Clap for Classics

More About Clap for Classics

The length of each episode is 10 to 15 minutes. The series is ongoing with new episodes available weekly.

Elizabeth’s Two Clap for Classics Curriculums

We’re all told that classical music helps our children, but how?  Elizabeth explained to me that classical music has many benefits for kids. It boosts concentration and self-discipline. It helps develop social skills and listening skills, and bringing classical music into your child’s life will also increase their likelihood of enjoying a wider variety of music later.  So if your kiddos need any of those benefits, I know mine could use help in pretty much all of those areas. Clap for Classics has two great curriculums that can help you bring classical music into your child’s life. The All Access membership has more than 250. Engaging and educational music lesson videos, comprehensive music courses organized by theme, quarterly Live Zoom events where you can find a community of similarly minded moms and much.

The other curriculum is called the Four Seasons Music and More Preschool Curriculum, which has six lessons per season. And these lessons include a music course, a STEM unit, an art unit, and a poetry unit that help you and your child explore the current season you are in. Elizabeth was gracious enough to give FPG listeners 50% off your first month if you buy a monthly or yearly.  Just use the code FPG. Now we get to hear from Elizabeth as she dives into how wonderful music is for our kids and the adorable way she opens each of her episodes. Welcome Elizabeth. Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I am so excited. We love Kid Podcast at our house and. As the friendly podcast guide as a whole.

Introduction to Elizabeth and Clap for Classics

I am Elizabeth Nixon. I am a mother of five. I’m an army wife and I am passionate about classical music and music for kids. And I have an online business where we share music activities for kids and recently got into podcasting and I am loving it.

I really like to use classical music when I need to concentrate, and I’ve realized that my kids use it. It works for my kids too, right? Like I feel like when they need to calm down or focus on something, if I can turn on some music that doesn’t have words, but it’s still engaging. They just love it and I feel like I need to use it more often.

Yeah. Well, I love that about classical music too, because there’s so many different ways I think we can use it. So you can use it for calming down. But it can also be super engaging and it can be a vehicle for a lot of imagination. And so, and I love that kids don’t have any preconceived ideas about classical music either, too.

And so sometimes classical music gets a bad rap, but kids don’t feel that. And we love introducing music in a way that is just fun and playful and helps kids really connect with the music. So, definitely. So why did you start your podcast? . Okay, so about six years ago, my sister Catherine Lipman and I co-founded Clap for Classics, and we started creating an online music curriculum for kids.

And our business is slowly growing and we love what we do. But about a year ago, I was wanting to try something new to introduce what we do to more of the world and introduce kind of the unique way that we share music and especially classical music with just more. And so I thought a podcast would be just really the perfect way to do that.

A way that’s super accessible, that’s free for families to get a really good taste of what we do, that we share classical music, folk music nursery rhymes in really fun and memorable ways that help connect both kids and parents together, and then also help connect families to music. So that’s why we started it and I’ve just really fallen in love with the format of the podcast.

I guess it’s pretty obvious, but I love podcasts, so I feel like podcasts can be used in so many different ways, and I love that you’re using it to expand your business and reach more families, because helping people to learn about you and learn about classical music and, and all of the different ways you can use it, I feel like podcast is a great way to do that.  Yeah, it really is. It’s been a lot of fun. 

What to Expect from Clap for Classics

So what do you want kids as well as their parents to get out of your podcast? So, what I want kids and parents or kids and caregivers to get out of the podcast is that they will connect to music and connect to each other. So one thing that we really try to is have an experience with the music. So this isn’t a passive listening sort of podcast. This is something where you’re gonna be moving your body, you’re gonna be engaging with the music, and kids are just gonna feel like it’s musical play. But parents are gonna realize that there is a lot of education.

Music education happening packed into these episodes. So I guess that’s what I hope. I hope the kids just feel like it’s play and they’re just having fun and being silly with us. But parents are gonna realize that, wow, my kids are actually learning music fundamentals. They’re moving their body, they’re practicing developmental skills, and there’s a ton of benefits coming out of this experience.

That’s awesome. And I it, you’re not like tricking the kids, but like, it’s so fun when you can like slide in. Extra learning and extra things to help them stimulate their brains and all of that without them even noticing like they’re just having fun and they’re also doing more than just having fun.

The Vibe of Clap for Classics

Well, the vibe is silly and fun and engaging. We’ve added a really silly component to the podcast that is a little bit different than the rest of our content because my husband actually is co-hosting with me and he brings the silly, he brings the fun and he is Forte Alliance.

So he and I share it together and he just adds in fun just in jokes and humor that appeals to, I think especially the little bit older kids and parents I think too. So that’s fun that, well I think it’s fun, that it kind of involves the whole family, our whole family, and then your whole family with that kind of fun and humor.

So yeah, the silly, the fun. And then, like I mentioned before, it’s engaging, so I dunno if it really counts as vibe, but like I said before, it’s not really a podcast that you’re gonna put on while your kids are coloring. I mean, you might, but it’s one that they’re gonna be moving their bodies. They’re gonna be grabbing wooden spoons from the kitchen so they can be.

Keeping the beat while we’re, while they’re gonna be clearing space to be moving and spinning and skipping and jumping and so it’s a very active vibe too. I love that. That is so fun. And I feel like that is definitely unique. Not all kid podcasts are getting your kids moving and like you said, we don’t always want kids to be moving, but when you do, this is the perfect podcast for it.

Where to Find Clap for Classics

Just search, clap for classics wherever you listen to podcasts. And then if you’re wanting to know more about what we do, you can check out our website at www.clapforclassics.com. And there we can connect you to our music curriculum for young kids and our membership and our blog, and everything’s on there too.  We would love for you to check out the podcast and let us know what you think we love hearing from our listeners, and we actually include a little spot for you to send us a joke. So we have a . I know a lot of, I know other kids’ podcasts do this where you can call in and I think it’s so fun and so we do that.

You can tell Forte a joke and every episode a little kid is telling us a little joke at the beginning of the podcast. Call in and tell us a joke too, if you listen .

Elizabeth’s Favorite Episode

Just something that my listeners can be excited about. Yeah, so I think one thing that makes us unique is our emphasis on classical music. Not every single episode has classical music, but the majority do. And one of my very, very favorite classical music activities that we share with kids is with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  Dun, dun, dun, dun. Everybody knows it, right? It’s like iconic music, but it’s our episode 27 and it’s Beethoven’s Dragon story. So this episode combines storytelling with the iconic Beethoven’s Fifth music, and I love it because it encourages kids. To use their imagination. So we create a really simple story, but then we encourage the kids to create their own story and to listen.

And that’s one thing we love about classical music is letting kids see the opportunity to imagine a story or to feel different emotions. And so this one is just, it’s a fun story. It gets kids thinking, imagining. It also gives care, parents and kids playing together. We encourage the story and just experience it in different ways.

So I love it. I hope you’ll check that one out because that’s a great place to start and it is a really fun activity.