The true beauty of music is that it connects people.
~Ray Ayres
Our Story
Music4Kids was founded by Deborah Pratt and is now home to a community of teachers and staff who are dedicated to helping children and adults learn to play and sing the music they love.
Deb started out with a few Kindermusik classes in a rented classroom at the Gilbert Creek Early Childhood Development Center in 1999. Music4Kids grew rapidly over two years and opened as a retail store in the Town Center Plaza in 2001 where it continued to grow to include five teachers offering Kindermusik, music lessons, and a youth choir. The store also offered band and orchestra instrument rentals and the sale of instrument accessories, children's musical instruments, and sheet music. In 2005 the name was changed to Great Northwest Music, and in 2008 Teresa and Andy Martin purchased the store. After a hiaitus of 5-years, Deb returned to Great Northwest Music to help revitalize the Kindermusik program which eventually outgrew the space at Great Northwest Music. Music4Kids opened its current location at 141 NW C Street in May of 2017.
Music4Kids' beautiful historic location features five fully-equipped music rooms:
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a large classroom for Kindermusik and group lessons
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a downstairs lesson room with a baby grand piano
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room set up for band lessons with a Casio touring keyboard, drumset, electric guitar, sound system, and mics
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a piano lab with 5 keyboards for group piano lessons
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a small classroom with a Yamaha Clavinova for piano and string instrument lessons.
For parents and siblings who are waiting, there is a waiting room with children's books, an assortment of stuffed animals, coloring books, and a children's table and chairs. There is also an adult sized desk, a baby changing station, a water cooler, and free wi-fi as well as magazines and catalogs to view to pass the time.​
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Come sing and play with us!
Our Mission
Nurture Musicianship.
We design our curriculum and learning activities to nurture our students' musicianship. Your child will learn the foundational concepts and fundamental skills necessary for playing any style of music. As students advance in their musical journey, they will be able to to take their music wherever they want it to go!
For our youngest music learners, Kindermusik teachers guide your child through every developmental level as they begin to understand basic music concepts and gain the key musical skills of keeping a steady beat and singing in tune.
Celebrate Family and Community.
Music has the unique ability to connect people together, heart to heart. One of the joys of making music is to share it with family and friends. Part of our mission is to see families grow closer as they experience musical moments together and musical friendships often last a lifetime!
We also are working to create a community of young musicians who share their music together and support one another. Our monthly Performance Workshop is included with your child's Music4Kids membership. Our students are invited to meet together, play for one another, have fun learning through group music games, and collaborate and work on ensembles to perform together at our concerts.
Unlock Potential.
Over the last 25 years research has been flooding in about the amazing power of music making to promote learning and development in every area. Therefore, our mission goes beyond nurturing your child's musicianship to include fostering their develop in other areas of their lives as well.
In addition to being fun and enjoyable, music making provides a myriad of benefits for your child including development of a greater ability to focus, perseverance, listening skills, increased coordination, and even improvement in the physical structure of the brain!
Music making activates almost all brain regions and networks. It keeps brain pathways strong, including those networks involved in cognitive function, well-being, quality of life, and happiness. In fact, research has shown that the area connecting the two sides of the brain is larger in musicians.
For the little ones, Kindermusik activities are specifically designed to harness the power of music to foster your child’s cognitive, language, physical, creative, and social-emotional development.
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Part of our mission is to ensure that our teaching style and the relationships we develop with our students go beyond the music to support their personal growth and development. Knowing the power of music to foster your child’s potential in every area we delight in the opportunity to be a part of your child’s life as they discover and develop their own unique gifts and talents.