Mother:  What composer did you learn today in Miss Elena’s class?
Mitchell (age 4): Cheese and coffee (Tchaikovsky)

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Nika (age 4): I learned music from “Graham Cracker” (“Nutcracker”)

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Miss Elena:  Bach was born before all other composers that we learned.
Jordan (age 5):  Even before dinosaurs?

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Children in the class for 4-5 year-olds are learning the “Farewell Symphony” by Joseph Haydn.
Miss Elena: Joseph Haydn lived such a long time ago, that electricity had not been invented yet. People had to use candles.
Jake (age 4½): They should have used the flashlight!

*****

In another class for 4-5 year-olds, children are getting ready to play “Song of the Bells” by Mozart. Miss Elena passes around different kinds of bells and reminds children to keep instruments quiet until she and her “piano partner” start playing the piano. Jack (age 4 ½) starts playing his bells right away.
Miss Elena: Jack what happened?
Jack: They are so pretty! I just couldn’t wait!

*****

A letter from Fiona Gotlieb: “Elena, you would enjoy this one! Last night we were sitting at the dinner table discussing our day with the kids.
Graham said: “Daddy, today we learned about Prokofiev at Miss Elena”s class.”
Graham’s dad: “Graham, did you know that Prokofiev is Russian?”
Graham: “Where is he rushing to?”

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Leslie and Lindsay (both age 3½) are in the car returning home from Miss Elena’s class.
Leslie: Mommy why are all the cars going the other way?
Mom: They are all going to different places.
Lindsay: I think they are all going to Miss Elena’s!

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Ryan (age 4): Miss Elena, I have something to tell you.
Miss Elena: Can you wait until after the class?
Ryan: No, it is very important.
Miss Elena: All right. I am listening.
Ryan: My father was named after Robert Schumann.

*****

The class of 3-year-olds is learning “Symphony Surprise” by Joseph Haydn. Miss Elena plays music.
Miss Elena: When did you hear a surprise? In the beginning, the middle, or at the end of the music?
Stefanos (age 3): I heard it on the piano!

*****

The class is learning how to conduct Waltz by Brahms. Miss Elena shows the correct hand and arm movements.
Justin (age 6) has difficulty keeping his arms relaxed. His explanation: I am the oldest in this class (actually, he is just the tallest). That’s why my arms hurt.

*****

Children are learning “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven.
Miss Elena explains why this music is soft: at night, everything is quiet, birds do not sing, people sleep…
Nick (age 4) chimes in: And raccoons come out and eat bird food.

*****

Kids in the Music Workshop class (ages 4-5) have learned music by Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Beethoven, Grieg, Haydn, and Schubert.
Miss Elena: Now, it’s time to learn about Mozart, whose portrait is number seven on the wall, halfway across the room from Tchaikovsky.
Colleen (age 4), (whose favorite composer is Tchaikovsky), asks in a worried voice: But how can we get back to Tchaikovsky?

*****

Kids in Music Workshop class (ages 3½ – 4½) are playing guessing games with music by Tchaikovsky: “Sick Doll,” “New Doll,” “March of the Wooden Soldiers,” “Song of the Lark.”
After Miss Elena played “Song of the Lark,” David (age 4) answers first: Lark of the bird!

*****

A month later, the same class is finishing music by Robert Schumann: “Soldiers March,” “Happy Farmer,” “Wild   Horseman,” “Dreams” (“Traumerei”). Miss Elena plays “Wild Horseman.”
Jordan (age 4) happily guesses: Wild Schumann!

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Simone (age 5½) loved the story and music from the “Nutcracker” ballet she learned in Miss Elena’s class.
Before playing “Spanish Dance,” Miss Elena shows the kids a picture of the Spanish characters in the ballet and asks: Where, do you think, these guests came from?
Simone: From paradise!

*****

Emily (age 5½) just finished her very first class with Miss Elena. She notices that Miss Elena is preparing for the next lesson.
Emily: Miss Elena, how many classes do you teach today? Miss Elena: Eight. Emily: Which one was ours?
Miss Elena: Number seven.
Emily: Then after the next class you should go home and take a nap!

*****

Elliot  (age 4 1/2), my  Music Workshop student in Washington DC,
returning home from dinner at the restaurant:  I wonder if Miss Elena is having dinner right now?

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Parhum (age 2½) missed his Music, Mommy & Me class because his mother was late.
Mom: Sorry honey, we came too late for Miss Elena’s class.
Parhum: How come you didn’t run fast enough?

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Robert’s mother: Do you know who wrote “Nutcracker”?
Robert (age 4): Why, Miss Elena, of course!

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Ian (age 5½): Miss Elena you are funny. But I still like you very, very much!

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Olivia (age 4) (after the makeup class): Mommy, the lesson was fun, but we never put on any makeup.

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Kyle (age 6) looks at the percussion instruments Miss Elena brought from Japan (the samples were displayed in the waiting room). He asks his mom to buy him one.
Mother: Remember, I already bought you a castanet for Christmas, and now I am not going to buy you things for no reason.
Kyle: There is a reason—making music!

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Kasia (age 3½) came home from music class very upset, crying.
Mother: Kasia what happened?
Kasia: I forgot to hug Miss Elena and tell Miss Elena that I love her.

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Children study music by Edvard Grieg. They learned three pieces from the “Peer Gynt” suite: “Morning,” “Anitra’s Dance,” “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” Also, they learned “Norwegian Dance.”
For kids, it is a difficult name to remember. To help them memorize the word “Norwegian,” I tell that Edvard Grieg was born in Norway, he was a Norwegian composer, that’s why he wrote the Norwegian Dances.
Time for the guessing game.
Miss Elena (after playing “Norwegian Dance”): What is the name of this music?
Antoine (age 5): Nutritious dance!

*****

Timmy (age 3) tells his sister which composers he learned about in Miss Elena’s class (Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Beethoven).
Genevieve, Timmy”s sister (age 6): And do you know who wrote “Nutcracker”?
Timmy: Miss Elena!

*****

Miss Elena (introducing the concept of slow, medium, and fast tempos in music): This is a METRONOME. It says tick-tack just like a clock. But the clock tells us what time it is, and the metronome tells how to play music—slow, medium, or fast. Now, do you remember its name?
Zachary (age 4): Metro-clock!!!

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Benjamin (age 6): I remember coffee, that’s how I remember ProKOFIEFF.

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Miss Elena shows how big the string base is.
Farrar (age 5): My daddy is even bigger. That’s why he is always hungry!

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Mother: Emma, why you don’t want to take ballet classes anymore?
Emma (age 5): They have too much discipline.
Mother: Miss Elena is a strict teacher too.
Emma: But Miss Elena has the chairs.

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Benjamin (age 4): Miss Elena, I know why you speak with an accent.
Miss Elena: Why?
Benjamin: Because you do not leave here.

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(Year and a half later) Benjamin (age 5½): Miss Elena, I like your accent. It’s so much better now!

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Anna Lee (age 6): When I lie in bed and I am scared of monsters, I start thinking about Miss Elena and her music, and then I am not scared anymore!

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Hannah’s mother (Hannah is 2½ year old): Hannah was listening to Andrea Bocelli since she was six months old. She used to say that Andrea Bocelli was her favorite singer. But now, after Hannah started your music classes, she says that her favorite singer is . . . Miss Elena.

*****

Miss Elena: Do not hit your drums too hard. You’ll make a noise that will hurt our ears. We are here to make beautiful music, not noise. Nicole (age 5) suddenly started coughing.
Brandon (age 5): Stop it! You make noise. This is not what we are here for.

*****

Jordan (age 3): Miss Elena, we have many CD posers. (Translation: we have many CDs with the music of classical composers).

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Anna Lee (age 5): Miss Elena, I made a joke. Guess the name of the famous composer who is hiding in the bushes? Joseph Haydn!!!

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While learning “Nutcracker.”
Miss Elena: Grown-ups were dancing “Grandfather”s dance” (Miss Elena plays slow music), while children had to sit quietly and watch. But the kids couldn’t sit for too long. They jumped from their chairs and started dancing very fast (Miss Elena plays fast music).
Cie Cie (age 3): And all these children got a time out!

*****

Miss Elena: Next Thursday is Thanksgiving. We will not have lessons next week.
Emma (age 4): Miss Elena, if I will not see you next week, I’ll write you a letter.

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At the end of a long hike, Dasha (age 5) stumbled and fell down. Her parents rushed to comfort her.
Instead of crying, Dasha laughed and said: This is how “Surprise Symphony” by Joseph Haydn goes: soft, soft, soft, soft, – BOOM!

*****

Miss Elena and the children walk in a big circle.
Alex (age 5): Miss Elena, look! We made a whole note.

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Miss Elena:  Bach lived a very long time ago.  He lived before all the other composers that we learned.
Jennifer (age 5): Is he alive now?
Miss Elena:  No, he died.
Jennifer:  Who shot him?

*****

Danielle (age 6): I wrote music by Franz Schubert and played it on my piano.