Imagine a group of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers gathering together actively making music with their mommies and daddies!
They shake eggs fast and slow, high and low while singing about Johnnie’s blue shoes and Kendal’s striped overall. Then, they all get up to dance a Nigun from the Far East. Adults and big kids follow the teacher around in a circle, in and out, while the newly walking toddlers and infants catch a ride in mommy or daddy’s arms, feeling the beat all the while.
Everyone makes joyful “whoop” as the group steps towards the middle and a little baby shrieks with excitement. A toddler, no longer wishing to be in mommy’s arms, wiggles down and chooses to bounce around on the outside of the circle, but is still actively participating and engaging in the music. This is a typical scene one might encounter if visiting a Music Together class.
All children are musical! Music Together believes that music ability is as much a life skill as walking or talking. All children all born with this ability to make music, however, a child’s musical ability, like any other ability, needs to get nurtured in order for it to grow!
This is what happens in a Music Together class. Six to twelve families with young children gather together with a teacher who is trained in early childhood music to actively make music for 45 minutes each week.
The learning continues throughout the week as the parents/grandparents are encouraged to play the CD’s and sing frequently with their children as a part of their day. Children get to learn in the most natural way for them: through play and with lots of repetition!
Parents also get a chance to have fun. Since children most naturally learn from their most important role model, mom or dad, we not just include, but really engage the adults in class. It is not unusual to hear a beautiful round or for daddy give ideas for a verse that shares his daughter’s favorite animal.
If parents are worried that their voices are not good enough, they are immediately encouraged to sing along anyway; to a child, mommy or daddy’s voice is the most magical and lovely voice in the world.
Children get to participate at their own developmental level without any performance pressure. Some children learn by observing and others choose to jump (literally) right in! “I truly enjoy when I get to hear from a mommy that their sweet quiet-like-a-mouse, 2 ½-year-old, sings ALL the songs when they get home!” says Kathy Rowe, director of Music Together in Phoenix.
There are many different learning styles and it is wonderful to honor both the moving-kinesthetic learner as well as the aural-careful-observing learner. Lastly, it is very common to find a bit of silly quotient in each class; children love to see mom be silly and sing a whole verse making bug sounds and having the rhythm sticks perched up high like antennae on her heads!
Music Together is excited to offer family music classes Monday through Sunday with various locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Peoria & Paradise Valley.
Contact: Music Together In Phoenix
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