Mother’s Day at Kindermusik

My wife Florence, an awesome mom to our 8-month old daughter Maggie, spent their first morning session at Kindermusik in Regalia Park Towers, near EDSA Cubao. Teacher Jeannie, who began the program in 2003 in the Philippines and also a recognized Kindermusik Maestro Award educator globally, has offered a summer program called Village Adventures. It is more like an introductory summer program for a 60-minute session each for six Sundays.

There were actually several sets of program depending on your child’s age. Like the Kindermusik Village Adventures that my daughter has attended yesterday, is offered for children from newborn to 1 1/2 years of age. As mentioned, it is a short summer camp program since the regular session is in a 15-week stretch. Other Kindermusik offerings are: Our Time for 1 1/2 to 3 years old; Imagine That for 3 to 5 years old; Kindermusik for the Young Child for 5 to 7 years old; ABC Music & Me, a Preschool Music Program for 2 to 6 years old; Sign & Sing, a sign language curriculum for hearing children 6 months to 3 years old; and Family Time, a music class for families with multiple children for ages newborn and up.

Kindermusic session where children and parents alike
participate in the activities

It was bonding and fun-filled moments for the participants who were also first-timers in the program. My wife, who is likewise a licensed Kindermusik educator, was the one who attended to our daughter most of the time. I assisted my wife from time to time especially on the sessions where I was the one who needed to carry and gently rock our baby daughter because of her weight. Like me, there were also dads who had participated and helped with their wives as well in the different activities. It was truly a wholesome experience.

Teacher Jeannie leading the children and parents
during the drum session

Maggie playing with her rattle

Into the plastic tunnel

    

Tucked with wireless microphone, teacher Jeannie, together with her two co-teachers in yellow-striped uniforms led the singing, while the CD containing songs and music exclusive for the Kindermusik Village Adventures session was playing at the background. The high-quality musical instruments such as rattles, shakers, and drums were also distributed accordingly depending on the programmed activity. The kids on the other hand, guided by their parents corresponded with the rhythm played from the CD through dancing, singing, and playing with the said musical instruments. Big plastic balls and tunnel were also introduced for the kids to play with. A multi-colored parachute-like with a diameter of around 12 to 15 feet, which is as large as the playing area were also introduced. The parents held the chute for awhile making gestures such as up and down and carousel-like movements as children played underneath. My daughter actually missed this activity when she got tired, hungry, and eventually fell asleep. Towards the end of the session, teacher Jeannie, held a hardcover book entitled Oh, What Busy Days! where she read and told the story. The take home materials include the said hardcover book, CD similar to the one they played in the session, musical shapes bell, and activities poster, for the parents to continue the activity with their kids at home.

Mother and daughter

Kindermusik which derived from a German phrase, Children’s Music was founded in the United States in 1978. Its framework is based from music and movement that uses high-quality digital recordings, instruments, and award-winning literature books along with traditional nursery rhymes, finger plays and songs to build a strong foundation not only in music education, but other areas of development, i.e. cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and language skills1.

When my wife and I played the CD at home, our daughter Maggie actually paused for awhile, eventually recalled the familiar music and perhaps remembered the activity that corresponds with the said music. From that very brief moment, we actually witnessed the effect in our daughter. We are looking forward for another Kindermusik session on Sunday which we think is worth investing in, that is beneficial for our daughter as well as for us parents.

For more information on Kindermusik classes and respective schedules near your area, you may check on Kindermusik Philippines and Kindermusik with Teacher Jeannie & Company.

Reference:
1 Kindermusic, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindermusik

One more thing...
To all the mothers and especially to my wife, Happy Mother's Day!

"The Miracle of Life nurtured by a woman who gave us love and sacrifice... MOTHER" 
- Joel Barquez

The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera, A Game Changer?

I got hold of the fact sheet through email from our supplier last Monday, 07 May, regarding the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera which was launched at The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) last April. I just wished that we could already try and test the unit ourselves, but the supplier told me that it would be available by July. That is the only time where we could make the actual tests for us to better decide if we will place it in our budget for next year’s purchase.

The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera

What struck me with the said unit are the price at PhP149,899 (body only) and the shooting resolution of 2.5K RAW at 2432 x 1366 pixels. Realistically, it is within the price range of the general HDSLR shooter particularly in the broadcasting industry where price oftentimes is the deciding factor.

Also, part of the package is the da Vinci Resolve software for color grading. Blackmagic Design’s grand plan is now unfolding as I remember when they had bought da Vinci Systems, creator of high-end color grading technology last 2009. That time, it was unimaginable for a creator of an SDI I/O card to acquire a color grading company. Well, it happened, and by eliminating the high service contract fees, the price of the da Vinci Resolve disrupted the early owners of the technology mainly in the post production industry. From the PhP1.5 million price tag, it went down to a fraction of PhP50,000 for the software only both for Mac OS and Windows platforms. I even overheard, that the Philippines become the da Vinci Resolve capital of the world after the said price drop, yet I have not seen any hard data to support such claim. True or not, it become ubiquitous to the new players in the production as well as post production industry in the Philippines. It leveled the playing field, as the cliché goes. With the da Vinci Resolve grading software that comes with a USB dongle which is part of the BMD Cinema Camera bundle, this is a real bargain that would definitely entice early adopters of the technology.

The 2.5K RAW at 2432 x 1366 pixels is the other wow factor. Yes, alright, there is the 4K resolution as what Canon has announced that it is developing the EOS C500 and EOS-1D C with price estimates at PhP1.3 Million and PhP650,000 respectively, capable of shooting up to 4096 x 2160 pixels. But for television broadcast, the 2.5K is more than enough, particularly in the color grading, where you will be provided a much larger range of alteration in the color spectrum. Sometimes, it is very frustrating to see the output of the 1080 HDs because of little room for color tweaks. The best that we could do is to grade it photoshop style, with a play in the brightness and contrast, a little amber here and there, add vignette for the overall old-fashioned look then topped with a cherry lens flare. It is from the “surface only” work without actually going deeper into every details of the shot.

Digital Video Resolutions

Comparing the BMD Cinema Camera at 2432 x 1366 pixels with the other digital video resolutions, obviously it has the edge over 2K which is only at 2048 x 1152 pixels, and other formats, i.e. the 1080 progressive at 1920 x 1080 pixels, the 720 progressive at 1280 x 720 pixels, the DVD NTSC at 720  x 480 pixels, and the VCD NTSC at 352 x 240 pixels.

According to Scott Anthony, author of The Innovator’s Guide to Growth, disruptive innovation is a particular type of innovation that occurs when an innovator brings to a market an innovation that is simple, convenient, accessible, and affordable. A game-changer. Sustaining innovations, in contrast, does not create new markets or value networks but only evolves the existing ones with better value, which is synonymous to incremental innovations.

I may say that, Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera would again disrupt the industry like what they did for the price of the color grading. Apply that to the same low cost pricing strategy for the Cinema Camera yet offering better resolution in contrast to the 1080 DSLRs, it would definitely be every producers dream of coming up high quality production in a shoestring budget.