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C8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, March 15, 2000 Arts & Entertainment Oakville Beaver Entertainment Editor Carol Baldwin 845-3824 (Extension 254) Fax: 337-5567 Gymboree Music A place for toddlers and preschoolers to experience thejoys ofmusic becom e highly recognized. The early years have been proven SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER to be the m ost critical to a ch ild 's developm ent, says D ianne Parsons, a h ere's tapping on knees, G ym boree m om and co-ordinator o f shoulders and noses, banging the G ym boree M usic program in the w ooden blocks together, shaking bells and m aracas, T oronto W est, M ississauga and O akville locations. rocking to and fro, and lots o f sm iles - ear-to-ear sm iles. A nd those are the G ym boree M usic offers learning parents enjoying them selves. through play in the realm o f m usical experience. C hildren exposed to M eanw hile, their little ones, any m usic and steady beat not only w here from 16 m onths to four years increase their intellectual capacity and old, happily em ulate m om and dad, spatial intelligence but enjoy bouncing up and dow n to lively enhanced success in m ath, reading m usic, or sim ply toddling o ff to explore other areas o f the bright yel and language because these subjects are based on the sam e structure o f low, block-shaped room . rhythm and pattern, says Parsons. It's an energetic and anim ated 45 m inutes o f G ym T he kids, who sim ply enjoy boree M usic fun. "Children exposed to music M any parents them selves and steady beat not only are fam iliar w ith im m ensely, are G ym boree Play, totally oblivious increase their intellectual w hich was to all o f the sta capacity and spatial launched more tistics and bene intelligence but enjoy than 20 years ago fits, but parents by a C alifornian are im pressed. enhanced success in math, mom anxious to P arsons, w ho reading and language provide a m ore began the G ym because these subjects are stim ulating, inter boree Play pro based on the same structure active play pro gram w hen her gram for her chil daughter was of rhythm and pattern. " dren. H er philos six-m onths-old, ophy o f learning says she and her through play husband attribute m uch o f their d au g h ter's developm ent caught on; and there are now, w ith the w orld-w ide launch o f the M usic co m to the G ym boree Play program . ponent last fall, 400 G ym boree Play "N ow that sh e 's in the M usic pro gram - sh e's three-and-a-half - she is and G ym boree M usic locations in 11 different countries. singing the songs and she corrects me on the w ords," says Parsons. Teachers, although not required to be form ally trained, m ust have m usic S itting on a kaleidoscopic floor o f in their background. T hey are special colorful m ats, activities revolve ly trained in the G ym boree way, to around a central area, although chil provide the stim ulating social, intel dren are free to roam . Sixteen styles lectual, physical developm ental play o f m usic, ranging from C ajun to program for children from birth to Latin, rock `n roll to classical, Celtic four years w ith w hich G ym boree has to M otow n, are presented over the By K athy Yanchus T Photo by Peter J. Thompson A ndrea Selkirk and husband D avid have som e "m usical" fun w ith d augh ter K athleen d uring a Sunday m orning session at G ym boree. A new location in O ak ville w as recently estab lish ed to help ch ild ren b en efit from exposure to beat and rhythm . course o f a year. In previous classes, children have m oved to such beats as the Russian dance com ponent from The Nutcracker to Heat Wave by M artha Reeves and the Vandellas. "Every three w eeks we explore a single m usical style," Parsons explains. (G ym boree M usic is a year round program divided into sessions. Special O pen H ouses and registration tim es are held). To help children hear and produce basic rhythm , an echo m icrophone is brought out so they can enjoy listen ing to their ow n sounds. G ym boree M usic is divided into tw o age groups, the H alf N otes pro gram for kids aged 16 to 30 m onths and the W hole N otes program for children aged tw o -an d -a-h alf to 4 years. Both offer listening, singing, m oving, playing, dance and creating opportunities. (G ym boree M usic offers a com plem entary preview class to all new fam ilies not only to see the program in action, but to decide on the developm ental readiness o f a child.) A good guideline for H alf N otes is if a child is able to function w ith bells o r drum m allets as opposed to contin ually putting them in his or her m outh. For W hole N otes children should be confident enough in their use o f language to answ er very sim ple questions, says Parsons. Both program s begin w ith a fam il iar hello and good-bye song, w hich incorporates the nam e o f each child. T here are also instrum ent exploration tim es, w ith 20 m usical instrum ents to (S e e `C h ild re n ' on page C 7 ) IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE DON'T THE PAYING WATCH, FOR CHANNELS PLEASE YOU TURN PAGE. Glad you're still w i t h us. Look TV is n o w available in O a k v i l l e , so y o u can pay only for the channels you watch. And not the ones you don't. Makes sense doesn't it? It m a k e s even more sense if y o u call by M a rc h 31st and make use of o u r special offer. After all, deals like this can disappear with the flip of a page. · S u b s c r i b e b e f o r e M a r c h 31 * * a n d get installation for $ 6 9 .9 5 . ($ 6 0 saving) · G e t 2 f r e e m o v i e s f r o m V i e w e r s C ho i c e * p l u s o n e m o n t h f r e e f r o m T M N , t he S u p e r s t a t i o n s a n d all of o u r 40 specialty channels. 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