Mimi's Playtime

Music Monday Episode 12: Let's Learn About FERMATA In this episode, we explore the concept of FERMATA (which is a pause on a note or rest for an unspecified time.) To help children better understand this concept we focus on a fermata over notes only. Mimi sings a song to the children about fermata while demonstrating what a fermata sounds like. We then play a game using the familiar song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to help the children further consolidate their understanding. While Mimi sings with the children, Gabi holds up a fermata sign indicating that they must hold a note until she lowers the sign! Lastly, Gabi and the children do a movement game to direct Mimi to hold a fermata until they tell her to stop singing by slapping their hips! Things you can do at home to familiarize your child with the concept of FERMATA: 1.Sing a familiar song and experiment holding notes longer than usual in different parts of the song. 2.You could also play games similar to the ones we play in this episode. Have one person sing while the other person randomly holds up a sign ( or makes a sign with their body like one we did by circling the arms then slapping the hips) to indicate when the person singing needs to hold a note. Take turns! Don't worry if your child doesn't execute this exercise perfectly. The point is to expose them to a variety of good music, familiarize them with the element of fermata in music, and to find joy in the musical process! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos! If you would like to subscribe please click this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/mimisplaytime

Music Monday Episode 11: Let's Learn About the Waltz (3/4 Time) In this episode, we talk about the ¾ time signature or meter. The ¾ time signature tells us there are 3 crochets (or quarter notes) to every bar or measure of music. The concept of meter is very instinctual and young children don’t have to be able to explain it academically in order to recognize it and respond to it. In this episode, we use the Waltz to teach the concept of a ¾ meter. We listen to Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz to familiarize the kids with the unique cadence of the waltz and then clap the ¾ time of a waltz emphasizing the first beat of each measure. We then teach the children the basic steps of the waltz, then finish up by inviting them to do some dance improvisation to the Sleeping Beauty Waltz. Things you can do at home to familiarize your child with the concept of ¾ Meter of the Waltz. 1. Listen to Waltz music-- there are so many beautiful pieces to choose from! I love Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker Suite, also his Sleeping Beauty Waltz which is one of his more famous pieces thanks to Disney! I also love the Swan Lake Waltz by the same composer! Johann Strauss also has some beautiful waltzes that you might enjoy! 2. Beautiful music can be so inspiring and moving. I always loved to watch my children react to different kinds of music. Put the music on and see how they react and move to it. It’s also fun to join in the improvisation too and see how they react to your interpretation of the music! 3. Watching dancers do the waltz is also fun. Maybe find a video of ballroom dancers dancing to the waltz and try to imitate them! Don't worry if your child doesn't execute this exercise perfectly. The point is to expose them to a variety of good music, familiarize them to the element of tempo in music and to find joy in the musical process! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos! If you would like to subscribe please click this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/mimisplaytime

Music Monday Episode 10: Let's Learn About Meter (4/4 Time) In this episode, we talk about the 4/4 time signature, the most commonly used meter in music. In fact, 4/4 time is often notated as C on the staff which stands for Common Time! The 4/4 time signature tells us there are 4 crochets (or quarter notes) to every bar or measure of music. The concept of meter is very instinctual and young children don’t have to be able to explain it academically in order to recognize it and respond to it. In this episode, we use the idea of marching to consolidate the concept of a regular 4/4 meter. We listen to Johann Strass’s Radetsky March to get the kids familiar with the 4/4 meter and then we sing a song about counting a 4/4 time. We also have the kids imagine they are in a marching band and have them play and march along in time to the Radetzky March! Things you can do at home to familiarize your child with the concept of 4/4 Meter. 1. Listen to Music with a definite March beat. Radetsky March by Strauss is great! He has a number of other waltzes you can listen to as well including the Russian Waltz and the Spanish Waltz. I personally love the March of the Tin Soldiers by Tchaikovsky but I don’t think it’s as obvious as the others I’ve mentioned! 2. Have your kids march in time to the music as they count 1,2,3,4! You could even have them pretend to play an instrument in a band like we did in this epis 3. 3. If you have percussion instruments at home you could have them shake, tap, or beat the instrument in time to a piece of music with a 4/4 time signature! Don't worry if your child doesn't execute this exercise perfectly. The point is to expose them to a variety of good music, familiarize them with the element of meter in music, and to find joy in the musical process! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos! If you would like to subscribe please click this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/mimisplaytime

Music Monday Episode 9: Let's Learn About Tempo 2 In this episode, we talk about tempo, a general term that refers to the speed at which a piece of music is played. There are many specific terms in music used to describe the specific pace at which the piece of music should be played. In this episode, however, we focus on tempo in terms of speeding it up or slowing it down. These terms are accelerando ( meaning to gradually speed up the tempo) and ritardando (meaning to gradually slow down the tempo) To teach the children about these terms, we do a listening exercise to identify when a piece of music speeds up and slows down. We also sing 'The Running Song" which we sing and move to in accelerando or ritardando to help the children further solidify these concepts. Things you can do at home to familiarize your child with the concepts ritardando and accelerando: 1. Using a song that your child loves. Sing along together at a normal (andante) pace. Then choose either the term ritardando or accelerando and sing the song starting off fast then slowing down or starting off slowly and gradually getting faster. 2. You could play Rhapsody in Blue by George Gerswhin (the piece that we play in our video) and ask your child to identify at which points the music slows down and speeds up. Because this is a very long piece you might want to fast forward to the last 1 or 2 minutes of the song where there is at least one example of both accelerando and ritardando. 3. Interpreting music through movement and dance is another great way to help children understand musical concepts. You could sing our " The Running Song" and have your child start running slowly then speed up and then do the reverse! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos! If you would like to subscribe please click this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/mimisplaytime

In Episode 8, we talk about tempo, a general term that refers to the speed at which a piece of music is played. There are many specific terms in music used to describe the specific pace at which the piece of music should be played. In this episode, however, we focus on only two tempos (namely adagio and allegro) to simply the concept for children. We employ the help of our friends Allegro Hare and Adagio Tortoise to teach this concept. We also use our ears in a listening exercise then encourage the children to sing and dance as we play a game that helps to consolidate their understanding of tempo. Things you can do at home to familiarize your child with the concept of tempo: 1. Using a song that your child loves. Sing along together at a normal (andante) pace. Then choose either the term Adagio or Allegro and sing the song either slowly or fast and then vice versa. 2. You could play two contrasting pieces of music (one fast and one slow) and ask your child to identify whether it's Allegro or Adagio. We used Beethoven's Symphony No.7 in A major, Op.92 (played Allegro con brio meaning fast with spirit!) For the contrasting adagio piece, we used Brahm's "Wiegenlied" ("Lullaby"; "Cradle Song"), Op. 49, No. 4 3. Interpreting music through movement and dance is another great way to help children understand musical concepts. You can play two contrasting pieces of music and ask your child to move to them. See how they interpret the slow tempo compared to the fast tempo and ask them why they moved the way they did. Don't worry if your child doesn't execute this exercise perfectly. The point is to expose them to a variety of good music, familiarize them with the element of tempo in music, and to find joy in the musical process! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching!

Welcome to Music Monday Episode 7! The seventh in our first music and movement series for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Each episode presents short and engaging music activities that focus on the joy of the musical process while presenting music theory concepts. These mini-episodes teach these concepts through song, play, and movement. Beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we teach the musical concepts of crescendo and decrescendo To demonstrate, Mimi plays a couple of classical pieces for the children to listen to and identify crescendo and decrescendo. Once the children have a better idea of what crescendo and decrescendo sound like in music, Mimi plays "The Grand Old Duke of York" for the kids while singing with a crescendo and decrescendo. Lastly, they play a listening game to see how well the children can identify crescendo and decrescendo. Children develop listening and critical thinking skills as they sing and move along with Mimi and Gabi! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos!

Welcome to Music Monday Episode 6! The sixth in our music and movement series for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Each episode presents short and engaging music activities that focus on the joy of the musical process while presenting music theory concepts. These mini-episodes teach these concepts through song, play, and movement. Beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we teach the musical concept of rests, etc. To demonstrate, Mimi sings a song that illustrates this concept using little sheep that represent different rest values. Once the children have grasped the concept of rests in music Mimi sings Baa Baa Black Sheep while Gabi tests the knowledge of rests through playing a game in which the singers need to keep quiet for a certain number of counts. We only used three rest values in this episode: a whole rest (semibreve rest), a half rest, (minim) and a quarter rest (crotchet). The whole point of this lesson is to familiarize children with the concept of silence for a certain amount of time during a piece of music as indicated by the symbol presented. Children develop listening and critical thinking skills as they sing and count along with Mimi and Gabi! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos!

Welcome to Music Monday Episode 3! The third in a series of short engaging episodes that teach music movement and theory to preschoolers! (2-5 years) Each mini-episode will focus on a musical concept taught through song, play, and movement. Concepts such as beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we teach the musical concepts of treble and bass clef. To demonstrate, Mimi sings Hey Diddle Diddle while playing it in either the Bass or Treble Clef. Next, she invites the children to join her in a game that will have them listening and identifying whether she is playing in the bass clef or the treble clef. Gabi helps the children along by stretching up high to indicate high notes and crouching low to indicate low notes. Lastly, Mimi plays again, but this time the children have to guess on their own. Afterward, Gabi shows them if they were right. Children develop listening and gross motor skills as they dance and sing along with Mimi and Gabi! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos!

Welcome to Music Monday Episode 5! The fifth in a series of short engaging episodes that teach music movement and theory to preschoolers! (2-5 years) Each mini-episode will focus on a musical concept taught through song, play, and movement. Concepts such as beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we talk about rhythm, a term that is often used interchangeably with beat. The basic definition of beat or rhythm according to the Encyclopedia Britannica is " the placement of sounds in time." However the definition of rhythm is often associated with elements of beat such as accent, meter and tempo and for this reason, there has been some disagreement in the music world about its definition. For the purpose of teaching these elements of accent, meter and tempo to children without making it too complicated, I am using the word rhythm. In this episode, we listen to and demonstrate the Cha Cha rhythm and invite the children to clap and dance along to its unique pattern within a 4/4 time signature. We also make up our own rhythm pattern to a 4/4 time signature for the children to clap and tap along to. Children develop listening and gross motor skills as they dance and sing along with Mimi and Gabi! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe for more videos! If you would like to subscribe please click this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/mimisplaytime

Welcome to Music Monday Episode 4! The second in a series of short engaging episodes that teach music movement and theory to preschoolers! (2-5 years) Each mini-episode will focus on a musical concept taught through song, play, and movement. Concepts such as beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we teach the musical concepts of piano and forte etc. To demonstrate, Mimi sings a song in three distinct volumes corresponding with their musical name and symbol. Once the children have an idea of what these volume names and symbols represent, Mimi and Gabi play a listening game to help the children identify the specific volume in different pieces of music. Children develop listening and gross motor skills as they dance and sing along with Mimi and Gabi! Listen to our🎵ORIGINAL MUSIC🎵: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B087TJWKS8/mimi's-playtime Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mimis-playtime/1510670332 Deezer Music: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/93008642 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/65VjbSqo9IscvlR4K8Wvah YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCvzg6KHkjBl9KU_qnxp5W2Q Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti... To find our learning resources go to: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S... and click here for a FREE download of our If a Kangaroo Can Jump Coloring Lyric Book: https://www.https://www.teacherspayte... Thanks for watching!

Welcome to Music Monday Episode 2! The second in a series of short engaging episodes that teach music movement and theory to preschoolers! (2-5 years) Each mini-episode will focus on a musical concept taught through song, play, and movement. Concepts such as beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we teach the musical concepts of legato and staccato. To demonstrate, Mimi sings Humpty Dumpty in two distinct ways (staccato and legato). Next, she invites the children to join her in a game that will have them singing the song in either staccato or legato. Lastly, Gabi leads the children in a fun movement game where they get to improvise the concepts through movement. Children develop listening and gross motor skills as they dance and sing along with Mimi and Gabi!

Welcome to our first Music Monday episode! This is the first in a series of short engaging episodes that teach music movement and theory to preschoolers! (2-5 years) Each mini-episode will focus on a musical concept taught through song, play and movement. Concepts such as beat, rhythm, staccato, legato, piano, forte as well as listening and improvising skills are some of the fun musical concepts that will be presented. In this episode, we focus on recognizing the beat of a piece of music. Using a familiar nursery rhyme, Mimi sings while Gabi taps out the beat of the song. Children are invited to sing and clap or tap along. Once they have an idea of the beat, we invite the children to move their bodies to simple 4/4 time. Children develop listening and gross motor skills as they dance and sing along with Mimi and Gabi to the beat of the music!

What is Mimi's Playtime? Mimi's Playtime is a children's "edutainment" project designed to instill the love of learning in children by nurturing their natural curiosity. Mimi explains how this is done and how learning together can be a way to connect parent and child. We want to provide the best quality children's edutainment possible and welcome your feedback to help us do this. We would love you to join us on this journey by subscribing to our channel and following us on Facebook and Instagram. We thank you for your support which helps us to continue to provide quality children's edutainment. Find us on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimis.playt... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimis.playti... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mimisplayti...