Tunes for Toddlers (Age Group I)
A six-week early-years music class for 1.5 – 3-year olds & their parents, grandparents or minders
Description
Note: Change of Class times from January 2025 - 2:45 - 3:15 PM
Inspired by the Kodály Method and Orff Approach, these early-years music classes introduce your child to the fundamentals of music through singing, listening, movement, and play.
Research has demonstrated the wide-ranging benefits that music-making can have for babies/toddlers and parents alike, from learning and developmental benefits to enhancing social skills and improving well-being.
These classes provide a solid musical foundation for further musical training (a perfect stepping-stone to pre-instrumental classes in the Royal Irish Academy of Music) and most importantly, instil a love of music.
These courses are delivered in Person at the RIAM, with fun-filled music classes in the heart of Dublin City!
Other age groups:
Children aged 3 - 18 months should participate in our Ditties for Dotes course
Children aged 3 - 4 years should participate in our Tunes for Toddlers (Age Group II) course
Ditties for Dotes Course dates for Spring 2025
January/February Course:
- Wednesday 8th January 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 15th January 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 22nd January 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 29th January 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM))
- Wednesday 5th February 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 12th February 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
March/April Course:
- Wednesday 5th March 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 12th March 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 19th March 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 26th March 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 2nd April 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 9th April 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
April/May Course:
- Wednesday 30th April 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 7th May 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 14th May 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 21st May 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 28th May 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
- Wednesday 4th June 2025 (2:45 - 3:15 PM)
Learning Outcomes
Introduction to the following musical concepts and skills:
- Dynamics: Loud and soft (recognise and perform)
- Pulse: Move/clap/tap along in time to the music
- Tempo: Fast and slow (recognise and perform)
- Pitch: High and low (recognise and perform); vocal exploration (different voice types)
- Melody: Elements of the pentatonic scale
Prerequisites
Age: 1.5 - 3 years
Other: Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the classes.
Tutors
Mary Walsh
A conductor and singer from Sligo, Mary Walsh completed an MA and BMus in the MTU Cork School of Music, Cork.
Mary is a vocal coach at Newpark Academy of Music where she conducts the Newpark Junior Choir, and is the music specialist in St. Mary's Primary School, Rathmines where she conducts the Boys Choir. She is the festival director for the Newpark Festival. Mary was the 2023 conductor-in-training with the Irish Youth Choir directed by Bernie Sherlock.
Mary was the assistant conductor for Horse Ape Bird, an opera produced by Irish National Opera in association with Music Generation. She was assistant conductor to Stephen Barlow for the opera Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland produced by Opera Collective Ireland.
Mary is the artistic director of the Wexford Gateway Orchestra. She was a finalist in the 2023 Dublin Feis Ceoil Conducting Competition where she conducted the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. As part of the 2022 National Concert Hall Female Conductor Programme she took part in masterclasses with David Brophy and Robert Houlihan and was selected to conduct the National Symphony Orchestra in the final concert of the programme.
She has received masterclasses from Sian Edwards and Alice Farnham as part of the 2021 Sorrell Women’s Conducting Programme in the Royal Academy of Music, London.
A keen singer herself, she sings soprano with the international award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices.