Logistics have to be considered in teaching early childhood music, whether you start your own early childhood music classes in a new venue, or teach in an already existing program. Some aspects you will have control over, others you may not. It is important that you be aware of factors that can affect the success of your program which may not have anything to do with your teaching. 

For Venue

Universities and community colleges, park districts, schools, churches, community organizations, and even shopping centers offer options for early childhood music classes, as all benefit from bringing young families to their location. A participating parent (or caregiver) has to be in attendance with each child (or family). Community classes have become popular for early childhood music, and offer many options for the new teacher who would like to establish a program for early childhood music. 

Preschools and kindergartens offer another setting for teaching early childhood music, with classes usually including 10-25 children, with or without classroom teachers or aides. Daycare facilities offer yet another setting for teaching early childhood music, usually including multiple ages, varying day to day attendance, and varying quality of aides. Independent schools of music offer yet another option, as do homes and online music classes.

Depending upon the venue, you may choose to offer early childhood music classes under your own banner, or under theirs. For example, Come Children, Sing! was an independent program offered at many locations, including the local university, before the development of the Come Children Sing Institute, and now the online classes. Another option might have been to offer a class through a park district, church, or preschool, under their umbrellas. Independent programs sometimes necessitate renting space for classes, acquiring your own insurance, doing your own marketing. Or, they might be welcomed by the park district, church, or school, who collects the tuition, pays the teacher, and handles marketing and insurance. If you choose to teach in an existing program or recreational facility, make sure that the expectations from venue and parents is music learning rather than just entertainment.

The process of charging and collecting tuition is dependent upon the venue. Classes run under the umbrella of a park district, for example, are necessarily priced in accordance with their offerings, with registration on their location in accordance with their program schedules. Independent offerings can be done as you choose, though pricing competitive with local classes for young children is wise, and registration that includes tuition for 10-16 week terms is recommended. Pricing, family pricing, and online, snail mail, or in-person payment are choices for you to make. Don’t hesitate offering an occasional free demonstration class or series of classes to draw students in and demonstrate to parents what you have to offer their children.

Room size is a consideration, as is whatever else the room might be used for.  The more equipment that has to be in the room for other users, the more things there are for children to explore and for you to move before your class. A classroom-size open room is desirable, with chairs around the periphery and a hallway outside the classroom to accommodate a noisy child until ready to re-enter. Such a room can comfortably hold 20-25 beginners, with parents, for a focus on Immersion. As children advance to Interactivity, classes of 10-12 students are more appropriate. [Setting up the Classroom]

Marketing is another consideration. Parents have to know about your class offerings in order to sign up. Some community organizations like park districts distribute catalogs of class offerings, assuring that parents can find your classes. Churches might include the announcement in their bulletin. Other settings may be dependent upon your doing the marketing, or creatively using technology and social media to inform parents. Word of mouth is always your best marketing.

Community settings are the most popular venues for early childhood music classes, so logistics covered here relate to settings with parents participating with their children. Good teaching technique, however, is needed in every situation, and will be applicable whether in a church or daycare facility, and whether you are working with parents or preschool teachers and teacher aides. 

For Parents

Logistics have to take into consideration the parents as much as the children, as without them, you have no students. Parents of young children lead busy lives, and juggle all kinds of forces to be able to bring their child to a music class. Often your class is the one oasis during a day with a teething baby, or the one time the parent is not working, trying to spend quality time with the youngster. It is not easy to cart a stroller and diaper bag, carrying an infant in one hand and hanging on to a toddler with the other, let alone trying to hold an umbrella or walk through snow. Any aggravation can keep a parent from signing up. A prime consideration for you in setting up your class has to be parent ease—including ease in signing up for your class and getting to your location.

Parking is an issue for parents. The closer your classroom is to parking, the better.  Trying to ascend stairs with two little ones can also discourage parents from signing up for your class.  Accessibility of washrooms is yet another consideration often taken for granted. Little children need to go now! The nearest location being upstairs or a long way down the hall can lead to disaster.  A changing table in the washroom offers a nice touch and consideration for parents.

Carpet on the floor of the classroom is desirable. It helps to dampen the sound while offering a soft and warm area to sit on, crawl on, and fall on. Whether carpet or tile, the floor has to be clean to be inviting to parents. Distractions in the room can also be an issue. Things, reachable bookshelves, sound, storage equipment, people passing through, noise from an adjoining room or hallway, can all disrupt your class. Little children will go to anything they can reach, and can be distracted by most anything.

An area like a hallway outside the classroom is essential so parents can walk out of your class as needed with a noisy or crying child, calm the child and then re-enter. It is best if the child can continue to hear the aural content of the class from just outside the classroom, so as not to miss out, and helpful if there is a window into the classroom so the child can see what he is missing, increasing the desire to go back into the classroom. It is also helpful to have chairs along the periphery of the room, not only for coats or reluctant children, but for grandma, other visitors, or children arriving early for the next class. Such activity behind the children will not distract them as would the same activity in front of them.

Weekly classes with little children are recommended, and can be offered at any time of year. The time of day the class is offered is often a consideration. Little children are best in the morning, and many are napping in the early afternoon. Setting class times to accommodate children’s needs assures greater success in both attracting students and in teaching. Setting class times to fit working parents can fill classes on Saturday mornings or early evening week nights. Scheduling classes for 45 minutes, but leaving 15 minutes between classes allows for more time with the children if desired, with parents feeling that they got a bonus. Generally, scheduling classes an hour apart is sufficient.

Age groupings can be another consideration. It is easier for a parent to make one trip with two children than to make one trip for the infant and another for the toddler, when both are beginners. Parents are accustomed to doing different things with a baby and a preschooler, but beginners can be together until the older child becomes sufficiently skilled to be placed into an advanced class. Similarly, parents generally have to bring siblings to class. It works best if each child is enrolled in his own class.  Then an infant is “aurally equipped” to be in attendance in the preschooler’s much more advanced class, and the preschooler appreciates the musical content of the infant’s class.

Your venue choice and logistical accommodations for early childhood music classes has to be dependent upon practical issues. Whatever your choice, make sure the setting embraces your teaching a class that meets the musical needs of children, rather than just entertaining children, and one that allows for you to grow and develop as a teacher of early childhood music.