(6 months-4 years)
Join us in a 35-minute class that will bring the joy of music and movement to you and your young child, aged birth to 4 years! Learn to play musically with your child through singing, dancing, focused listening, and exploring and playing instruments. Our class environment promotes the development of each child's music aptitude and skills, as well as attention, impulse control and language skills. This class is perfect for families with multiple children!
Monday, 9:30-10:05 a.m.
Monday, 10:15-10:50 a.m.
Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.-10:05 a.m.
Tuesday, 10:15-10:50 a.m.
Wednesday, 10:00-10:35 a.m.
Wednesday, 6:05-6:40 p.m.
Friday, 9:30-10:05 a.m.
Friday, 10:15-10:50 a.m.
$225 total includes all classes for child plus caregiver.
Please note: Caregiver attends class with child.
Fall Classes & Descriptions
12 Week Session, beginning the week of September 16-December 20, 2024
Music for Babies and Toddlers
Music for Preschoolers
(3.5-4.5 years)
This weekly forty-five minute class connects the child's world with the natural world, while nurturing the emerging independence of three- and four year-olds. Activities include singing, stories and rhymes, listening games, playing instruments, patterns to echo, and movement games, all of which promote musical development while satisfying the child's need to learn in a creative, holistic environment.
Monday, 3:00-3:45 p.m.
Thursday, 3:30-4:15 p.m.
Please note: Caregiver attends class with child. Registration for semester includes 12 weekly class sessions.
$250 total includes all classes for child plus caregiver.
Music for Pre-k
(4.5-5.5 years)
Join us for exciting musical adventures inspired by natural habitat themes! Our engaging 55-minute pre-piano class nurtures music concept development through singing, playing melody/rhythm patterns, movement activities, listening games, and exploration of instrument families. Music skills developed through carefully planned sequences include pitch matching, rhythm competency, building instrumental ensembles, and interpreting musical notation. These skills establish a strong foundation for beginning piano study in a few years!
Caregivers and family members are invited to join the last 10 minutes of class.
Wednesday, 2:45-3:40
$275 total includes 12-week session and class materials.
Kindergarten Around the world
(5.5-7 years)
Come celebrate the music of cultures around the world! Our Around the World 1 class for 5.5- to 7-year-olds is a perfect follow-up to our Pre-K Course, but we also welcome new students to join the fun and learning.
In this 60-minute class, children explore the music, dances, and stories of different cultures. The key music ingredients are singing, listening, playing instruments, movement, tonal and rhythm patterns, as well as chording and ensemble work. By echoing and playing patterns, the children will build a vocabulary of musical phrases which they can recognize aurally and visually, leading to an understanding of musical notation. Culminating celebrations of each culture, through music, foods, and participation in special traditions, are highlights for the children!
Caregivers and family members are invited to join the last 15 minutes of class.
This level of classes are an excellent preparation for studying piano in Piano 1 next year. If your child has completed this course but doesn’t fit the age requirements for Piano 1 (6.5 year minimum), check out our new class offering of Around the World 2 below!
Wednesday, 5:00-6:00
$275 includes 12 classes and materials for session.
Around the World 2
(6+ years)
This is a new class being added to our curriculum this semester! In Around the World 2, we are adding one extra step before entering the Piano Room for children completely new to Maria Miller Studio, or those who are just shy of the age minimum for Piano 1 in the Fall. This course will include many of the elements included in Kindergartners Around the World, but will also involve some time at the piano, helping your child build even more confidence and knowledge before beginning their journey in our piano program.
Tuesday, 5:40-6:40
Classes are 60 minutes, with caregivers invited to join the last 15 minutes of class. $285 includes materials for semester, and 12 class sessions.
Piano Programs
Piano:
Year 1
(Minimum age of 6.5)
Registration Opens June 25th
The required age of 6.5 years is to ensure the class is developmentally appropriate for your child, setting them up for success and confidence in the program. If your child doesn’t meet the minimum age requirement, or is brand new to music, check out our class offerings of Kindergarten Around the World and Around the World 2.
This level extends our pathway to music literacy and skills by learning to play the piano. Our Piano Year 1 program teaches the children to play the songs they've been hearing, singing, moving to, and enjoying in earlier years.
Progressing on from Around the World, this sixty-minute class follows a sequential, broad-based approach to building piano skills, including the ability to improvise, transpose, compose, play by ear, and to understand musical notation. Parents participate in the final fifteen minutes of class, but are also encouraged to attend the entire class as much as possible. Success in this remarkable program depends upon the support of an adult committed to working with the child during the first year.
Monday, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 3:15-4:15 p.m.
Thursday, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Please note: This program continues throughout the school year, with another fee of $300 required upon Winter/Spring Semester. Each semester, children will receive two music books for playing pieces, aural perception training, reading and writing, and theory work. Materials also include four recordings (CD plus digital download for each), rhythm, melody and harmony notation/reading games.
Piano: Year 2
(Graduate of Piano 1)
This is a 26-week course, from mid September-end of April.
Musikgarten children come to the piano ready to play the songs they have learned to sing, dance, and love. Small group lessons capitalize on the fun of making music with others, motivating children to learn, almost effortlessly, to play familiar songs and joyfully perform them for others!
Piano: Year 2 is a 60-minute session that places an increasing emphasis on music reading, while continuing to learn to play some tunes by ear. A piano repertoire of familiar songs, in addition to new, unfamiliar reading pieces, nurtures each child’s ability to sight-read, memorize, and play with fluency. Through our classes, students develop understanding, musicality and confidence. Comprehensive learning sequences include notation games, repertoire pieces, sight-reading pieces, study of composers and styles of music, opportunities for composing and improvising, and more. Our broad-based approach creates excitement for playing and continuing music making long after the lessons stop! Caregivers and family members are invited to join us the final 15 minutes of class.
Tuesday, 4:30-5:30
Wednesday, 3:45-4:45
Thursday, 5:10-6:10
Thursday, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
$315 per semester
Please note: This program continues throughout the school year, with another fee of $315 required upon Winter/Spring Semester. Registration includes 26-week session where children will receive two music books for playing pieces, aural perception training, reading and writing, and theory work. Materials also include four recordings (CD plus digital download for each), rhythm, melody and harmony notation/reading games.
Piano: Year 3
(Graduates of Piano 2)
This is a 26-week course, from mid September-end of April.
In many ways, Piano: Year 3 is the most fun of all! Along with continuing the tracks of reading, playing by ear, improvising and composing, the students now move into new levels of music skill and knowledge. In this 65-minute class, students read and play ensemble music, drum to complex rhythm scores, write compositions, and perform piano music written by famous composers, from Haydn to Kabalevsky, to name a few.
Graduates of this program have strong musical memory, along with confidence and understanding that comes from enjoying and performing music in a group setting. They easily move on to private instrumental study in the future, and also are excellent singers, able to match pitch and sight sing new melodies! Caregivers and family members are invited to join the last 15 minutes of class.
Monday, 5:05-6:05 p.m.
Total of $325 per semester, includes 26 class session, music materials, and a CD recording/download.
Please note: This program continues throughout the school year, with another fee of $325 required upon Winter/Spring Semester.