Give your child something to sing about
Christian received a bright blue shinny drum set from his grandparents last year. It was a nice surprise to hear it played “properly” by Juarde (RCS drummer) during Mr.C’s stay at my parents house. We were treated to a rocky rendition of the Alphabet song courtesy of Christian, Dave and Juarde.
Christian clearly not getting enough of the song!
So tell us….What was your child’s first instrument?
My parents were lucky enough to Host Mr. C and his wonderful band members-Krina (Keyboardist), Juarde (Drummer), Dave (Bass guitar) & Junji (guitarist) during the RCS Australian tour in Sydney at Castle Hill this November 13th 2009.
I found Mr. C so humble and down to earth. He is an Icon in the Philippines, a living legend who has greatly influenced and shaped Filipino music and culture.
The concert was Amazing! The RCS (Ryan Cayabyab Singers) voices blended beautifully yet individually had their own unique sounds, style and tones that made their solo parts captivating.
Apart from their voices the simple and effective choreography was top-notch. Their coordinated costumes looked so stylish and oozed elegant simplicity.
I finally got the courage to ask Mr. C if he could answer a few questions for my blog. Hope you all enjoy his answers. I certainly did.
HI there Tina. I will try to answer your questions as best as I can.
But before that, I wish to thank you and most specially your dad and Mom for taking us into your house, I worry much though because I think we made such a mess of your otherwise clean and well-kept house!!!!
Your mom cooks very well, and both your mom and dad are so much fun to talk and exchange stories with.
Here are my answers:
1. Your daughter Krina toured with you in Sydney and is part of your band. How did you introduce her to music and at what age? And what did you do to help encourage her to pursue her music career.
Krina had seen me do my work (arranging, writing new music) at the piano since she could walk, or since she could remember. We noticed that she already had a good ear as a kid, she was in tune every time she sings and her natural tones were always ‘placed’ – no chest tones, no throaty sounds emanated from her as a kid, she had a naturally placed voice. We let her take piano lessons as soon as she turned three (same with my son) because as music educators, both Emmy (my wife) and I believe that early music education helps children grow up to become good, productive citizens – of course this does not manifest itself immediately, but as the person grows, because the discipline instilled in learning a musical skill is deeply ingrained. We have seen it in Krina; we also see it in Toma (our 18 year old son).
Discipline here doesn’t mean a certain rigidity in time and schedules, and in the military sense of discipline but more of a natural learning mechanism or method that supports the adage ‘pratice makes perfect’.
We all know what it means when we say practice makes perfect. But the end effect of this mantra is that the result makes for a satisfying feeling, a reward in itself.
We did not push Krina into a music career, it was her own decision. Let me give you an example of how we tried to discourage her early on.
When she was in grade school she wanted so much to join their year level singing competitions. We told her not to join – not because we just didn’t want her to join, but because she wouldn’t win this kind of competitions. Singing competitions in our country always focuses on the ‘birit’ or power singing – the louder and the higher the voice, the better the chance of winning. She wouldn’t win in this competition because Krina’s natural voice is not loud, and although hers was a soprano range, her voice quality was crystalline – pure and cherubic!
One day she came home from school (she was in grade two) she was crying so hard and we asked her why. She said she joined the singing competition (without our knowledge) and she didn’t win. It was such a heartbreaking moment. I think she was crying more because we told her before not to join any singing competition…
She joined again the next year. She lost again. But by the time she was in Grade 4 or 5, she finally won! Hurray! But we never knew how she did it, because we never encouraged her anyway! (We surmised that 1. Her main competitors in the past didn’t join any more; 2. She picked a better song to sing; 3. Her personality is such that she doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants…and that practice makes perfect)
Today she heads an all female jazz trio as music director, arranger and lead soprano. They do gigs in various music outlets – pubs, corporate events, and university functions. Plus, she will march next year
With a bachelor’s degree in music, major in choral conducting, summa cum laude at the University of the Philippines College of Music.
Did we influence her? Not consciously, but more like she imbibed it naturally – just by listening and observing. Just the way I did it as a child living in a house with ten lady boarders taking up music, and with a mother who was an opera singer (my dad wasn’t musical at all!), and with siblings who love to sing and play music.
2. What advice can you give to parents who want to introduce music to their children?
From the above (answer to #1) – it should be evident that either one of the parents must love music, must indulge in it, must be involved with music making, or must be a music lover of the first degree. When young children are taught music via the Suzuki method; the parents are required to do follow through exercises at home.
But I have heard other musicians who grew up with parents who are not musical at all. Life is a mystery.
3. Are there any reading resources or music that you would recommend to any parent, singing teacher or performer?
None that I can think of at the moment. But I think parents should research on music methods that they can be comfortable with for their children.
By the way, my two children attended a pre-school that had a very strong music program, involving various music education methods (Kodaly, Orff, etc) and very active music teachers who were very influential in shaping their musical skills. (By the way, Emmy and I never attempted to teach our children piano or voice – they had to be taught by other teachers in our music school. Eventually, our son Toma learned not only piano, but also voice, drums and guitar. He is not going to be a musician but his training in music will be a source of inspiration, or a source from where he can relate to abstract structures vis a vis every-day routines and realities)
4. What are you listening to on your Ipod or CD player at the moment?
None. I try not to listen to as much music as possible because as a music writer, it is difficult not to be influenced by what one hears. I did listen much to music before, through my formative, educational years. A lot of classical or serious music is inside my head and when I listen to them being played I connect right away. Same with other genres of music.
5. You mentioned in your Sydney concert that your last composition was your tribute to “Vegemite” for your Australian tour-which was perfect by the way-do you have any more plans to compose more songs in the near future?
I regularly write music for recordings, commercials, institutional, film, TV and theater. The experience I had tasting vegemite inspired me to write the song. It is supposed to be a novelty song.
6. Now that you have arrived home from Sydney, What is your next project?
I have a concert with Piolo Pascual (a Filipino multi-media artist) on Nov. 28, and the ABS-CBN annual Christmas Specials on Dec. 11. There are other gigs and commissions in between. That means a lot of writing
music materials, rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing…until we perfect the songs.
And lucky last
7. What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Be the best in whatever you do, be an authority – and everything else follows. (And to be the best, one has to learn the ropes, learn everything about your career choice…plus, you must love what it is you are doing)
Tina – hope this is OK. I will be catching up on work in Manila, if you have follow up questions please be patient, as I won’t answer them immediately. I will have to finish some music writing for the shows I have accepted to do.
Again, thanks for the hospitality and give my best to Mom, Dad, Rob and Christian.
Mr.C
Thank you Mr. C for your inspiration and for bringing beautiful music into our lives!
Were you inspired too? Leave a comment below
Musically yours Tina
This is our favourite cafe-AMPERSAND CAFE & BOOKSTORE in Paddington. It was great find, great food and coffee. Rob and I never drank coffee until we had Christian! Now we are addicted….The coffee here is ALLPRESS espresso we love that it doesn’t leave you with that ” teachers’ coffee breath”.
The bookstore has pre-loved books all in good condition. I found this great book-How music helps every child’s development. “Music makes your child smarter” by Philip Sheppard. It was $14.50 and included a Music CD and suggested games. It had a whole chapter on the benefits of Kindermusik.
We had a great start to the day-amazing food, coffee, company. The chef is new and has worked in Gordon Ramseys’ restaurant. It think it will get even busier as word has spread that it is a place to go for food and coffee after a visit by a Japanese airline crew, now they will include a write up on it in their inflight magazine.
So we invited Uncle and Aunty for breakfast on Sunday morning and there was already a line up outside 15mins before opening time.
Opening Hours: Monday-Friday 730am-6pm / Saturday 730am-630pm /Sunday 9am-6.30pmWe are located at:
78 Oxford Street, Paddington (opposite the Mobil Service Station)
So tell me….What is your great find? Please let us know in the comment box.
FEEL THE MUSIC
For preschoolers, expressing thoughts, ideas, and needs to teachers and friends is a necessary skill in school. So in class we’ll help your child learn more about the words that help describe feelings, while learning more about the emotions of others. Your Home Kit includes the same music and stories we’ll be talking about in class to help you open the door to the emotions your preschooler is learning to express.
The Feel the Music Home Kit includes one mini maraca instrument, Home CD, and Magazine-style Family Guide (includes class story The Duel).
Start:
CASTLE HILL
Monday 2nd November 1pm
Thursday 5th November 11am
ROUSE HILL
Wednesday 11th November 10am
Duration:
5 weeks 45mins
Cost: $100 includes 5 weeks tuition and home materials
SILLY ALL OVER
The Silly All Over Home Kit includes a magazine-style Family Guide, Home CD, and a pair of green sandblocks.
The magazine-style Family Guide details what a child learned in the classroom, suggests home activities, and includes the read-along story, Silly Mouse Gets Dressed.
The CD includes all the songs from the class and a narration of Silly Mouse Gets Dressed.
Silly All Over encourages children to experiment with rhythms, pitches, and silly sounds.
Learning Focus: My sense of humor is developing. I can listen and follow directions.
Steady Beat: Play instruments to music and move to a steady beat in a variety of activities, games and songs.
Inhibitory Control: Walk, jump, wiggle, and then STOP. Taking turns while playing instruments also helps practice control.
Locomotor Movement: Move from one place to another happens during each lesson—march, tiptoe, stomp, glide, and gallop.
Rhyming: Hear, anticipate, and predict rhyming words and phrases in stories and poems.
Start:
CASTLE HILL
Monday 2nd November 9.15am OR 10am
Thursday 5th November 10am
ROUSE HILL
Wednesday 11th November 9.15am
Duration:
5 weeks 45mins
Cost: $100 includes 5 weeks tuition and home materials
Never thought I would call a butcher shop “beautiful” until we stumbled upon a window display of drums with real chicken drumsticks piled stratigically on top.
Through the tinted windows it was hard to see what the shop was. At first seeing the lights and classic decore I thought it was a jewellery shop-but the drumsticks didn’t make sense. Until Rob pointed the sausage links as the door handle….
Check out more photos at Not quite Nigella blog:
Amazingly on the last day of our Village topic FEATHERS we had a visit by an Owl who was watching us dance and sing through the window.
Our classes are held in the busy Rouse Hill Shopping Centre so it was unexpected.
It fitted right into our “Little Feather” activity where we were able to actually point out the real hooting owl to our babies.
It’s a bit hard to see in the photo but it is sitting on the ledge outside the window.
Here’s a simple activity you can do with your baby, set to the Kindermusik song “Dance, Little Baby”. The activity stimulates your baby’s vestibular system. What does that mean? It’s his or her sense of balance — an important part of learning to walk. …Plus, this is a fun little way to make your baby giggle!
Thanks for sharing Kindermusikrocks!
Central to this unit is the use every week of Baby’s Book; with is entitled ‘This is my Dance’. Why do we focus on rhythm and movement? When your baby emerges from the womb and the familiar, steady sound of mother’s heartbeat, his brain begins scanning the apparently disorganized world for patterns – elements of consistency to help him make order out of the chaos. Rhythmic activity provides the recognizable, predictable and patterned information your baby wants to latch on to.
As Lap Baby becomes Crawler and Crawler becomes Walker, your baby applies his developing sense of timing in his every coordinated move – from clapping to crawling to waving bye-bye to cruising to walking. Through the movement in ‘Do Si Do’, your baby is gaining an awareness of where his body begins and ends, what it is capable of doing, and how to negotiate gravity – no small feats! Your baby has much to gain from the rhythm and dance in this unit.
You may not consider yourself capable or creative in movement. Movement is not my specialty, but you will find great happiness in moving to music, and you don’t have to be a movement specialist to dance.
About the Class:
At Home Materials:
START DATE:
Castle Hill-below Castle hill library Thursday 1pm 7th September, 2009
Rouse Hill-above Vinegar Hill Library RHTC- 11am Wednesdays 16th September,2009
PRICE: Normally: $185
EARLYBIRD SPECIAL: $165 Pay or place a deposit of $80 by 9th September 2009.
Method of payment:
Cash
Cheque
Please make cheques payable to Christina Bangel, and send it to 14 Wollemi Close,
Kellyville Ridge 2155 NSW
Electronic transfer
Bank: Westpac Name: Mrs Christina Maria Bangel BSB: 732-003 Acct: 540233
Please email receipt of transfer details to tina@kindermusikwithtinabangel.com.au
