Musical Minds Master Mind Course
for Teachers and Parents Registration open!
What is Musical Minds?
Welcome! My name is Alison Maerker Garner, and I’m the creator of Musical Minds. The Musical Minds Master Mind Course for Teachers and Parents combines my Introductory Self-Study “Igniting the Sparkl” Course with five live zoom meetings once a week so that we can engage more deeply in what this amazing approach has to offer you including SPACE—the psychology of music teaching, SPARKL—the philosophy, brain science, aesthetics and child development that is the foundation of music teaching, and FLOW—the curriculum based on transformative learning that uses all of the creative arts to teach instrumental music.
This approach began as a desire to find the most joyous and inspiring way to teach music to children in today’s busy world. Grounded in Suzuki philosophy, Musical Minds’ wholistic approach integrates all the ways of experiencing music to instrumental learning on the violin, viola, cello or piano. It begins where the sensory-perceptive young child is, building his/her musical understanding through movement, listening, visual art, texture and language. Sparking the imagination, children engage their entire being into what interests them; the direction of exploration and investigation is instigated by the child, guided by the teacher, and supported by the parent. No more fights over practice! Children, as stewards of their own learning, discover what excites them, bringing that playful interest and wonder to the instrument. Material learned away from the instrument in the form of songs, stories, chants, movement games, and instrumental play transfers to the understanding of melody, rhythm, tone, and skill on the instrument with ease. Improvisational games, props and manipulatives are just a few of the ways children obtain a deep understanding of concepts and aesthetic sensibility from the beginning establishing their music education as something they choose to do on their own volition. It is with great joy and gratitude I can share this with you!
What People are Saying About the Musical Minds Introductory Course for Teachers and Parents
I have read countless books on teaching artistry and attempted to better myself as a player and artist by taking extra lessons and doing much observation. Still, there was no single volume, approach, or cohesive presentation of material in one place that addresses the development of the complete musical artist in the comprehensive way that Musical Minds does. Here you will find the relationship to gesture and movement, poetry and rhyme, art and architecture, and musical context that is sorely lacking in our field. What Alison has done with this work is to distill the best of her extensive educational background and experience, along with her vast curiosity and scholarship, into useable and practical help for teachers and parents alike, in an appealing and accessible way. It is a great gift to all of us who care about our children’s creative development, not just as instrumentalists, but as human beings who value all the arts, and who may then develop their own creative voices as human beings not only in music, but in all their future endeavors. ~Alicia Randisi-Hooker, cellist and teacher
