Condobolin Preschool and Childcare Centre is discovering the joy of music.
Gail Smith from Musica Arioso, will be attending the Centre every Tuesday over an eight-week period to deliver a specifically designed musical program to the Possums, Wombats, Emus and Bilbies.
Musica Arioso was formed in 2016 by Ms Smith, who had been teaching music part-time for 25 years. Gail decided to pursue a full-time career in teaching music by offering not only private individual and group tuition but also developing programs for Early Childhood Centres, schools, and other community groups.
According to www.musicaarioso.com.au over the next few years, the organisation became a flourishing business aimed at supporting and encouraging creative expression in a variety of forms.
“In 2019 the creative scope of the business was broadened when Lisa Ramsay joined the team, offering drama programs in Parkes and Forbes,” the website said.
“In 2020 an additional music teacher, Leonie Patterson, came on board, which enabled more private students to access a range of music tuition. Then in term 4 of 2021 saw Jed join the studio as a teacher in training.”
While based in Parkes, the Musica Arioso team travel to locations throughout the central west, such as Condobolin, to deliver their programs.
“It is easy to observe the positive impacts that music has for young children. From birth the brain is wired to respond to both melody and beat. Even the youngest children will bounce, sway or move their hands to music. It is this interaction with music in young people that allows for their creative and emotional outlets and expression to develop,” www.musicaarioso.com.au said.
“We have observed, and research shows, that toddlers love to move and dance to music and respond positively to repetitious songs. These silly songs provide endless enjoyment; and from an educational perspective, this repetition encourages language development and memorisation.”
Musica Arioso’s aim is to motivate and inspire creative learning and expression in people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds, through the provision of flexible performance and creative arts programs.
“They say that life is a journey,” Ms Smith explains on www.musicaarioso.com.au
“My musical journey began at the tender age of eight with piano lessons, followed by singing lessons at the age of 12 and guitar lessons at 16. I continued to practise music whilst pursuing a banking career in Sydney. When I returned to my hometown of Parkes in 1990, I started teaching music part-time whilst starting and raising a family of three children. I have held many day jobs over the years while continuing to teach.
“In 2016 Musica Arioso was born with the aim of bringing music and the arts to anyone and everyone. I am loving this journey I am on. There is no greater joy than helping every student learn to express themselves in a unique and special way.”
While having the foundations of guitar, piano and singing knowledge and skills, Ms Smith has continued to develop her musical knowledge over the years by studying Ukulele, Recorder, African drumming, Percussion, Sound Therapy, Music for Children with Special Needs, Early Childhood Music, and Level 1 ORFF teacher training accreditation.
“Most notably, the ORFF training has given me concrete and recognised tools for understanding the elements of music through movement, singing, playing and improvisation. It has specific strategies that suits students with different learning methods, as well as a practical approach to learning musical elements. This experience has enriched the learning experiences for both myself and my students, proving invaluable to my day-to-day teaching practice,” she said on www.musicaarioso.com.au
“I love bringing not just my past experiences but also the new ones I am learning along the way to you and your children.”