We are happy to announce expanded offerings of Early Childhood Music and Movement Education Classes for ages infant through 4-years-old beginning in September 2018.
Music is compelling for young children and is highly beneficial for their mental and social development. BMS Early Music employs cutting-edge techniques in early music education to encourage social and cognitive development, while focusing on building language, visual, physical, and aural skills.
The BMS Early Childhood Music curriculum combines proprietary approaches to early music education with the best of early education methodologies and has developed learning benchmarks that reflect consultation with NYC-Blueprint for the Arts.
BMS’s Early Childhood Music curriculum emphasizes experiential learning – singing, moving, creating, seeing, hearing, touching – in an effort to encourage an empirical connection with music at an early age that will manifest in lifelong development. BMS believes their curricular mission is best accomplished through concerted efforts between parents and professional music educators, as well as constant reflection upon our value for the creative process.
BMS Early Childhood Music lessons develop word, color, and letter recognition to enhance early interpretation of everyday life through:
- Music Making: through exploration, replication, and observation, students can develop their unique voice in music and how it can impact their everyday lives.
- Music Literacy: developing a working knowledge of music language and applying this knowledge to performance, analyzing, and creating music.
- Making Connections: exposure to common themes and principles of music through historical, social, and cultural contexts.
- Community and Cultural Resources: students can broaden their perspective by working with professional artists and having regular exposure to different musical mediums, creating a fertile ground for students’ music learning and creativity.
- Careers and Lifelong Learning: students carry physical, social, and cognitive skills learned in music, and an ability to appreciate and enjoy participating in music throughout their lives.
Current Course Offerings
Students and parents/caregivers will engage in musical activities with instructors promoting musical and educational growth. Students and caregivers will be exposed to various instruments and musical mediums. Sing-alongs, echo songs, finger play, early instrumentation (bells, sticks, hand drums, guitars, ukulele, keyboards) as well as visual stimulation (puppets, musical books, scarves, visual prompts). From birth, parents use music to calm and soothe children, to express love and joy, and to engage and interact. Our Early Music Education Program will enable parents to build on these instincts by learning and observing how music can impact a child and how they can impart music into aspects of their everyday lives.
Class size 10-12; Parents/Caregivers attend; 50min; 12-week sessions from 9/6 – 12/20; $15/class
Students and Teachers will further their musical experience through singing, movement activities, and working with various instruments. Students will further their understanding of voice and musical/instrumental recognition through early introduction to instruments, music and movement activities, echo songs, call and response, finger play, and musical games. Music ignites all areas of child development from intellectual and social, to motor language and literacy. This program is designed to expose young children to Music in all its forms while also continuing the Early Education process to promote school readiness.
Class size 12; 50min; 12-week sessions from 9/6 – 12/20; $15/class
Each week, we will be exploring many instrumental families: percussion, strings, piano, etc., while also focusing heavily on singing and movement activities. While learning about each instrument or learning a song/routine, we will also explore musical concepts such as tempo, dynamics, and timbre through musical activities and games. During certain classes, BMS instructors will introduce and demonstrate a variety of instruments. Music FUNdamentals provides a musical foundation for students and acts as a great starting point for private lessons.
Class size 12; 50min; 12-week sessions from 9/6 – 12/20; $15/class
Students will have hands on experience learning about the structure and integrity of various instruments and their inner workings by looking, touching, listening, and re-creating these instruments they have studied using various art materials.
Class size 12; 50min; 12-week sessions from 9/6 – 12/20; $15/class
This class continues to expose young musicians to musical concepts, but increases rigor by providing students with the opportunity to experience, identify, and describe what they are learning. In addition to similar games and activities provided in the foundational classes, this course introduces a different instrument group each week. Students will have the opportunity to engage with a variety of different instrument families and see how each instrument is played. This is a great class to allow students to find a "pathway" to an instrument that speaks to them and explore the benefits of practicing music.
Class size 12; 50min; 12-week sessions from 9/6 – 12/20; $15/class
Toddler Yoga & Dance (Ages 2-3)
This unique program is run in partnership with MUSE Academy and is offered for parents who wish to expose their children to dance, yoga, and music at an early age. Children at these ages undergo massive cognitive, social, and emotional changes which enable them to understand the world around them. In this class, children will experience warm and nurturing sensations through experiences focused on creativity, sensory awareness, and social development. Additionally, kids will refine their motor skills and energy regulation, while developing a natural sense of rhythm through music and movement.
Class size 10; 45min; 12-week sessions from 9/17/18 to 12/17/18
Faculty
Eva Leftenant, Department Chair, is a classically trained singer and songwriter from Long Island, NY. She graduated with a BA in studio composition from the music conservatory at SUNY Purchase. She studied songwriting, recording, engineering, music business, piano and performance. After college she joined AmeriCorps where she taught at risk youth in various subjects including guitar. She also ran an after school program for students needing help with homework. After her term of service, she began working as a Music teacher in various pre schools on long Island. She then moved to Brooklyn and took a Music teaching job at the Fort Greene Clinton Hill Co-Op school. She then graduated to lead teacher but decided to join BMS to pursue her own Music Career and continue to teach Music to children. Eva is excited to join the BMS team and hopes to help expand the Early Childhood program.
Andrew Brubaker
Andrew Brubaker is a music educator, pianist and singer out of Brooklyn. He received his Bachelor in Music from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in Vocal Performance, Master in Music from New York University in Vocal Performance, and Master of Music Education from Hunter College. He is a New York State Certified music teacher (PK-12) and currently teaches sixth grade music at Evergreen Middle School in Brooklyn. Andrew is also pursuing certifications in Kodaly (Level I completed 2017 NYU, Level II completed summer 2018 SEATTLE), Orff (Level I completed 2017-2018 NYCCAOSA), and Dalcroze (Level I 2018 LUCY MOSES SCHOOL).
Holley Bartlett-LaSala
Holley Bartlett-La Sala holds N.Y.S. Teacher Certification in Music Pre-K-12, a Master's Degree in Music Performance from Hunter College CUNY, and a Master's Degree in Music Education as a Lincoln Center Scholar / Hunter College, CUNY. Holley teaches Flute, Recorder, Piano, Chorus, Early Elementary Music and Music Appreciation, and has many years of teaching experience in schools and programs throughout New York City, as well as in individualized instruction. Her most recent faculty positions are at Brooklyn Music School, Bronx House Performing Arts School and Brooklyn Heights Montessori School.
Ty Citerman
Ty Citerman is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer who writes, performs and teaches music across the spectrum of jazz, rock and contemporary classical. He is a founding member of the irreverent chamber jazz quartet Gutbucket; he leads the radical Jewish ensemble Bop Kabbalah; and he writes chamber music that’s been performed by JACK Quartet, Anti-Social Music, Sara Schoenbeck and Bearthoven. His music appears on Cuneiform Records, Tzadik Records, Cantaloupe Music, Enja, Knitting Factory, NRW, and Gut Records. Guitar Player called Ty's music for Gutbucket "kinetic punk jazz opuses" that “reveal an explosive concoction containing lethal doses of Ornette Coleman, King Crimson, John Zorn, Black Sabbath, Stravinsky, and Fugazi." He's also been featured in Downbeat, The Guardian, The New York City Jazz Record, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Sydney Morning Herald and JazzTimes, which called Bop Kabbalah (2014) “…one of the year’s most arresting recordings…”