A Very Good Place to Start!
Give your baby, toddler, or preschooler a learning advantage for life with the RCM Smart Start™ Program exclusively at MIC.
build the cognitive skills that help children thrive!
The first years of life are a remarkable time for brain development. During these early years, children build the foundational skills that support learning, communication, self-regulation, and academic success. The Royal Conservatory of Music Smart Start™ early childhood program at MIC uses music, movement, play, and the arts to nurture critical cognitive skills including:
ATTENTION • MEMORY • LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT • COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY
In addition to being a wonderful way to create joyful experiences for children and their caregivers, the rich cognitive and developmental benefits of beginning music from the earliest possible age are priceless!
Beginning Fall 2026, the Music Institute will offer Smart Start™ classes in Evanston, Winnetka, and Lake Forest. Classes are expected to fill quickly.
Join the waitlist today to receive early access to registration information.
Why Parents Choose Smart Start™
Parents enroll in Smart Start™ because they want to help their children:
✓ Develop focus and attention
✓ Strengthen memory and listening skills
✓ Build language and early literacy foundations
✓ Improve coordination and motor development
✓ Grow confidence and self-expression
✓ Learn through joyful, age-appropriate, musical play
These are the same foundational skills children use later for reading, learning, problem-solving, and success in school.
SMART START™
0-12 months
SMART START™
12-24 months
SMART START™
Toddlers - age 2
Enjoy rhythms and rhymes, learn some new lullabies, and have fun with your little one!
Toddlers are almost always on the move! Channel your child's natural energy through music and movement learning.
Confident, active kids become confident, active adults! Set your child on the right path by engaging them in music and movement based play.
SMART START™
Toddlers - age 3
SMART START™
Age 4
Smart Start™ classes will be offered in Evanston, Winnetka, and Lake Forest beginning in Fall 2026.
Classes are expected to fill quickly.
Join the waitlist today to receive early access to registration information.
Singing, dancing, playing games - children adore this active, play-based learning environment. In this class, children learn foundational musical skills such as tempo, meter, pitch, and dynamics.
The teaching techniques employed in this course are designed to support children's socialization, fine motor skills, and self-confidence through instruction in fundamental musical concepts.
Where Music Meets Developmental Science
Created by experts in early childhood education and neuroscience, the RCM Smart Start™ supports the development of:
- Emotional regulation
- Focus, attention and memory
- Confidence and self-expression
- Cognitive and fine motor skills
- Language and social interaction
Through interactive movement, and group play, children build essential skills that help them thrive – in and beyond the classroom.
Built-In Literacy Development
The RCM Smart Start program integrates the core components of early literacy into every class. Through play-based activities and group engagement, children are naturally introduced to the five foundational pillars of reading:
- Phonemic Awareness
– Recognizing and playing with individual sounds - Phonics
– Understanding sound-letter relationships - Fluency
– Reading with speed, accuracy, and expression - Vocabulary
– Expanding language through songs and stories - Comprehension
– Making meaning through listening and engagement
Smart Start™ FAQs
What is Smart Start™?
Smart Start™ is a program which uses music, supported by other art forms, to teach cognitive skills to young children.
What are cognitive skills?
Cognitive skills are the basic mental abilities that support us in our everyday activities. Skills such as attention, memory, perception, and cognitive flexibility are crucial both to daily tasks and special projects, and help us in activities as varied as reading, mathematics, planning, games, and socialization.
How is the Smart Start™ Curriculum different from other Early Childhood Music Education Programs?
The Smart Start™ curriculum builds on the Royal Conservatory of Music's sixty years of fine music pedagogy in early childhood. The RCM has been able to bring together leading subject specialists to develop a unique and exciting early childhood program. Together with The RCM's Director of Research, neuroscientist Dr. Sean Hutchins, our early childhood music specialists are allowing a current understanding of cognitive skills to evolve our teaching of music. Also, modern educational practices help us understand that children learn in many different ways and it is important to differentiate the way that we teach to best serve the learning needs of the child. Supporting music with the arts (drama, dance and visual art) creates a full-bodied learning experience, including physical, visual and interpersonal engagement.
Will my child learn to play an instrument in Smart Start™ class?
Children in Smart Start™ develop fine motor control, rhythm, creativity and sophisticated musical understandings through their exploration of a wide variety of percussion and Orff instruments. This learning is wonderful preparation for lessons on a specific instrument later on.
Will my child learn to read music in Smart Start™ class?
Smart Start™ classes provide age-appropriate instruction in music reading through games and play-based learning activities.
How does research factor in to Smart Start™?
Research plays an important role in the development, evaluation, and continuation of Smart Start™ classes. Our curriculum is based on current psychological and neuroscientific research on the role of music education on cognitive development. Our teachers receive training in this research, and we continue to refine our curriculum and practices based on it. In addition, in order to keep refining and developing our practices, we conduct original research on the outcomes of our Smart Start™ classes. This voluntary research is maintained through community support, and is vital to our continued improvement as an educational institution.
This all sounds pretty serious. Will my child have any fun?
Smart Start teachers understand that young children learn best when they are engaged by an activity. They are highly skilled in using a great variety of teaching strategies, including stories, play and games. And don’t forget, children naturally enjoy both mental and physical activity. From memory games to creative play, cognitive skill development, especially though music, can be more fun than work.