Lisa Craig Fenwick holds a bachelor's degree in music performance from Boston University's School for the Arts. She has worked as an adjunct professor of music at SUNY Cortland and has performed with many local groups including the Elmira Symphony.  Lisa has maintained a private flute and piano studio for over 20 years and has been on the faculty of the Community School of Music and Arts since 1989. She also teaches harp.  She has served as executive director for the Community School of Music and Arts and the Tioga County Council on the Arts.  Lisa is licensed in all Kindermusik levels and has taught Kindermusik for 13+ years.  She also plays Celtic and pedal harp and performs with Harps on the Susquehanna in the Binghamton area and harp and flute with the Enchantment harp and harp and flute duo.   Lisa is in the process of completing requirements for the national MHTP (Music Healing and Transition Program), where she is learning how to appropriately play music to help ease those in pain.  Lisa is available to play harp or flute for weddings and other special occasions.

Why I Teach Kindermusik

     Then I met a very warm and talented woman named Pamela Palmer who convinced me of the benefits of the program and together we launched Kindermusik at the school where I was the administrator. Because of Pamela's skillful and caring teaching, word of the program got around and it was a success. At about this time I gave birth to my first child and resigned my position to be home with him. I became so convinced of the benefits of this program that I trained to become a Kindermusik teacher myself. 

     I was delighted with what the program had to offer. I had been a music teacher (all ages and levels) for the past 18 years, and was well aware of other methods available. What I loved about the curriculum was that it was age-appropriate--and lots of fun! And then I began to teach it myself, and I was convinced. 

     The children's joy is contagious. Their boundless energy and enthusiasm in everything makes them a delight to teach. There are moments when just opening the basket containing the scarves brings squeals of delight. Bringing out the bells causes shrieks of excitement. You put on a listening example and 10 two-year-olds become so engaged that they are quiet enough to hear a pin drop. And then you begin to hear them sing more and more in each class. Each week we play a game of rhythm and pitch repetition. At first the children are a bit shy about approaching me, but after the first few classes they are lined up anxiously waiting for their turn to play "echo."  Then they begin to contribute their ideas about how we should play the instruments next, or what to incorporate into a song. 

     And then there are the children who spend a lot of time observing and you are never sure you are reaching them, until you talk to their parents and they tell you how much their kids are singing at home, on pitch, and how they love to play the echo game. Then one week when you are not expecting it, that child becomes a "leader" in your class, full of ideas and raring to participate. 

     We have had a number of special-needs children in our classes, some referred by speech therapists, and it has been heartwarming to witness their progress. Now the children who started with our program when they were babies are as old as middle or high school and I will often see them around town performing with the Children's Choir or in a band or orchestra. As a private teacher the results are amazing.  For the most part the Kindermusik kids have internalized the rhythms and generally get musical concepts concepts faster.

     My own children are Kindermusik graduates. Both went through the entire program and both began instruments at age 3 or 4. Now one is 9 and plays violin, piano, and classical guitar and the other is 13 and plays piano and cello. Both are also composers and are comfortable improvising, and both love all kinds of music..Music is a big part of our family life. Each summer we attend music programs as a family and I think Kindermusik helped to build that love of music.

     I have experienced the results of the Kindermusik program as an administrator, a teacher, a musician and a parent, and I am sold on the lasting contribution that this program makes in the life of a young child. The children's faces say it all:  they want to be there and they don't want to leave when it is over.