hey everyone!
Wow we have been busy learning so many ways to help kids and parents have fun together and about each special developmental phase for each child!

here is a fun activity set to try at home with your little ones!

At home activity

Please consider dropping us a few pennies to keep the training going!

click below on the donation button to donate through paypal or drop me a line at gretchenechols@gmail.com

Just for those of you looking to donate quick:

Well hello everyone!  I am sorry it has been so long since an update but I am been so busy studying Kindermusik lessons, philosophy, and songs!

As of today, I have completed all of Phase 1 and over half of phase two.  The background check is complete and accepted and we have established a location and group for our practice class!!  

We have been actively seeking more business sponsors as well as accepting donations from individuals - training and franchise fees remains to cost about $70 a month!  As of right now we can make it for three more months.  I would love to raise enough to have some of our first students be on scholarships - truly i think there should be free fun educational and creative things for children of all incomes in our community but we will start with those in the most financial need.  Of course, raising enough to have our second teacher trained would be fantastic!  She will cost thirty dollars a month to get trained and provide us with so many more chances to have classes!

Class itself has been exciting and so informative - each lesson is based on child development concepts and Kindermusik expects all educators to know the developmental basis for each and every activity.  Parents may be surprised at how high we are asked to sing - but it has been proven over and over again that for these little ones the voice they respond to the most is SUPER SOPRANO - so be prepared for minnie mouse voices when you come!

So yes yes we still need all of you and hope some people consider recurring donations as we truly hope to extend Music for Little Ones to encompass all sorts of musical fun for families in our community and we will even share with people who come and visit if they ask very nicely.

and check back this week for photos of our practice space and our permanent location!

please please please donate!

Here is the Paper!

Just the Flier - Print Show to Your Friends etc...

Help Bring Kindermusik to Rabun County!

Kindermusik is a fun music and movement class for parents, caretakers, and children.

This class combines simple instruments, chants, and songs with silly dances and movements – to get everyone up, active, and participating!

We call our campaign to bring it here Music for Little Ones! Music for little Ones believes strongly in bringing people together with the power of silly songs!

Our first group will be preschoolers but we intend to expand into gradeschool and the community at large. We strongly believe this class could benefit special needs individuals and senior citizens as well as kids and parents!

Check out our Music for Little Ones website for the latest information:

http://kidsmountainmusic.blogspot.com/

Check out more about kindermusik at kindermusik.com

Our initial goal is to raise $1,000 to pay for teacher training and franchise fees!

Blue ridge Music has offered the Nichols Center as a place to have our program

and several community businesses have helped out by sponsoring or donating.

We have raised about $500 and seem to be a little stuck there!

If you would like to donate or have any questions please feel free to contact me

Gretchen Echols

gretchenechols@gmail.com

or on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/gretchen.echols.7

Donate quick

This blog is for those of you who already know who we are and what we are doing and just want a fast easy way to donate!!

Here is your button!

Click and it will take you to paypal!!

This is a little blog to review what we do!  

Music for Little Ones  is the name of our effort to bring more musical education and opportunity to Rabun County!  Our first goal has been to raise $1,000 to bring Kindermusik to the Nichols Center - right here in Clayton!  We made it half way to that goal, so far, and have ordered materials.  Teacher training for that begins next week!  Ideally,  we will train a second teacher by the end of this year!  Having two teachers would make it possible to really get into the school, daycares, senior centers, and neighboring counties!!

  We plan to first offer classes  for preschool age children and their parents or caregivers.  These fast paced fun music and movement classes would occur twice a week.  A morning and afternoon class would be offered and one saturday a month!  The average cost per month to attend all classes would be $60 but parents can choose to pay per class instead($10 per class)!  We hope to use Music for Little Ones donations to assist parents who cannot afford the class and offer full scholarships based on need as well!  

 We strongly believe that bringing music back into our homes, families, and community will help create a fun, educational atmosphere and bring us all closer together!  Singing, clapping, and moving all at once can really boost young children's development and confidence.  For parents, singing silly songs can be a positive way to interact with those sometimes tough preschoolers!  These silly songs and dances can also help foster and overall love and appreciation of music and the arts and just may lead to interest in further musical education.

  In the future we hope to offer and assist with musical lessons, dancing, and kids performance groups.  We also hope to bring family and kid oriented musical acts to Rabun County!  Music for Little Ones also hopes to extend the classes to include special needs and senior citizens!  

  With some luck and a little money we truly believe that Music for Little Ones can bring opportunities to Rabun County for our children and ourselves!  

For more information please contact gretchenechols@gmail.com
or  find me on facebook Gretchen Echols there too!

Why a Kid's Music Class??

Because we have lost our music.  Music that comes from us in our homes, families, and with our friends.  Silly totally unprofessional, social music.  Singing, clapping, and dancing together helps bring us all closer and gives us a way to communicate from the oldest senior to the youngest babies!  This class wold be a way to bring music back into our in-person lives and not just on our phones or the radio.  Music can teach us, comfort us, and make us laugh.  Giving our kids and ourselves this tool to help deal with chores or bedtime, or help in making new friends would end up benefiting us, as much as them.  As would getting together!  Parents in our community do not spend much time together because of work and family demands - a class with kids and parents gives us all a chance - to stretch our social muscles - which is MUCH easier with silly music and clapping to grease the social wheels!

Please keep your questions coming! I totally understand wanting to know EXACTLY
 what you are giving to and WHY!

The donation links were down for a few days but they are back up and you can always email me at gretchenechols@gmail.com or facebook me

Thank you again!

And here's your donation link!