Did you know that all children are musical?
Have you ever wondered what you can do to nurture the musical growth of your child, regardless of your own musical ability?
Experience Music Together and find out how important, and how much fun, your role can be!
Our research-based Music Together classes build on your child's natural enthusiasm for music and movement. We'll help you provide your child with the basic musical skills needed to enjoy school and social musical activities, and to study an instrument should he or she choose to do so.
Music Together is a revolutionary music and movement approach to early childhood music development. Children aged birth through five years and their parents/primary caregivers sit in a circle and participate in six 45-minute weekly classes to experience new songs, chants, small and large motor movement activities and instrumental jam sessions. In this informal and spontaneous way, the children create and play while they actively acquire new music experiences and skills. Each class has ritual features, which the children need and enjoy: the hello song, a play-along, a lullaby and the goodbye song. The teacher as facilitator helps adults understand how to participate and the importance of having fun with their child. The children create and play at their own developmental level. In this mixed age group, activities focus on adult/child interaction rather than child/child interaction, so children of different ages, including siblings, can enjoy class together.
A child’s music development will benefit from early exposure as an infant in a stimulating, yet playful environment. Cooing, babbling musically, making eye contact, and accumulating many listening experiences are facilitated through an enriched music program. Research has demonstrated that children can learn to establish an accurate beat and sing in tune as early as 18 months of age. This is known as basic music competence. There is evidence that early formation of basic music competence may facilitate development of patterning and mathematics skills, as well as reading and writing abilities.
TYPICAL QUESTIONS ASKED:
Are the Same Songs Used Every Semester?
No. Each six-week summer semester uses a different song collection. There are nine song collections during the school year, or three years' worth.
Do Infants Really Benefit?
Yes! Infants' participation will seem passive at first, but they are actively absorbing what they are seeing, hearing and feeling. By reading the parent guide to children's music development and through parent education in the class, caregivers will learn to recognize their infant's musical responses and observe them reaching musical milestones. As their bodies and nervous systems mature, the infants often show progressively more complex musical responses and evidence of song recognition. You will learn in class how to enhance your child's music development and how to create or enhance the musical bond with your child.
How Does the Mixed-age Format Work in Class?
* Early childhood educators are now recommending mixed-age groupings as a better learning environment. Older children learn from being in a leadership role, and younger children benefit from the example of an older child. Mixed-age classrooms also promote social skills and self-esteem.
* The classes have more of a family feel rather than a school orientation. Siblings can participate together, as well as moms, dads, grandparents, and caregivers. (No need to get a babysitter!)
* The curriculum is designed to teach on many levels of complexity at once.
* Children of the same age are not necessarily in the same stage of musical development.
* The activities are parent-child oriented, not child-child, so children don't need to be with children of the same age.
I'm Not Musical. Can I Really Help My Child Develop Musical Intelligence?
Yes! A parent is a child's most important teacher. Research has shown that children learn their disposition toward music from their primary caregiver. A parent who has difficulty singing in tune can still teach his or her child that music is fun and important by modeling enthusiastic participation. Experiencing music in the class, at live concerts, and on recordings will teach your child to discern accurate pitch and rhythm, so the "non-musical" parent can relax about that aspect.