What could 24,000 students, 800 teachers, three continents and 25 years be all about?
Music for Young Children (MYC), established in 1980 in Ontario, has arrived on the Coast. With the completion of level one training in Vancouver this past July, Roberts Creek resident Michele Satanove can count herself in among those 800 teachers, as she is now qualified to teach all the first-year MYC courses.
Satanove is an experienced musician, having been involved in music for over 20 years as a professional symphony bassist, piano teacher, music therapist and as Flossie the Clown.
"This program is awesome," Satanove says. "It encompasses everything I believe in as a musician and teacher, and it's fun. This is nothing like what many of my contemporaries and I experienced as children taking music lessons. I never dreamt that piano could be taught to such young children in so effective and entertaining a manner."
The carefully designed, age-appropriate classes involve puppets, visual aids, games, movement and songs. Satanove will be offering separate beginner classes for ages three to four, five to six and seven to nine. In the early levels, children become closely acquainted with a family of critters, including a dancing dinosaur and an anteater flying on an airplane. Turtles and rabbits help develop rhythm, and the children are provided with abundantly illustrated books to reinforce the classroom teaching. There are four to six children in a class, and parents are an integral part of the weekly hour-long lessons, building support both in the classroom and through the intervening week. The group format enhances the social and fun elements as everybody learns.For more information about MYC and to find out about classes, contact Satanove at 604-740-0423 or see www.myc.com.
