Kindermusik in Asheville, Kindermusik in Arden

Kindermusik classes for the Asheville Arts Center North location (on Merrimon) and South Location (in Arden) will begin the week of Sept 14th. Some of my Kindermusik friends are wondering when the registration deadline is. You really can register at any time but I say that to have your first choice in the schedule and to have your home materials on your first day of class, please call 253-4000 today! Eliza will be glad to walk you completely through the registration process. She's at the phone downstairs at our main location! (Many thanks to you Eliza for all your dedicated work!)

Here's our South location: South - Located just off Hendersonville Road, 2 blocks north of the Long Shoals intersection. The building is behind Quiznos on Summit Avenue. And our North location: North - Located on Merrimon Avenue behind Atlanta Bread Company on the lower level. We are in the same building as the Children's Exchange consignment shop! Love it!

Parenting questions never cease.....

The questions just never end...am I doing the right thing? Am I doing enough? Just because everyone else is does that make it right? Just because everyone else is does that mean there are no other options? What about preschool? What about music lessons? What about organized sports? What about nutrition? What about health care and antibiotics? It is easy to get overwhelmed. But we keep on asking.

What about boredom?

This is beautiful:

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What? Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again. (Jean-Jacques Rousseau - "Emile", 1762)

I wonder if Jean-Jacques Rousseau would choose different words if he were alive today. Would he see how busy we've become? Would he say "Never in his life will he be so productive again." Think about the JOB of building brain circuitry! Never again will he be working toward his own potential with the same fervor.

I believe this is the most important work they will ever do. That's why in Kindermusik we're skipping, playing, and running...and singing.

All the day long I'm singing a song. La la la la la la la la la.

Peace and love,
Yvette

Raising Beautiful Children (post script)

So....I am amiss! I forgot to come to the very point....the very reason for the post below.

And it illustrates the uphill journey parenting will always be.

I heard my youngest (who is now at 13 taller than I am--what a moment!) using words and tone that made me cringe. I was in the other room, eavesdropping I guess. Guess where that vocabulary and repertoire of inflection came from?

From me!

I have a lot to learn. I hope I can make good use of the lesson.
Peace,
Yvette

Raising Beautiful Children

“If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.” - C.G. Jung

I have a t-shirt that says "We must be what we want our children to be." or something like that...I'd have to go in the laundry basket to quote it perfectly. Whenever I wear it I do so knowing how hard it is to believe it, act it and evangelize it! I always get a comment, a groan "Oh, that's a tall order." Or "We could never do that!"

Ghandi said "We must be the change we wish to see."

The day I do it perfectly is the day I achieve immortality! HA!!

But we continue to strive, grow, stumble, fall two (or more) steps backwards, and remind each other to keep trying, not to give up. It's worth the effort because it really will pay off in your relationship with your children. It's very worth it.

Teaching Kindermusik keeps this out front for me. I offer parents ways to be with their little ones with tools for careful observations, positive communications, nurturing creativity, deliberate guiding, and loving interactions. And everyday I go home and try to hone my own parenting skills, to do my practicum.

Keep in mind that I'm one step ahead! I'm trying to apply this to teenagers...and beyond! So far I'll say investing the time, energy, grace and creativity with your infants, toddlers and preschoolers is worth every bit of effort.

Did you know Kindermusik is a lot about parenting?

Kindermusik: A Head Start For Children - Mom TV

Kindermusik: A Head Start For Children

This video mentions that Kindermusik is a great program for 7 year olds down to 3 months but I've actually had babies as young as 5 weeks in my classes. I believe it's never too early to start! Babies this young are very attuned to loving stimulation through visual, auditory, touch and vestibular senses. Kindermusik is perfect! When my babies were tiny it was so hard to WAIT for them to be old enough! You're not too early!

I'm having some free "try-it" classes on the 1st of September at both the north Asheville and Arden locations. Email me to be invited so you can experience it with your little one.

Yvette

A musical icon

Les Paul June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009
A pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible.

Can't decide whether to enroll in Kindermusik?

I've been teaching Kindermusik since 1995 and I've met all kinds of children and all kinds of grown ups! You really are Kindermusik people too!

Life is an Opera

And you can write one on twitter! Here's an article I found online about a cool way to participate in this art form.

UK's Royal Opera House to perform 'Twitter' opera

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

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(08-11) 05:15 PDT LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) --

It probably won't be "Madame Butterfly," but it should be fun.

London's renowned Royal Opera House said Tuesday it hopes to perform excerpts of an opera now being composed on the Web by the growing community of Twitter users.

They are contributing to the libretto line by line, their imaginations limited only by the format of the micro-blogging site, which allows a maximum of 140 characters to be posted at a time.

The results will be put to music and, if all goes to plan, performed to an audience next month.

Royal Opera House spokeswoman Alison Duthie said the use of Twitter is part of a wider effort to get more people interested in the art form.

"It's the people's opera, and the perfect way for everyone to become involved with the inventiveness of opera as the ultimate form of storytelling," she said.

She encouraged people to contribute to the libretto and to view the work-in-progress at http://twitter.com/youropera.

What's taking shape is strange even by opera standards. So far, the libretto tells the story of a man kidnapped by birds and features a talking cat.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/08/11/entertainment/e041527D38.DTL#ixzz0NsQ7BP5x

Rain Sound By Clapping

This is my first summer here. People tell me it usually doesn't rain this much! I do love that it's so green....
Enjoy this rainstorm for your ears.



And by the way, are you coming to the Asheville Arts Center birthday party on August 14 and 15?
You're invited!

Fall Schedule

Here's the schedule for Kindermusik at the Asheville Arts Center....and a ton of other great programs. Check it out. If you're interested in trying a Kindermusik class for free please call Eliza 253-4000 and she'll put you in the know and on the list! I had a free class today and we had SOOOOOOO much fun. There were smiles all around.

Join us!

You can click on the above picture to have a larger more complete view. Some classes are filling so call or register online: www.ashevilleartscenter.com

Classes begin Sept 14.