“I used to say we should teach music to children nine months before they’re born. Now I say we should teach music nine months before the birth of the baby’s mother.”

                                             Zoltán Kodály - Composer, Educator

Children are naturally drawn to music – that’s obvious from the wonderful way little children will sing to themselves, sing to their toys, dance to music and beg their parents to play their favourite songs again and again.  And then again!  Musical expression flows freely from them in the most natural way as they interact with their environment.  Through music, children learn language, noises, funny sounds, sad sounds and so much more; they learn about themselves and their place in the world they’re living in.  Music, especially in these early years, is a part of their play and an innate part of their being.

New research shows that music has a positive influence on the development of young children’s cognitive skills. We also know that providing children with a rich and imaginative environment which stimulates every one of the senses, including the auditory sense, can seriously support and enhance children’s healthy growth and development.

Children who are actively involved with music (who play it or sing it regularly) typically:

• are better able to focus and control their bodies
• play better with others and have higher self-esteem
• do better in reading and maths when they start school
   

Making music with others gives children a wonderful feeling of belonging to the group. Those who might have difficulty joining in activities with others because they are shy or don’t speak the same language can freely participate when it comes to a musical activity.

Children experience such joy listening to music, making music and moving to music.  Whether they’re singing along to a CD, playing a rhythm instrument or skipping to music around the classroom, most children thoroughly enjoy getting really involved in a music activity.

At TCG, music classes vary enormously in character and include a fabulous variety of activities and experiments, depending on the children’s ages and needs.  Our tailor-made music curriculum keeps the children properly stimulated by offering this diverse range of musical experiences, which include singing (topic-related songs), introducing simple musical terms, exploring and identifying sounds, playing instruments and listening to different types of music.

We’ll imitate animals while listening to The Carnival of the Animals composed by Camille Saint-Saëns, we’ll dance like fairies when inspired by Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and we’ll walk like monsters when we hear In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite no. 1 by Edgar Grieg.  Really, music can be no end of fun for pre-schoolers!

The TCG philosophy is all about creating a happy school, and music plays an integral part in school life.  We believe that making music is as much a basic life skill as walking and talking. And most importantly, music makes our children HAPPY!