Thanks to collaboration of Atomic Tae Kwon Do Family Health Center and Maestri di Musica, Inc. – Masters of Music, we created an amazing opportunity for children 4-12 years old to explore two different arts: Music &Tae Kwon Do. Both Arts complement each other bringing variety of benefits to our young population. Exploring these arts in the friendly group environment develops a real team spirit, friendship, social skills and child’s respect for self and others, through individual and team work tasks. Helping other students develops leadership abilities and discipline, while acquiring new knowledge builds self-esteem and confidence. A friendly and motivating atmosphere is exactly what child needs to grow, progress and above all to have summer filled with fun and laughter.

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Music Education helps children build their holistic skills. It teaches us to use mind, body, emotions and spirit together to integrate new skills and information. It is scientifically proven that “music trains the brain for higher forms of thinking. After eight months of musical training, 3-year-olds were expert puzzle masters, scoring 80% higher than their playmates did in spatial intelligence— the ability to visualize the world accurately. This skill later translated into complex math and engineering skills.”

Our music program incorporates variety of musical games and instruments like: piano keyboards, bells, boomwhackers, and percussive instruments, thus giving children an opportunity to explore music: pitch, melody, rhythm, dynamics (loudness/softness), timbre (colors of sound) in creative and exciting ways. During our music time children discover piano keyboard geography by playing at various locations on their instruments, they learn music alphabet, reading notes and counting rhythms. Even the youngest children learn to recognize music notes by playing various board games and using instruments, on which music notes are associated with different colors and lengths like bells or boomwhackers.

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Martial Arts Training helps to improve poor coordination, motor planning deficits, limitations of range motion and mild hemiplegia. It brings great results in reducing hyper-activity through proprioceptive and kinesthetic input. Multi sensory activities have an amazing impact on improving listening skills, while forms and standard movements develop child’s sequencing and planning. Poor flexibility in hamstrings, calf, hips, and lower and middle spine affect children’s posture and in later age can contribute to kyphosis and curvature of the spine. Today children, so often computer and Nintendo “Scientists,” are characterized with poor endurance, coordination and speed. Lack of exercise and fast food diet contribute to obesity, which bring the immediate results: poor self-esteem and lack of self-confidence later on followed by heart diseases, diabetes, joint stress and many more. Our Martial Arts Training Program incorporates wide range of exercises connected with stretching and controlled breathing to encourage happier and healthier lifestyle.

Our Music and Tae Kwon Do classes will be taught by Dr. Luiza Raab-Pontecorvo. Mrs. Raab is a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and 1st Degree Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu, she holds double major degree in Piano and French performance from Chopin National Music Academy in Warsaw and Doctorate of Musical Arts from SUNY at Stony Brook. Currently she serves on faculty at Hofstra University as both horn and piano professor, conducts Hofstra Horn Choir and is a piano accompanist for flute studio and vocal department. She has performed on Broadway and in major venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. She is a 2nd horn player at Westchester Chamber Orchestra and collbarates with many other groups such as Yamaha Artists Chamber Orchester, Albany Symphony, Staten Island Philharmonic to name a few. She has performed throughout Europe, Scandinavia and Asia with many orchestras including Jeunesses Musicales in Salzburg, Trinity Chamber Orchestra in London, Narvic Peace Symphony Orchestra in Norway and many others. She is founder of Maestri di Musica, Inc., education and performance oriented organization in NY. As an artistic director, she developed a unique music program, which integrates occupational therapy into music thus helping autistic and special needs students to experience the benefits of music in their lives. With high expertise and experience in teaching she has been training other music teachers to develop pedagogical skills and special approach to students with developmental disabilities. Her knowledge of Martial Arts includes other arts like Karate, Jui-jitsu, Aikido, Arnis, Soo Bahk Do and Tai Chi. She was recognized internationally and appointed to "Hall of Fame" for the unique program she designed while integrating Occupational Therapy in Martial Arts and Music. To learn more about Mrs. Raab please visit her website at www.atomictaekwondo.com or www.maestridimusica.com

Main Instructor of our Tae Kwon Do classes will be Master Bart Pontecorvo– an Occupational Therapist with 25 years of experience in his profession. During this time Master Bart worked with all ages from preschool through geriatrics (8 years in early childhood intervention) simultaneously coordinating services for two nursing homes: Sunrise Manor and Affinity Assisted Living. In the meantime Master Bart has continued his studies of the Arts earning 4th Degree Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do and 1st Degree Black Belt in Jui-jitsu. Currently he teaches Martial Arts to children with special needs (as well as normal children in an integrated setting) using an Occupational Therapy frame work. The Martial Arts program designed by him improves children’s strength, range of motion, sensory motor integration, and cognitive and perceptual strategies to help them in negotiating the environment in a more balanced and focused manner. The therapeutic background enables him to better evaluate student’s perceptual, cognitive and sensory motor level and facilitate further growth and development by designing program, which serves the needs of each individual child. He was recognized internationally and appointed to "Hall of Fame" for the unique program he designed which integrates Occupational Therapy in Martial Arts.