Beginnings Students and Parents Discover Music Education Through “Informances”

At the Preschool and Prekindergarten informances, students join their parents in the Lower School Music Room for a fun-filled session of shared rhythm and song.

LS Music Teacher Joanna Stamper introduced the informances three years ago, and they have since become key events in the Beginnings arts curriculum.

“It gives children and their grownup an opportunity to make music together and have a bonding experience,” Ms. Stamper says. “This felt like a developmentally appropriate way; it was not the stress of standing on stage but it gave grownups an opportunity to see what they were learning and get a glimpse into how the process works.”

The activity and song selections for each Informance showcase a variety of musical styles. For example, a recent Prekindergarten informance had students creating sound effects on instruments as Ms. Stamper read a storybook. One Preschool Informance added crafts into the mix as students arranged pieces on a paper snowman and then sang about their creation.

“I always try to show a variety of what’s happening,” Ms. Stamper says. “We keep the traditions like the opening and closing songs. There’ll always be something that’s a chant versus singing. Then there’s an element where we get up and move our bodies. So it’s trying to have different meters and different tonalities, so that their brains and their ears have a sonic vocabulary to draw from.”

Parents and students will have additional opportunities to gather when the next set of informances occurs in the spring.