A guide to music

When the postman brings the big box, I am amazed. timpano includes a thick concept folder, three songbooks and two material folders with worksheets. timpano is a teaching aid, no, it is much more than that, it is a compendium. It can be used to build up a complete music lesson for children from 0 to 10. It is aimed at specialist music teachers in early childhood, pre-school and primary school, but also at teachers and early childhood educators. It is also possible to use parts of it in early instrumental lessons.

The external reason for the creation of the textbook was the publication of the music education plan of the Association of German Music Schools. timpano now provides the material for its implementation and does so brilliantly.

After an introduction to the general orientation, the "Basics" chapter offers texts on all relevant aspects of early music teaching. There are articles on child development, dealing with all the senses, transfer to other disciplines and working with parents, to name but a few. This is followed by the actual musical material. Theme-centered offers timpano offers over 100 complete, very detailed lesson preparations. The song material has often been newly composed, and all the audio samples can be listened to on the three CDs included. The selection of music is carefully chosen, there is a lot to discover: jazz, non-European music, but also classical pieces outside the generally known canon. It is extremely helpful that there is also a tabular overview of all the subject areas, thanks to which you can find your way around very quickly.

The three illustrated songbooks in a somewhat smaller, handy format are intended to help the songs learned find their way from the classroom into the family repertoire. Some of the songs can be listened to, the arrangements are extremely varied and transparent, the CDs are designed in such a way that they can be confidently placed in the children's room. They take into account the fact that young children still react to the different styles in a relatively neutral way.
The two material folders offer additional (work) sheets for lessons: templates that can be copied, filled in or colored.

Conclusion: professionals have worked extremely carefully and with enormous expertise. Anyone working in the field of music education for these age groups will discover a veritable treasure trove of exciting pieces of music, songs and ideas in timpano. I am convinced that it will soon find its way into every music library. It is well worth the investment.

Perhaps that tiny hair in the soup: timpano is the joint work of five female authors and one male author. Every text, every song, indeed every idea is attributed to one of them, sometimes several times in different places. Perhaps a little less would have been more.

timpano. Elementary music practice in thematic groups for children from 0 to 10, complete package, BE 2827, until 27.2.2017 € 159.00, thereafter € 184.00; all parts also available separately; Bosse Verlag, Kassel 2016, www.timpano.de