“If music be the food of love, play on,” quipped William Shakespeare.
Babies love music. No one appreciates this more than Susan Appe who has been leading the five-week music class at Natural Resources.
Appe plays guitar and drum, and she brings a panoply of musical instruments that babies can play and explore (and gum and chew and drool all over). Class starts with a hello song that greets each baby. Sing-along follows, and each week the song set varies. The music hails from many cultures and introduces babies to different beats, rhythms and melodies. The best part is Appe’s vibrant voice leading the songs. Although none of the pre-walking babies sing, the parents always do. It’s uplifting to participate.
The classes are held weekly in a 5-week series. During the summer the classes are on Fridays, and the next series starts on July 16. Thereafter, classes will be on Wednesdays. There are 2 sessions, one for toddlers and another for pre-walkers. Parents and caregivers can sign up for class online or by calling Natural Resources at 415.550.2611.
When asked what is Appe's music philosophy, specifically compels her teaching, she answered, “The most important thing to bring to the babies and toddlers in music class is a wide, wonderful range of songs, all with different melodies, rhythms, time signatures, scales, tempos, forms and origins, because the current group of songs most American families know are all in the same major scale and sound very similar. Imagine having your child grow up and be able to connect to the basic rhythmic and melodic ideas of any music they hear, and be able to play along! There is an amazing thing about the parents' singing voice as well, it lowers the babies' stress hormone and helps them digest and sleep, so the songs I bring to class can be taken home and sung all week to help you and the little ones through your day.”
The passion Appe infuses into her music is contagious. Of her love of teaching music, she said, “I love both watching them (babies) explore an instrument for the first time and later when they learn what fabulous instrument is inside the next box I'm about to open and they get so excited. It is amazing to see the impact the rhythms and songs have on them as well, it's such a deep, non-self-conscious response; music is just so powerful.”
Friday was the last class of this series for my baby and me, but it won’t be our last. After all, as T. S. Eliot said, “you are the music while the music lasts.”
For more information, contact:
Susan Appe web.mac.com/susanappe
Tel: 415.216.5792
Email: susanappe@hotmail.com
Natural Resources www.naturalresources-sf.com
1367 Valencia St. (at 25th St.)
San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: 415.550.2611
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