Suzanne Hannau

Every child is naturally musical

Did you know that 80% of children who begin piano quit within the first 2 years?

We expect our children to learn like we do - to sit still for 30 minutes during a lesson and wrestle with abstract concepts for “x” minutes each day - and we expect them to enjoy it. While our hearts are in the right place, we’re often missing a crucial element to how children learn best.

Children need to learn through experience. Musikgarten is a Montessori-based approach to early childhood music education. Group classes are designed to meet each child where they are developmentally and build music fundamentals through games and songs using percussion instruments. The curriculum is divided up into loose age groups, but classes are determined based on developmental benchmarks.

I have had the pleasure of being Musikgarten Licensed and Certified for all classes since 2016 and have taught it both locally and internationally, most memorably here in Chicago at RefugeeOne, in Thigio, Kenya and in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.

I am currently teaching Musikgarten at The Music Institute of Chicago; class times and locations vary. Classes are 45 minutes in length and classes during the school year run 15 weeks. Click here to learn more.

I am also willing to travel for one-time classes, such as birthday parties or family gatherings. Contact me at shannau@musicinst.org to learn more.

Family Music for Babies (Birth-18 Months)

Bounce, wiggle, sing, and play with your baby to build foundational skills. Musical activities games develop body and spatial awareness, listening and motor skills, and deepen a love for music. Class materials include an instrument bag with rhythm sticks, rattles, scarves, as well as a CD with recordings of the songs and activities so you can keep fostering a love for music at home during the week. An adult must accompany each child to class.

Family Music for Toddlers (16 months - 3 years)

Now that our little ones are up, moving, and experiencing life in a new way, it’s time to adapt how we’re teaching them! Songs and games include much more movement, from walking/dancing/tip-toeing games and sung games of cat and mouse to beat/rhythm songs and chants with jingle bells and drums. We continue developing an inner musical sensibility using common rhythmic and tonal patterns, eventually adding language (i.e.; solfege, Ed Gordon Rhythm Language) to each. Class materials include a CD with recordings of the songs and activities as well as a beautiful songbook you can us to keep fostering a love for music at home during the week. An adult must accompany each child to class.

The Cycle of Seasons (ages 3-5 years)

Our children are becoming little humans in a very real way. Classes encourage imagination, affirm new ideas and improvisation, and explore the world around us through nature sounds and songs. Games include even more movement, adding abstract concepts such as weight, speed, and intention, but also include quiet listening games to develop aural skills. We take the language we’ve established to our duple/triple rhythmic patterns and to our major/minor tonal patterns and use them to play songs on xylophones. Class materials include 2 CDs with recordings of the songs and activities as well as colorful pictures and game pieces we use to identify the sounds we hear in class. An adult must accompany each child to class.

Pre-PIano I: Music Makers At home in the world (ages 4-6 years)

Pre-Piano II: Music Makers Around the World (ages 5-7 years)

Now that we’ve established a firm aural and kinesthetic understanding of our rhythmic and tonal patterns, we finally begin reading music. Classes encourage imagination, affirm new ideas and improvisation, and explore the world around us through more nature sounds and songs. Games include even more movement, but true to the Montessori style also involve sitting still and making space and time for quiet learning. And of course, we begin exploring the piano. Class materials include 4 CDs with recordings of the songs and activities as well as the colorful pictures and game pieces we use to develop musical literacy. Adults join the class activities for the last 15 minutes.

Piano Partners I (6-8 years old)

Piano Partners II (6-8 years old)

And now we take everything we’ve learned over the last 6-8 years and apply it to piano. Songs we’ve been singing and playing games with become the first pieces we play on piano. Students learn how to play in “D Major” first so they are comfortable with the black keys on the piano right away. Since there has been an emphasis on understanding how music functions through solfege, we immediately begin studying transposition. Additionally, we use the same rhythmic and tonal patterns to create our own compositions on the piano. We finish the year with a recital. After both sessions of Piano Partners I send students to a new piano teacher to take their education to the next level.