Musikgarten is the leader in early childhood music education.
We offer a complete multi-year educational program that helps infants,
toddlers, and children develop a deep love of music and the ability to
express it. We carry CDs of the songs sung in class, age-appropriate
instruments, and parent guidebooks. These home materials reinforce lessons
and involve the whole family in the fun.
We demonstrate the many benefits children gain by taking
part in our music and movement program, encompassing musical, physical,
emotional, social and cognitive growth.
Musikgarten Around the World
Today there are hundreds of Musikgarten studios in North
America. Additionally, the Musikgarten curricula have been adapted
and are used extensively in several foreign countries, including Germany,
Malaysia, Korea, China, Austria, Switzerland, South Africa, New Zealand, and
Taiwan.
Musikgarten Foundation
To further the reach of music-based learning, the Musikgarten Foundation was
formed as a non-profit organization which brings superb pedagogy and teacher
training to disadvantaged communities.
Musikgarten and the Environment
At Musikgarten we include nature as part of our classroom. We believe in the
benefits of teaching children to value and respect our natural environment.
Even our products and packaging are environmentally conscious.
Musikgarten opened in 1994 when Dr. Lorna Lutz Heyge merged
her music education background with the experience and input of childhood
education specialist, Audrey Sillick. These two women are the authors of the
early childhood music curricula that comprise Musikgarten.
Musikgarten's president, Dr. Heyge, began making a name for
herself in the world of early-childhood music in 1971 as the assistant director
of a music school in Germany.
Commissioned by the authors of the curriculum she taught to preschool children,
Heyge adapted the program and brought it to North America
in 1974 as Kindermusik, educating hundreds of teachers about this curriculum
before selling the business in 1993.
She met Audrey Sillick in the Toronto Montessori
School and with her
guidance, continued to study the role of music and movement on the development
of young children. Together, the two authors wrote curricula that reflect their
combined education, experience, and the latest research in childhood
development. Their beliefs and studies are at the core of the Musikgarten
curricula - the same solid instruction offered since 1994.
Heyge holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University,
a PhD in musicology from the University
of Cologne, and an Artist
Diploma (the German equivalent of a Doctorate of Musical Arts) from the Cologne
Musik Hochschule.
Sillick is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Toronto
Montessori Teacher Training Institute, an internationally known writer and
speaker promoting movement and music education, earth education, and Montessori
teacher training.
In 2007, Jill Hannagan and Jeff Spickard joined the
executive team of Musikgarten as executive and administrative vice presidents.
Long-time associates of Musikgarten, both have considerable experience running
their own businesses and are musicians, making Musikgarten an early-childhood
music company being managed by musicians who have had success in the worlds of
both business and music.
