Music With Sara began in 2009 as a series of music classes for young children and their parents. As the classes continued, Music With Sara's founder, Sara Quintanar began writing songs and bringing the music to different schools, daycares, and preschool programs. At one of the schools, a Spanish Language Immersion Program in Southern California, Sara volunteered her time each week to bring music instruction to Kindergarten and first grade students. What resulted was a group of over 70 young students with a new ability not only to sing in tune but to sing in Spanish! The students excelled in second language learning, but it was the music and singing that brought the language learning to life, and made it exciting! A parent in the program, Diana Extein took Sara into her recording studio, along with percussionist Albe Bonacci to record the music as a teaching tool for the students in the program.
Now this album is available for you too! Canciones en Español contains 15 songs, mainly traditional Latin songs for children, and Spanish versions of some children's favorites, such as "if You're Happy and you Know it", and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".
One song on the CD, "Mama Te Quiero Mucho" has lyrics written by the students in the Spanish Program. Sara took a melody and idea to the students, and had them tell her the things they loved best about their mother's in Spanish. One student even requested changing the melody and rhythm of the song. Sara followed her suggestions, and what came about was a lovely song that the students felt proud of for creating on their own.
Sara Quintanar teaches music classes for children ages 0-6 in Southern California, and also plays the organ and sings at Cristo Rey Church in Atwater, CA. As a graduate from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Sara majored in Piano Studies. She later studied to be an Elementary School Teacher, and later combined the two vocations to teach music and singing to young children.
Her favorite students are her two young daughters, Celia and Effie, who also lend their voices in Canciones en Español.
She is currently teaching Parent and Me Music classes, and working on songs for the upcoming school year and another album of songs in Spanish very soon!
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