Amy Allen, Owner/Instructor
The Harmony Road Music School offers an exciting and comprehensive music program designed to help children discover the world of music through motivating materials and activities which develop the whole child.
Hearing ... feeling ... moving ... singing ... creating ... sharing ... reading ... and playing music ... children absorb and store musical patterns and concepts for enjoyment and growth in all of their musical endeavors.
The Harmony Road Music Course has evolved from a lifetime of musical involvement with young children. Harmony Road founder, composer, and writer,
Jan Keyser, developed the first courses in 1981 and has continued to provide high quality, research-based curriculum to fill the needs of young students and their families, as well as adults who want to learn to play the piano.
Amy Allen began offering group music classes through her studio to preschoolers in Paducah in 1992, and became certified as a Harmony Road teacher in 1997. The courses offered are all age appropriate, with motivating materials and CDs.
We have courses for all ages. Click here for more information!
Babies Make Music (birth to 18 months)
Toddler Tunes (18 months to 3 years)
Kids Make Music (3's to young 4's)
Music in Me / More Music in Me (Ages 3 1/2 to 4)
Rhythm and Rhyme (Ages 4 1/2 to 5)
Harmony Road (Ages 5 - 6, beginning piano)
Young Musician (Ages 6 - 7 beginning students)
Keyboard Prep (Ages 8 - 12 beginning students)
Keyboard Musician (after completing any of the three beginner courses)
Adult Group Piano (Adults and older teens)
Piano Lessons (for graduates of Keyboard Musician course)
Summer Classes (Music Camps and Summer Class Offerings)
Spring 2012 Class Schedule
Click the icons below to download the fall schedule:
Course List View:
Calendar View:
Spring 2012 Class Listv2.pdf
Schedule Spring 2012v2.pdf
Amy Allen received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Mississippi State University in 1981 and taught private piano lessons for 10 years. She began teaching music to preschool children in Paducah after moving here in 1991. But her interest in providing an early musical environment began when she witnessed first-hand the advantages enjoyed by her piano students who had been exposed to early childhood music experiences. After a few years of exploring song and curriculum materials from a variety of preschool music programs, she chose to become a certified Harmony Road instructor and open an authorized Harmony Road Music Education Center in Paducah.
"I especially like the connection of the preschool music to piano skills training and the way it flows right into piano lessons. Originally, I only planned to teach the preschool components of HR, but when I saw some 8 year old group piano students who could improvise and composed their own music at the piano, transpose songs, and choose chord accompaniments by ear, I was decidedly impressed! These were skills I thought only advanced students could learn. The Harmony Road curriculum truly teaches whole musicianship, and I wanted my students to learn all these skills from the beginning of their music training."
In 2005 - 2007, Amy also received training in the Orff-Schulwerk, a rhythm-based and student-centered philosophy of music education pioneered by the German composer and educator, Carl Orff. She holds Level I, II, and III certifications from the University of Kentucky, and incorporates many of the teaching techniques into her Harmony Road curriculum instruction. Now in her 14th year of teaching preschool music classes and group piano, she also serves as the administrator and in curriculum development for classes taught both in the studio and in local daycares and preschools. You may also find her singing to the babies in the Cradle Roll class at the Broadway church of Christ. Amy is married to Stan Allen, and they have three daughters and two new sons-in-law!
Ruth Somers began teaching at Harmony Road in January of 2000 and has a Bachelor of Music Degree from Murray State University and a Masters of Music Degree from the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY. Through the years, she has maintained a private piano studio, served various churches as pianist and organist, directed children's choirs, accompanied school choirs, and worked as a teacher's aide at Clark Elementary school. Currently, she is also the organist at Reidland Methodist Church and accompanist for Kantorei, which is a local community choral group founded by her late husband, Lee Somers.
"After years of private piano teaching, I have found the group approach offers many advantages over private lessons and I am thoroughly enjoying the Harmony Road philosophy of teaching music like a language."
Ruth has two grown children and two grandchildren who have inspired her to begin teaching the preschool classes of the Harmony Road curriculum in addition to her work with the group piano courses.
Rachel Hunt is in her 10th year of teaching for the Harmony Road Music School. A
native of Paducah, she is an avid lover of music, children, and teaching. These three
loves all find a common thread in the Harmony Road teaching experience. Her background as a private piano instructor, pianist and member in a variety of musical
endeavors at her church, a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Murray State University, as well as her love for families and children - have positioned her well to
serve as a music instructor in the unique setting Harmony Road provides.
Early exposure, due to a family who valued and incorporated music into everyday life,
and a gift she believes came from God - have caused music to be an integral part of her very fiber. "From a child, I loved to finger the keys of the piano at home where my mother game private lessons. As a result, I began picking out melodies and accompanying them with chords at a very young age. This kind of musical ear training is now the very concept I help children develop in the music classes I teach - a most advantageous aspect of the Harmony Road curriculum."
In addition to music, Rachel also enjoys healthy cooking, good-quality reading, shopping, traveling and spending time with her family.
Kelly Walden is one of the Toddler Tunes experts at Harmony Road. Her training for the position actually began unexpectedly when she enrolled her own children in the program and experienced the benefits of early exposure to music from the perspective of a parent. She and her husband, Wayne, have both attended Harmony Road classes with their three children, Ryson, Cason and Michael Ellen before Kelly took on the new role as teacher.
Kelly is well-suited to teaching music to preschool children. "I've never taught music before working at Harmony Road, but I've been a singer or performer most of my adult
life. My mother and grandmother, both teachers, sang constantly to me as I was growing up, and my legacy from them is a large repertoire of children's songs and folk songs. So singing to children and teaching them to sing is intuitive and joyful for me."
Kelly has a Master's degree in English and works part-time teaching English and tutoring students in ACT prep. She and her husband both sing with the praise and worship team at the Reidland church of Christ.
Marsha Beaton comes to Harmony Road with a wealth of teaching experiences, having retired from Paducah Public Schools in 2005. She began and ended her teaching career with the public schools in music---teaching in High School and Junior High to start her career, and ending with Elementary music. In between, she was a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher for 23 years. Marsha is the pianist at her church, Trinity United Methodist. She also directs the Children's Choir there. In addition, she has an online antique store, "The Loft Antiques" at www.rubylaneantiques.com.
Marsha loves children and music, so the two are never far apart in her activities. While
teaching music at Clark Elementary, she remarked that she could most always recognize the Harmony Road students when they came to her. "Starting music involvement at such an early age as Harmony Road encourages, really sets children up for success when they reach school age, and not only in music. It also carries over into their academic subject areas as well." After teaching a variety of classes at Harmony Road, she has found it especially rewarding to grow with a group of students. "It's been fun watching these babies grow and learn from several sessions of toddler classes to completion of both Kids Make Music semesters. Even when they are shy, or parents think they might not be participating as they wish they would, they are pleasantly surprised when they hear them singing all the words and doing the actions to the songs at home. Those little babes are like sponges, and they are constantly absorbing what they see and hear around them."
Marsha remembers one little boy that came to class with his older sister, and then followed with his own class. At the end of the session, the mom sent a note saying that before the music classes, he never talked. Then, he just began to open up and she credited his positive progress in communication skills to being involved with the music classes--further testimony to music being a key part of a child's developmental process. Marsha has known this all along throughout her teaching career. When teaching in her 2nd and 3rd grade classes, she knew that if she could teach a song or a chant to go with a skill, the kids would retain it for longer.
Your registration will be complete when payment of the fees (registration, materials, and where applicable, computer) and one month tuition is received. For babies and toddlers classes, the tuition is due in full for the first 6-week session. This should be dropped off at the studio or mailed.
The registration fee is $5 per child or $10 per family, to be paid once during a school year. The computer fee is $5 per child per semester and is only collected for those students in group piano classes (Harmony Road, Young Musician, Keyboard Prep, and Keyboard Musician).
If paying monthly, subsequent payments are due by the 15th of the month. Please include the student's name, the course name, and what the check is to be posted toward - whether tuition, materials, or both.
Please call 270-444-3669 for information about tuition and material fees.
Spring Registration
Registration for Harmony Road classes can be completed online, by phone, or on-site.
To register online, visit the Course Schedule page in the website to view the class offerings, days and times. The Course Descriptions page will provide an overview of each course that may be helpful in determining which course is right for you. Then, use the Registration page to complete the registration form.
To register by phone, call 444-3669 and leave a message for us to return your call. Our studio is located at 2226 Broadway, Suite 2 in Paducah for on-site registration. Please be aware that we do not have a receptionist, and if you drop by without an appointment, we may be in classes and unable to meet with you. Feel free, however, to pick up brochures.
REGISTRATION FOR SPRING 2012 CLASSES
Our schedule for spring classes is posted and online registration has begun. You may fill out a registration form online through the Registration page or call the studio at (270) 444-3669. If you have any questions about classes or the schedule, please call the studio at (270) 444-3669, or email us through our website link.
Congratulations to our graduates of Young Musician!
Daisy Grimes, Fox Grimes, Jake Myskowski, and Jed Myskowski have completed the Young Musician course and are graduating November 22nd! They worked many hours to get to this point in the curriculum and deserve our good wishes. Congratulate their parents too!!
Gift Certificates
Gift certificates are available for single classes, entire semesters of tuition, or for materials. The amount of the gift certificates depends upon the class for which the certificate is purchased.
To purchase a gift certificate for a Harmony Road class, call the studio at (270) 444-3669, or email us at amyallen_harmonyroadpaducah.com.
Interested in learning more about the Harmony Road Music School?
Call the studio at (270) 444-3669 or use the contact form to email us at amyallen_harmonyroadpaducah.com.
Stop by the music studio and pick up a brochure. We are located in an L-shaped building at 2226 Broadway, Suite 2 in Paducah, KY 42001 (next to Paducah Prosthetics).
Click here for an interactive map of our location!
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