Westminster Conservatory Teaches the Very Young
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Can the critical pedagogy philosophy of music education have an impact on preschool children? “Yes,” says LuAnn Longenecker, head of the Early Childhood Department at Westminster Conservatory, the community music school of the Westminster College of the Arts.
Even for children as young as 2, this approach to teaching music “successfully engages each child’s musical imagination, intelligence, creativity and performance,” said Longenecker, who was selected to present her research on the subject to leaders in the field at a meeting of the Music Educators National Conference’s (MENC) Early Childhood Special Research Interest Group at the University of Delaware in January.
“Critical pedagogy works because it puts music in the context of the child’s world and acknowledges different learning styles,” Longenecker explained. “We teachers need to be more mindful of our students, honoring what they bring to the program.”
Longenecker conducted her research in a Musical Playground class that she leads at the Conservatory. The class is open to children between 2 and 3 years of age with a caregiver. In each 30-minute session, the children and adults sing, move and play instruments using diverse music that includes nursery rhymes and folk songs, both familiar and new. It also encourages the whole family to make music at home.
Westminster Conservatory offers an array of early childhood programs for children between six months and 9 years old. It also offers private and group instruction for aspiring musicians of all ages and stages of ability. Rider University employees and their family members, as well as Rider students, receive a 20 percent discount on all programs, including summer camps. While the spring semester has begun, students are still being accepted for the next few weeks in some of the early childhood programs. To register or to learn more about Westminster Conservatory’s programs, call 609-921-7104 or go to www.rider.edu/conservatory.
