Hello and welcome, new friends, and old! Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my new project. As a musician, a Montessori child, and a Montessori educator, I feel a huge gap in the resources available for child centred music education resources that are both accessible and easily digestible.
One of the cornerstones of the Montessori pedagogy is the idea of the child's independence, and as adults we work to create environments that foster this independence. I think this is one of the most beautiful things about the philosophy, as it allows the children to really take ownership for their own development. We prepare the environment, model the behaviours and then step back to let the magic happen. My most envied trait of childhood is the willingness each child has to try something, knowing fully that they may not succeed the first time. We see this time and time again in all walks of life and marvel at the elasticity of their will to get up, dust themselves off, and start again. As adults, we forget this willingness and can find it intimidating to begin something that we don't already have all the tools to achieve.
Participating in music making can bring every one of us immeasurable joy, if we feel prepared enough to take the plunge. And, its with great pleasure that I tell you that what lies beneath the surface is something beautiful, with variety, laughter, and room for everyone. This project is a love letter of sorts to my Montessori community--I can't describe how much I owe to the experiences I have had in Montessori classrooms, and the opportunities that I have been lucky to have because of them. It is my hope that through my knowledge and experience I can help you prepare your own musical environment, and help you to do it by yourself.