The teacher’s first duty is therefore to watch over the environment, and this takes precedence over all the rest. –Maria Montessori

Imagine that you wake up one morning on an island full of musical instruments.

You rub your eyes in disbelief, but … It really exists! There are instruments representing all of the families: a piano, guitar, autoharp, xylophones,recorders and percussion, all available for you to explore. This is the feeling at Music House.

The instruments at Music House are “friendly.” This means that they lend themselves easily to exploration. In addition to these, there are puppets, pots and pans, bowls and spoons and a mysterious contraption with intriguing musical possibilities, taken from the inside of a clock. There are sachets, candles and incense, just in case we pay a musical visit to some exotic place and need the ambience. I encourage children to open “secret” drawers filled with kitchen utensils – Is music hiding in there?

When children discover music making opportunities in every corner of the environment, music does not feel so much like a subject to be learned, but part of the fabric of life. As one student exclaimed, “No wonder you call it Music House – It really is a Music House!”