Archive: Around Town

Walk into the Lansing Town courtroom on a late Friday morning, and you might see small children singing songs with their mothers.  Parents and children alike sing, dance, and play instruments.  They are participating in the Early Childhood Music Class, offered by Ludlowville performing artist Kathryn Russell.  From the 'hello song' at the beginning of each session to the 'goodbye' song that includes each child and parent by name, the class offers a gentle, musical environment for kids from birth to five years old.

"We try to do all sorts of songs," Russell says.  "We do some that are a lot more raucus, but I try to provide a big variety of types of music.  The parents rolling around on the floor makes such a huge difference.  If they see their parents doing silly things they feel very comfortable doing the same things.  They learn rhythm, and pitch, and how to move their bodies.  It helps develop language, social skills, and encourages creativity."

That is most evident when Russell spills out a bin of percussion instruments.  The children make their choices with gusto, and it is clearly a favorite part of the session.

"They love moving, hand motions, and being weird little animals doing strange things," Russell says.  "It depends on the child, too, but everybody loves the instruments song."


Russell keeps the session moving with a string of songs she chooses -- and sometimes writes herself -- to serve a particular purpose in each session.  She varies the rhythms, and urges kids to leave the safety of their mother's laps to sing, play, and dance together.  All of this is structured within a framework that becomes familiar to the children so they know what to do and want to participate.

"We create little rituals so the class flows similarly each time," she says.  "We have a hello song, then we vary it in levels of excitement or intensity.  We have some sitting down in a circle songs.  Then we'll get up and dance.  Some songs are just free movement.  However the music moves them.  We have lots of instruments that we play.  Also props.  Scarves, egg shakers, and balls and all sorts of things."

Russell grew up in a musical family in Horseheads.  Her mother played piano, taught her to play, and the whole family sang together.  Russell says that having your parents model the enjoyment of music is the best way to show children it is a cool thing to do.

She studied music and theater, but got an accounting degree, working in accounting and management for most of her adult life.  About five years ago she realized she wanted to return to music and theater.  She also works as a nanny, acts, and writes plays.  She also has a degree from Wells College in sociology and psychology, where she studied cognitive development, child development, and adult development.  She apprenticed and taught for Bluebird Music Together in Auburn before offering the sessions here.

Now she says she wants to focus on Lansing, and is finishing the second session of the class offered through the Lansing Recreation Department.  The next session will be a holiday session, which she says will respect a wide variety of holiday musical traditions.


Russell says that children learn by playing, and an added benefit of the class is that when they do the same silly things together children form a unique bond with their parents.  The class also helps them socialize with each other, forming friendships they'll take into public school when they are old enough.  She says that she can accept as many as a dozen children per session, and hopes to gradually build the classes both in the Rec Department and with private sessions, connections with local groups, and possibly offer music at local preschools.

"It's so sweet to watch them interact with each other," she says.  "And the older children interact with the younger children, it's so wonderful to see, and so interesting to see how they interact."

Registration for the Holiday Session is currently going on in the Lansing Recreation Department Office.  The registration deadline is November 30th.

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