TIMBALOOLOO CLASSES
Meet Timbalooloo – an innovative music program for children created by renowned musician and composer Oran Etkin. Timbalooloo songs have been featured on a Grammy Award winning album and Etkin’s music has been described as “ebullient” by NY Times and “global tapestries of sound” by NPR, which also remarked that “in Oran’s program he makes his instruments literally come to life… and speak one universal language – music.” Indeed the Timbalooloo concept of instruments coming to life as characters inspires children of all ages to express themselves by making their instruments “talk” from an early age. The classes draw on music of great artists from around the world – from Tito Puente to Herbie Hancock, Mozart to Willie Nelson. In fact Herbie Hancock has embraced the program and invited Oran to present it as part of his annual UNESCO International Jazz Day celebration for the past several years!
Tuesdays at LLS Nevins Street: Timbalooloo Class
English
4 – 18 months
9:30am – 10:15am
Location: 139 Nevins St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Sundays at LLS Clinton Hill: Timbalooloo Class
English4 – 18 months
9:30am – 10:15am
Location: LLS Clinton Hill: 462 Vanderbilt Ave, Ground Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11238
This is a magical age when children are learning to make sense of the spoken language around them, preparing to speak their first word. A very similar learning process also happens at this age with music as they intuitively internalize all the nuances of how music works. Classes at this age help internalize rhythms and contrast through movement and games, awaken awareness of the body and provide the child’s first hands-on experience with a variety of instruments. Just as you speak to your children with a full and rich vocabulary and do not simplify your language to one-syllable words, we believe that it is important to expose the children to a varied and rich musical language at this age as well. We draw on songs from all over the world and music by great masters from Tito Puente to Willie Nelson, Mozart to Duke Ellington. The structure of the class also offers a beautiful opportunity for parent or caregiver to bond with the child in a loving musical way.
Tuesdays at LLS Nevins Street: Timbalooloo Class
English
1 – 3 Yrs
10:30am – 11:15am
Location: 139 Nevins St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Sundays at LLS Clinton Hill: Timbalooloo Class
English
1 – 3 Yrs
10:30am – 11:15am
Location: 462 Vanderbilt Ave, Ground Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11238
At this age, children love playful games, mysteries, suspense and stories. They love to explore new instruments and musical traditions. In this class, all the instruments come to life as characters and actually speak through their music so that the children learn to play instruments by performing the magical act of making their instruments talk (which is essentially what every great musician does with his or her instrument)! We also tell stories about great composers ranging from Herbie Hancock to Mozart, giving them a glimpse into the cultural and historical background and making them feel more personally connected to the composers. We lay the groundwork for reading music by presenting an intuitive approach to pitch through games like the Pitch Switch about a cow and a bird and we develop their sense of musicality through games like our Mozart Tip-Toe game, in which children sing Mozart’s “Non Piu Andrai” aria from the Marriage of Figaro while tip-toeing around the room trying to find a hiding Mozart.
Tuesdays at LLS Nevins Street: Timbalooloo – Growing Glockenspiel Class
English
5 – 7 Yrs
3:30pm – 4:15pm
Location: 139 Nevins St, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Sundays at LLS Clinton Hill: Timbalooloo- Growing Glockenspiel Class
English
5 – 7 Yrs
11:30am – 12:15pm
Location: 462 Vanderbilt Ave, Ground Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11238
We will be offering this class on Tuesdays at LLS Nevins Street and Sundays at LLS Clinton Hill.
This class gives children the opportunity to really learn to play their first instrument through a unique class that we’ve developed: the Growing Glockenspiel. They also learn to read and write music through a fun gradual process that helps make reading music intuitive. Each child gets their own Glockenspiel to keep forever and take home between classes (a glockenspiel is a xylophone-like instrument that is laid out like a piano with the black and white keys). However, at first, their Glockenspiels only have the note middle-C on them, and are “one note old”. Each time that the children learn how to write a note on the music paper and play a new song with it, they then get a new note, and their glockenspiel grows up (the kids say “my glockenspiel is 9 notes old today… it’s almost a teenager!”, etc). Each song is introduced through a fun story that gives historical and cultural context and a familiarity with the great composers from different cultures. For example, the story of Curious George Gershwin discovering rhythm in the basement of Duke Ellington’s castle leads to learning the Gershwin classic “I’ve Got Rhythm”. The children learn to write music, and when the glockenspiel has grown all the way up, it looks just like a piano, so any song that the children know on the glockenspiel is then directly transferable to piano or whatever other instrument they choose to pursue. The goal is not just to execute the correct notes, but to really understand how music works in the process. For this reason, the class is valuable both to children who have never played another instrument before and to those who are taking instrumental music lessons separately. **Note: The semester tuition is for the classes, and there is an additional $50 price for the actual glockenspiel instrument. This instrument will belong to you and you can keep it forever after the class as well.
These classes require parent/caregiver participation. Signup by semester.
Growing Glockenspiel Class – 4-7 yrs
MAKE-UPS: With the aim to create a positive teaching and learning environment, we provide our teachers with dependable schedules and class lists. Due to this fact we are unable to accomodate make-up classes if your child has to miss a class for illness or vacation. Our morning classes are often comfortably full and frequent changes would make things difficult for the teacher and other children.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL CLASSES ARE SUBJECT TO CANCELLATION WITH FULL REIMBURSEMENT IF ENROLLMENT THRESHOLD IS NOT MET.