Suffolk, Virginia (PRWEB) January 31, 2014 -- Lake Prince Woods invites the public to attend a new music class being offered at the retirement community. The class will be held every Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. on the campus of the retirement community. The class will not only provide the participants with a fun and relaxing experience, but will improve their thinking skills.
Bob Crute, a retired church minister of music, is offering the class using the Orff Approach.
In addition to being fun, learning music may have lasting benefits. Researchers believe that musical training actually creates new pathways in the brain. During the first years of life, those brain cells form connections with other brain cells. Over time, the connections we use regularly become stronger.
Some of these music pathways actually affect the way people think. Listening to classical music can improve our spatial reasoning, at least for a short time. Learning to play an instrument may have an even longer effect on certain thinking skills.
So what will seem like fun -- and perhaps even child's play -- will improve the participants' brain power.
The music generated in the Orff Approach is largely improvisational. It was developed by the German composer Carl Orff (1895–1982) and colleague Gunild Keetman during the 1920's. Some of the instruments within the approach include miniature xylophones, marimbas, glockenspiels, and metallophones; all have removable bars, resonating columns to project the sound, and are easily transported and stored.
"The classes will be for those who enjoy music and perhaps have never played an instrument," Crute noted. The approach was originally developed to teach music to children and when used in that context combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to child's world of play.
Lake Prince Woods residents Lyn Snyder and Jean Hoyniak, who both received a sample of what the class will be like, said it was surprisingly entertaining and fun. "Participants will agree with us that it is fun and a very different way of making music," Lyn said.
To register for the music classes, contact Susan Stone at 757-923-5511 or sstone(at)uchas.org.
Lake Prince Woods is a residential retirement community offering an array of lifestyle choices. Located in Suffolk, Virginia, the community is nestled among 172 lovely wooded acres bordering Lake Prince. As a continuing care retirement community, Lake Prince Woods offers residential living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing care. To learn more, visit the website: http://www.lakeprincewoods.org.
Joy Cline, United Church Homes and Services, http://www.uchas.org, +1 (828) 465-8014, [email protected]
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