this class as soon as we have enough interest!
In Cycle of Seasons we don't just hear stories and sing songs, we go on adventures! Our songs, stories, and dances explore the themes of the seasons kids are experiencing in the real world! Come with us in our imaginations as we visit a local farm to milk cows and pick pumpkins. Have you ridden the roller coaster yet, or tasted the cotton candy at the Fall Festival? A balanced mix of repetition to build confidence, and new experiences and songs to expand our horizons awaits the adventurers of Cycle of Seasons! Focused listening activities teach students how to sit still and listen, and then how to jump up and play. Explore instruments like rhythm sticks, shakers, jingles, scarves, and drums. Experience the joy of childhood again as you experience all that the seasons have to offer along with your child!
Parent/Caregiver attendance is required for Family Music for Babies and Toddlers. Younger siblings enrolled in Family Music for Babies and Toddlers are welcome to attend and participate as they are able.
It's time to visit the farm to pick out our pumpkins!"
$250 + $48 recordings & materials for one 10-week semester of 45-minute classes.
*Payment plan available
Please email to sign up for info on when this class will run:
We are compiling a list and will run this class as soon as we have enough interest!
In Cycle of Seasons we don't just hear stories and sing songs, we go on adventures! Our songs, stories, and dances explore the themes of the seasons kids are experiencing in the real world! Come with us in our imaginations as we visit a local farm to milk cows and pick pumpkins. Have you ridden the roller coaster yet, or tasted the cotton candy at the Fall Festival? A balanced mix of repetition to build confidence, and new experiences and songs to expand our horizons awaits the adventurers of Cycle of Seasons! Focused listening activities teach students how to sit still and listen, and then how to jump up and play. Explore instruments like rhythm sticks, shakers, jingles, scarves, and drums. Experience the joy of childhood again as you experience all that the seasons have to offer along with your child!
Parent/Caregiver attendance is required for Family Music for Babies and Toddlers. Younger siblings enrolled in Family Music for Babies and Toddlers are welcome to attend and participate as they are able.
Pre-Piano: Music Makers at Home in the World
Pre-K and Kinders are ready for more!
$350 + $60 materials for one 10-week semester of 60-minute classess.
*Payment plan available
Please email to sign up for info on when this class will run:
We are compiling a list and will run this class as soon as we have enough interest!
More complexity, more movement, more stories, more songs, more instrument playing, more listening, more development skills!
Come explore My Home Place, The Woodlands, The Cattail Marsh, and The Meadow in this full-year curriculum. Starting in our circle on the rug, we don't stay put! Singing and dancing alternate with focused listening to poems and stories about each of our destinations.
Journey with us as we learn melodies, rhythms, dances, poems, and stories. Experiment with rhythm sticks, jingle bells, shakers, scarves, and drums! Little fingers are building fine motor skills to play piano, and small bodies are developing gross motor skills, coordination, and an internal sense of rhythm as we dance our way through our journey. Don't miss this chance to set your child up for a lifetime of music making, including all the basic skills needed to play the piano!
Parents/guardians are expected, if at all possible, to attend class with their children to augment their child's class experience and enhance their parent-child musical bond. If not able to attend the whole class due to siblings, parents are expected to attend at least the last 15 minutes so we can show off what we learned and give home music instructions.
**Younger siblings are welcome to attend and even participate as they are able with parental supervision and assistance from outside the class circle.**
***Walkover service is available for students in After Care at OPS, both to and from class. These parents will need to stay up to date with emailed class summaries & practice instructions.***
Please check our FAQs and then email [email protected] with any questions.
$350 + $60 materials for one 10-week semester of 60-minute classess.
*Payment plan available
Please email to sign up for info on when this class will run:
We are compiling a list and will run this class as soon as we have enough interest!
More complexity, more movement, more stories, more songs, more instrument playing, more listening, more development skills!
Come explore My Home Place, The Woodlands, The Cattail Marsh, and The Meadow in this full-year curriculum. Starting in our circle on the rug, we don't stay put! Singing and dancing alternate with focused listening to poems and stories about each of our destinations.
Journey with us as we learn melodies, rhythms, dances, poems, and stories. Experiment with rhythm sticks, jingle bells, shakers, scarves, and drums! Little fingers are building fine motor skills to play piano, and small bodies are developing gross motor skills, coordination, and an internal sense of rhythm as we dance our way through our journey. Don't miss this chance to set your child up for a lifetime of music making, including all the basic skills needed to play the piano!
Parents/guardians are expected, if at all possible, to attend class with their children to augment their child's class experience and enhance their parent-child musical bond. If not able to attend the whole class due to siblings, parents are expected to attend at least the last 15 minutes so we can show off what we learned and give home music instructions.
**Younger siblings are welcome to attend and even participate as they are able with parental supervision and assistance from outside the class circle.**
***Walkover service is available for students in After Care at OPS, both to and from class. These parents will need to stay up to date with emailed class summaries & practice instructions.***
Please check our FAQs and then email [email protected] with any questions.
Group Piano:
Good-bye traditional piano lessons and quitting after a year!
$350 + $60 materials for one 10-week semester of 60-minute classes
*Payment plan available
Group Piano I for Kindergarten - 5th Graders:
Wednesdays at Edison Park Lutheran Church, 3:30-4:30
Thursdays at Oriole Park Field House, 3:15-4:15
Homeschool Group Piano -- Host a piano class in your house for your kids and their friends!
Email [email protected] to set up a time & inquire about pricing!
Group piano lessons are stimulating, interactive, and fun! If your kid isn't designed to sit still, this is the class for them!
Each class begins with a Singing Circle, sitting on the floor and singing and playing instruments, even up and dancing with scarves, reviewing old favorites and learning new songs. Then, we stay in our circle and apply a song we sang to learning piano. First we hear, then we sing, then we play on piano, and then we learn to read and write music. Traditional lessons would cost over $600 for weekly 60-minute lessons!
In-class electric pianos will be provided, but students must have access to a piano or keyboard at home for practice.
Parents/guardians are encouraged to attend the entire class, but required to attend the last 15 minutes of class as we will show off what we learned and give practice instructions.
***Walkover service is available for students in After Care at OPS, both to and from class. These parents will need to stay up to date with emailed class summaries & practice instructions.***
Initial practice times are short and serve to reinforce class lessons and should be accomplished by sharing with a parent/guardian.
Please email [email protected] with questions or help with sourcing your home instrument. Many good-quality instruments can be found on Amazon or Costco.com for less than $200. Please click: FAQ entry on choosing pianos.
$350 + $60 materials for one 10-week semester of 60-minute classes
*Payment plan available
Group Piano I for Kindergarten - 5th Graders:
Wednesdays at Edison Park Lutheran Church, 3:30-4:30
Thursdays at Oriole Park Field House, 3:15-4:15
Homeschool Group Piano -- Host a piano class in your house for your kids and their friends!
Email [email protected] to set up a time & inquire about pricing!
Group piano lessons are stimulating, interactive, and fun! If your kid isn't designed to sit still, this is the class for them!
Each class begins with a Singing Circle, sitting on the floor and singing and playing instruments, even up and dancing with scarves, reviewing old favorites and learning new songs. Then, we stay in our circle and apply a song we sang to learning piano. First we hear, then we sing, then we play on piano, and then we learn to read and write music. Traditional lessons would cost over $600 for weekly 60-minute lessons!
In-class electric pianos will be provided, but students must have access to a piano or keyboard at home for practice.
Parents/guardians are encouraged to attend the entire class, but required to attend the last 15 minutes of class as we will show off what we learned and give practice instructions.
***Walkover service is available for students in After Care at OPS, both to and from class. These parents will need to stay up to date with emailed class summaries & practice instructions.***
Initial practice times are short and serve to reinforce class lessons and should be accomplished by sharing with a parent/guardian.
Please email [email protected] with questions or help with sourcing your home instrument. Many good-quality instruments can be found on Amazon or Costco.com for less than $200. Please click: FAQ entry on choosing pianos.
By the end of the 4-year piano curriculum, students will be able to read, write, compose, and transpose music in all 12 major and all 12 minor keys!
