It’s Thursday morning in Murrysville and the babies in a colorfully decorated room on the ground floor of the United Methodist Church are doing pretty much what babies do: They fuss, they watch each other, and they put whatever toy or item they touch into their mouth.
Lisa Petzel has music playing in the background, and mothers sit on the floor with their children, waiting for class to start.
It’s Kindermusik time for the first of four age groups Mrs. Petzel teaches, and the first class of the day is also the youngest.
These are children ages newborn to 18 months, and if they have extraordinary musical talent it probably won’t be apparent for a while. No ones seems to care, though. Kindermusik, a West German invention, is designed to use music and movement to aid a child’s overall development.
Now it’s time for sing-song voices to greet each child, for mothers to gently caress their babies and for babies to be moved in time to music.
Mrs. Petzel decided she’d like to start Kindermusik classes near her Monroeville home after the program helped her daughter learn to trust, to socialize and to interact with other children after a bleak beginning.
Lisa and Robert Petzel adopted their daughter, Natalia, from a Russian orphanage when she was 17 months old. The beautiful little girl had the development skills of a much younger child and had problems interacting, even touching, other adults and children.
Mrs. Petzel decided to try a program she’d heard about, Kindermusik, and started Natalia at Gail Roup’s classes in Churchill.
After a while, the toddler, who wouldn’t even touch another’s hand in the “Ring Around the Rosie” circle dance, joined in. She was getting better.
Logo from Kindermusik.
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