Mariela's Music Time
Mariela Herrera is an
energetic and interactive bilingual educator and
performer for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Her work is filled with rhythms and multicultural
sounds that fit well with the rich traditions of our Bay Area.
Introducing children to music at an early age encourages a
life-long love for music as an art form. We not just sing, dance
and play music, but also work on understanding some of the
aspects of our multicultural traditions by exploring different
instruments, rhythms, sounds and soul.
Learning Folk dance, interacting, and engaging with the act of
making music is an important step in child development. It is
an early age appropriate developmental way to unfold their
physical abilities and coordination. It is also important for
them to enjoy physical exercises. Folk dance teaches basic
concepts of rhythm, repetition, sequencing, patterning,
predictability, anticipation, musical cues, auditory
discrimination, and counting.
Children will be exposed to a multicultural understanding of
different historical and social time periods. They will learnhow to appreciate all cultures, nations, and how people are
connected and interrelated .
About the Teacher
Mariela Herrera was born in Santiago de Chile and was
motivated to sing and dance since her childhood. She was part of a children’s folk group called Los Maipucitos for more than eight years. She learned about native dances and music, and played guitar, harp, flutes from Los Andes, and percussion instruments. With Los Maipucitos, she enjoyed traveling and performing in countries such as France, Germany, Ukraine, Holland, Poland, Belgium, Mexico, Argentina and others. Sh also joined BAFOCHI (Folkloric Ballet from Chile), and the Arte Chile dance company. She studied traditional Chilean culture at the Catholic University of Chile and took theatre courses at the University of Chile. Mariela is currently astudent of Early Childhood Education. She has been an East Bay resident for more
than twenty years. She has cultivated a career as a dancer and a musician for kids; her work has been in libraries, museum,s and cultural centers where she dances, teaches and plays with kids. She is creative and is inspired to teach rhythms and melodies that connect cultures with the learning process in this amazing multicultural community, the
Bay Area. In the US, she has participated with groups and solo performances for SF Symphony, Chevron, Credit Karma,
public libraries, hospitals, cultural centers, among others, where it is well known and appreciated. Her biggest desire is to continue using music as a vehicle to pursue the cognitive development of children. For the past decade, Mariela has drawn upon her background in music and studies of Early Childhood Education to create a program that not only explores the music, but also addresses the kids’ curiosity by
telling the history of the instruments and the cultures from where they originate. She uses kinesthetic techniques in her bilingual storytelling to make foreign words understood. In no time, kids are singing in another language as they dance and have fun.
AS AN INDEPENDENT EDUCATOR, I DON’T TYPICALLY RECEIVE TRADITIONAL
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. THAT SAID, I’VE ALWAYS BEEN DEEPLY TOUCHED BY THE
THOUGHTFUL GESTURES THAT SOME FAMILIES CHOOSE TO SHARE—WHETHER IT’S A
TEACHER APPRECIATION GIFT, A HOLIDAY GIFT CARD DURING CHRISTMAS
SEASON, OR A HANDWRITTEN NOTE OR DRAWING FROM THE CHILDREN.
THESE SMALL EXPRESSIONS OF APPRECIATION TRULY MEAN A LOT TO ME. THEY
MAKE ME FEEL SEEN, VALUED, AND CONNECTED TO THIS WONDERFUL COMMUNITY
WE ARE BUILDING TOGETHER THROUGH MUSIC.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS AND CONTINUED SUPPORT—IT NEVER GOES
UNNOTICED AND IS ALWAYS CHERISHED.
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