WHAT IS MUSIC TOGETHER®?
Music Together is a fun, family music program for children ages birth to 5 and the grownups who love them. Music Together in Susquhanna Valley offers classes in Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry Counties.
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Music Together is based on the knowledge that all children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning.
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First offered to the public in 1987, Music Together pioneered the concept of a research-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music curriculum that strongly emphasizes and facilitates adult involvement.
Music Together in Susquehanna Valley classes are a community of families sharing songs, instrument play, rhythm chants, and movement activities in a relaxed, playful, non-performance-oriented setting. Adults, babies, toddlers, and preschoolers join together to make family music.
FREE demonstration classes are offered prior to the upcoming semester. Call for dates and times.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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How long are classes and how often? Classes are 45 minutes and the semester is 10 weeks. Families take home CDs of the music and a beautifully illustrated songbook allowing them to make Music Together at home.
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No one in our family is musical. Will Music Together be right for our child? At Music Together, we believe that all children are musical. Just as a child has the innate ability to speak and understand his native language, he also has the ability to do the same with the language of music. We don't wait to talk to our children until they show a "talent" for language. Children talk when they are ready because they have been immersed in language from birth. Children walk when they are ready because they have felt movement while being carried and have watched people around them walk. Giving a child this same kind of immersion in musical experiences will provide him or her with opportunities to learn to sing in tune and keep a steady beat.
Can I enroll my toddler as well as my 10-month-old in the same class? Not only can you, we encourage it! Research shows that preschoolers learn best in a mixed age environment. The little ones learn by watching and imitating the older children. The older children love being the “big kids” and showing the little ones how it is done. This family-style learning environment facilitates participation and involvement in the music for every child, at whatever developmental stage they may be. Just as children learn to walk and talk in different ways, children learn to sing in tune and to the correct beat in a style that is unique to them.
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I'm afraid my child will just sit there during class (or my child will wander around during class). How will she learn? There are many different learning styles. Some children are visual learners who need to watch before they experiment on their own. Others are aural learners who are listening, even when they are across the room. Kinesthetic learners need to move! Tell a kinesthetic learner that she can’t move and you are actually hurting her learning process. Therefore, a child’s learning in class happens in a multi-layered way - through active participation, watching others move, experimenting with instruments and even by just being there and listening to you sing. Instead of waiting for your child to do something in class, let yourself go and do it yourself. Then, watch and listen to her at home, and you will see and hear how much she is learning and absorbing in class!
