Hello Big Bear Tidy-Oh

by Mandee Mostrom

“Time for music, tidy-oh, time for music tidy-ohhh. Hello Jaela, tidy-oh, hello Jaela, tidy-ohhh...” Almost five year old Jaela flashes a bashful smile as her tongue twirls around her mouth, loving and hating all the attention. "Jingle at the window, tidy-oh, jingle at the window, tidy-oh..."

Two of her peers, two moms, and Miss Leanne continue singing softly with kind eyes and warm smiles. Her tiny wooden mallet hangs in the air, patiently waiting for her delicate little fingers to let it dance up and down the glockenspiel once more.

My daughter’s Music Rhapsody class sings the same “Hello Tidy-Oh” welcome song every week, and every week (thus far), she responds with the same adorable, bashful smile. And each time, I can’t help but look at her rosy little cheeks and grin, soaking up the innocent, pure joy of the moment.

When we first started, Jaela didn’t participate a whole lot. She is a bit of an introvert, so she preferred to quietly observe during most of the half hour lesson. On the way to lessons those first few weeks, Jaela tried talking through her dichotomous emotional state leading up to class. She’d tell me how much she liked music class, but that she still felt scared right before it started. We tried to discuss the differences and similarities between fear and nervousness during our short commute, or we brainstormed the things we loved about our new class, like having her very own backpack filled with brand new musical instruments, seeing her new friends, using the parachute, and singing about Big Bear while using Miss LeAnn’s big drum. “Oh! And Miss LeAnn is really really nice! She even let me get a sticker AND a stamp last time!” Another perk!

It never took long for us to steer the conversation from one of anxious fear to one of eager anticipation. Deep down, Jaela knew she looked forward to joining her fellow preschoolers in our early childhood music class. Nonetheless, her fears were real. However, they actually turned out to be really good for her. She was experiencing something we’ve all been through- that tiny bit of anxiety that tags along on any new endeavor outside of our comfort zones.

Now I’ll be honest… Our conversations weren’t always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes I spent our car ride lecturing her about the importance of participating in class. I often wondered how much learning she missed out on when she refused to participate. Plus, I didn’t love being the mom of the kid who refused to play along with the others. Thankfully, my misgivings about her lack of participation were swiftly abated one day as we were packing up to leave. Another mom mentioned her child’s lack of participation that day, and Miss LeAnn informed us that it was very common with kids that age. She graciously taught us a bit about the young child’s brain development and how much those neurons were firing and making connections, even when we least expected it. Within a few short weeks, her little four year old brain had already made all kinds of new connections as she jumped onto a new path of social, academic, and neurological growth. And before long, those anxious car rides were quickly replaced by a sense of peace, joy, and belonging- for both of us.

Let’s fast forward a few months back to today. Like I said, her anxiety before class is a thing of the past. Now she’s racing past me to be the first one in the studio. Throughout the week, she’s playing with her “bag of music” in new ways, identifying the instruments in the songs we listen to at home, and even correcting me on the differences between musical terms like adagio and allegro. Needless to say, Wednesday morning Music Rhapsody class is now the highlight of our week. My husband and I have even made plans to get her 18 month old brother into a class with kids closer to his age too.

This is only the beginning of my family’s musical journey, and I can’t wait to see where the next few years take us. With that being said, I understand that every child and every family is different. Maybe your child is already involved in Music Rhapsody, and your experience has been completely different than ours. If so, I’d love to hear more about what you and your child have learned as you’ve begun music lessons together!

In the meantime, I’d like to end this post with a paragraph I read in an amazing book called Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. The book takes a deep dive into the correlation between music and the brain. I highly recommend it to my fellow non-fiction literature fans out there. Here’s what Sacks has to say about early childhood music lessons:

“…The implication of all this for early education is clear. Although a teaspoon of Mozart may not make a child a better mathematician, there is little doubt that regular exposure to music, and especially active participation in music, may stimulate development of many different areas of the brain- areas which have to work together to listen to or perform music. For the vast majority of students, music can be every bit as important educationally as reading or writing.”

If either Jaela’s story or those bombs of knowledge dropped by Miss LeAnn and Oliver Sacks have peaked your interest, you may be interested in trying out Music Rhapsody with your zero to five year old. If that’s you, be sure to check out our website for more information. When you’re scrolling through the page on Early Childhood Classes, you’ll see a big purple button that says “Try it! Your first month is only $25!” I sincerely hope you will be able to try out a month of Music Rhapsody and see if it is right for your family. Take the time to get to know Miss LeAnn and talk to other parents in similar phases of life. If you decide to sign up long term, my hope is that you and your child will get to feel the same sense of peace, joy, and belonging that Jaela and I get to experience together week after week.