Mixed Ages
In a Music Together® Online class, we spend about 30-35 minutes with families (grownups AND their children)—playing our shakers, bouncing on laps, marching & drumming, and so much more—all while the children are doing the marvelous work of teaching themselves through developmentally-appropriate play. We help you make DIY instruments at home—"drums," shakers, "scarves," "rhythm sticks"—and we show you how to use the stuff you find at home to make music (and make your days more joyful while supporting incredible brain and body development in your children). Like always, the adults make music the grownup way while the children play the child way—and everyone has a ton of fun. Even at home, high-energy movers and quiet observers are all equally involved in their own way as we make music. We respect individual temperaments and learning styles, even at a distance! More than ever, Music Together Online classes provide a true family music experience, as older siblings are right there at home, along with moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or caregivers.
Here's our program in a nutshell: Music Together is a research-based, developmentally-appropriate, play-based music learning curriculum for families with children from birth through age seven. We're based on hard science, but we're ALL about having fun! As part of each family's tuition, you get a full collection of rich music (both digital and on CD), a fully-illustrated songbook, and a parent guide about how to support music development in young children.
Additional details:
- All children are born with the raw materials to be musical, and our family music and movement classes give them everything they need to blossom into the music makers they were born to become! Based on cutting edge research on early childhood music development and educational practices, our classes are developmentally-appropriate and filled with the playful exploration and experimentation children need to learn and grow. Just as important, the adults have fun, too! For babies, toddlers, preschoolers and the grownups who love them.
- All of our instructors are lifelong musicians and have undergone rigorous training in early childhood music development, developmentally appropriate teaching practices, and music education philosophy and techniques in order to be certified to teach Music Together.
- Our classes are meticulously designed to support the healthy development of every child's inborn music aptitude. Our lesson plan format is carefully structured to offer multiple access points for a variety of learning styles, to scaffold and reinforce the development of music behaviors as they emerge, and to educate parents/adults about children's music development, as well. And, in the midst of all this learning and best practices, we have a ton of fun! There are between six and twelve children in each Music Together class.
Babies Class (infant through 9 months)
 Discover How Babies are Wired for Music
Every baby is born wired for music and all children benefit from early exposure to music and movement. In our Babies-Only Online classes, we create a warm, welcoming environment that supports your baby’s natural musicality—and their overall development. We gather on Zoom and YOU face the screen, while your baby faces YOU! You’ll meet other new parents and learn lots of ways to interact musically with your infant—and as you sing, laugh, and learn together, you’ll deepen your bond with your baby, through music. This is a one-semester class, after which babies and their grownups attend mixed-age classes. The music activities and materials are specially designed for parents who want to learn as much as possible about music development in babies.
Guitar
Music Together Guitar Class for Grownups is open to parents and caregivers of children registered in the current semester. If you would like to learn to play guitar using Music Together songs as the vehicle, this is the class for you!
Participants will learn basic strums and chords for more than a dozen songs from the current Music Together song collection. This class is good for beginners who have never held a guitar—and good for people who know a little guitar, and great for people who already play some Music Together songs!
All participants build technique and musicianship in an organic, relaxed way while learning new ways to explore Music Together songs with their child at home and on the road. Singing and playing!
The 60 minute guitar classes meet once a week for 8 weeks. Students must bring their own guitar, capo, tuner, music stand. Students will receive the Music Together Guitar Workbook.
Rhythm Kids 4-5
Ages 4 and 5 yrs
We drum & dance. We stomp & sing. We conduct & compose.
We play games & make music the Big Kid way!
In Rhythm Kids Online classes, we gather on Zoom to drum, sing, and move to rhythms and music from around the world. The Rhythm Kids curriculum is an international, research-based music immersion program developed specifically for families with preschoolers and early elementary students aged 5-8.
Rhythm Kids students learn to compose, choreograph, and conduct as they play—and play with!—"drums" (djembes, if you have them, but shoes boxes and slop buckets work just as well!), other percussion instruments, and their first instruments (their voices and bodies). When parents and caregivers choose to attend class, too, they not only amplify their children’s learning but also have a great time singing, moving, and drumming themselves.
Honoring both cultural traditions from around the world and all children’s birthright to develop Basic Music Competence, Rhythm Kids Online classes include:
- Immersion in the rhythmic “language” of cultures from six continents (sorry, Antarctica!);
- Playful, developmentally-appropriate music games;
- Opportunities to lead, balanced with opportunities to collaborate;
- Rich, creative experimentation and expression, improvisation and innovation;
- Deep exposure to music that is both complex and fun;
- A carefully-constructed three-year Animal Song Curriculum (from Alligators and Tree Frogs to Elephants and Kangaroos);
- Expert teachers, award-winning materials, and a worldwide Rhythm Kids community.
Whether as a stand-alone music class or as a companion to formal instruction, Rhythm Kids helps children develop the facility, repertoire, and creativity that will allow them to unleash their own music-making potential.
The Rhythm Kids curriculum is co-authored by the developers of Music Together® and early childhood percussion expert Tom Foote.
Just for 4 and 5-year-olds, Rhythm Kids Online classes support the next level of music learning by capitalizing on how older children are wired to learn. Through unique music games, drumming patterns, and music from around the world, the big kids in this class collaborate, compose, choreograph, and conduct. This Summer we are exploring the TREE FROG collection with music & rhythms from South American drumming traditions
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