Anja Scheidel

Anja Scheidel is a trained Musikgarten teachers and has taught all levels of the Musikgarten curriculumfor over 16 years. Her earliest trainers were authors, Lorna Heyge, Marie Louise Wilson and Jill Hannagan. She strongly supports the philosophy of starting music development through appropriate and fun musical activities in a classroom setting and expand these musical skills at home. Her classes provide families with a space where they can learn how to incorporate music into their own daily life.
 
Anja was born and raised in Germany and took classes at the so called "Musikschule für MusikalischeFrüherziehung, Dortmund" (Early Childhood Music Education) at the age of three, followed by private piano lessons at the age of six. She went to the Waldorf Institute where the curriculum emphasizes the role of imagination in learning, striving to integrate holistically the intellectual, practical, and artistic development of the young student. This unique education which also was carried on at home, shaped Anja's approach to life.
 
She studied Nutrition, Family and Consumer Science, and Agriculure in Germany while living and working on organic farms. Anja sang in choirs, taught piano and played piano at various events. She is a member of ECMMA (Early Childhood Music and Movement Association). Anja is also a member of Tim Topham's "Inner Cirle", an international group for creative piano teachers, based out of Melbourne, Australia, where piano teachers from around the world share their knowledge and expertise with the ephasis in teaching in a group setting.
 
Anja believes that all children have musical aptitude and that early childhood is the opportune time to begin develop this potential in an active, joyful and developmentally appropriate way. Her classes promote music literacy, singing, rhythm skills, aural perception, language development, motor coordination, ensemble skills and social interaction while awakening the child's imagination. She believes that this program is the ideal way to prepare a child for later instrumental study or to be a more perceptive listener or thinker of the arts and in other disciplines. Indeed, studies have shown that children who learn music excel their "non-musical peers" in all academic disciplines (not just in math as previously thought) and are socially more developed and mature.