History

Musikgarten opened in 1994 when Dr. Lorna Lutz Heyge merged her music education background with the experience and input of childhood education specialist, Audrey Sillick.  These two women are the authors of the early childhood music curricula that comprise Musikgarten.

Musikgarten's president, Dr. Heyge, began making a name for herself in the world of early-childhood music in 1971 as the assistant director of a music school in Germany.  Commissioned by the authors of the curriculum she taught to preschool children, Heyge adapted the program and brought it to North America in 1974 as Kindermusik, educating hundreds of teachers about this curriculum before selling the business in 1993.

She met Audrey Sillick in the Toronto Montessori School and with her guidance continued to study the role of music and movement on the development of young children. Together, the two authors wrote curricula that reflected their combined education, experience, and the latest research in childhood development. Their beliefs and studies are at the core of the Musikgarten curricula — the same solid instruction offered since 1994.

Heyge holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, a PhD in musicology from the University of Cologne, and an Artist Diploma (the German equivalent of a Doctorate of Musical Arts) from the Cologne Musik Hochschule.

Sillick was the founder and Director Emeritus of the Toronto Montessori Teacher Training Institute. She was an internationally known writer and speaker promoting movement and music education, earth education, and Montessori teacher training.

In 2007,  Jill Hannagan and Jeff Spickard joined the executive team of Musikgarten as executive and administrative vice presidents.  Long-time associates of Musikgarten, both have considerable experience running their own businesses and are musicians, making Musikgarten an early-childhood music company being managed by musicians who have had success in the worlds of both business and music.