 New Haven Day School is pleased to offer the First Steps in Music program for all early childhood through Kindergarten classes. The First Steps curriculum is based upon research which shows that from birth, all young children possess the potential to become musical adults. Just as with language development, children are most receptive to musical development in the early childhood years. The goals of the First Steps program are that children will be able to “think tunes, feel rhythms, and respond expressively to music.” Most importantly, children who are exposed to the right kinds of musical experiences during the early childhood years often develop a very intuitive feel for music that can’t be taught at an older age.
How do we achieve that goal? In the way young children learn best, through play! Classes are structured around musical games and activities that help students develop a strong sense of beat. Songs are sung that encourage in-tune singing, not just singing the right words. And children move to recorded music that is played on real instruments, never synthesized.
The First Steps in Music program is taught at NHDS by Jan Davis, who has taught early childhood music since 1996. Jan has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Fort Hays State University in Hays, KS, and a Graduate certificate in Kodaly Music Education from Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, WI. She studied the First Steps in Music curriculum there with creator Dr. John Feierabend. She has been a presenter on early childhood music and movement at many venues, including the Friends of Early Education conference, and has also taught classes for at-risk expectant mothers using prenatal music to create an early bond . She is certified by the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association, and is state-certified to teach K-12 general and instrumental music.
Jan is very active in the music ministry at New Haven United Methodist, where her husband Shannon is the Senior Minister. She has three children: Jacob, a third grader at Carnegie; Solomon, a pre-K student at NHDS; and Eli, who was born in April of 2004.
Jan is the handbell instructor at ORU and plays with the Tulsa Festival Ringers. She is also an active handbell soloist.
2 Star Program
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