“Music makes me strong and happy. When I stomp my feet, I’m strong like an elephant. When I clap my hands, I’m dancing like a seal. When I flap my arms, I’m a beautiful butterfly. When I open my mouth, you hear
the song of a bird.”
Heartsong Music, The Arts and Fitness Program for Young Children, and The Center for Child Protection are thrilled to announce a new collaboration to bring Music Together classes to 300 underserved children in the Austin area. With your help, we can help children
grow happy and strong through music.
Our Story:
Heartsong Music (Heartsong), The Arts and Fitness Program for Young Children (AFPYC), and The Center for Child Protection (the Center) are partnering to offer Music Together classes at nine childcare centers in Austin, Texas. Our mission is to enhance early
childhood education for economically disadvantaged children through direct learning experiences and to enhance the quality of childcare through professional development for staff.
Heartsong Music will begin teaching classes at AFPYC's designated childcare centers in the fall of 2013. We will work together to bring music education to underserved children and families in the community.
The children we serve come from disadvantaged backgrounds and would not have access to Music Together without our intervention and assistance from the community.
Our Goal:
All children are born musical! And this inherent musical ability in children needs to be encouraged through musical exposure and experimentation. If this exposure is not present in a child's early life, then the child's musical potential will actually atrophy.
It is a birthright for all children to be able to sing in tune and march to a beat. To ensure a comprehensive early childhood learning experience, music must be included in the curriculum.
Thousands of children in our country are deprived of joyful musical experiences and musical learning, simply because they cannot afford it. We believe that if music is indeed a “birthright” then we need to provide those musical experiences for as many children
as possible.
This Is Where YOU Come In!
Starting this fall, we have the opportunity to teach Music Together to 300 children in Austin, TX. But, we need your support to reach these children!
Why Our Project Matters:
We can create a community of music makers. It is a family and community program and process. A core objective of the Music Together program is to teach caregivers (teachers and parents) how to be musical with their children. By creating musical families,
we will instill a confidence and ability that cultivates musical children. These children and caregivers will enhance their world by sharing their musical experiences with others and will create a life long interest and passion for making music.
In addition to the musical benefits these children will receive, our programming also serves as an abuse and neglect prevention program. The populations we will be working with have a higher incidence of child abuse. The Center for Child Protection
(CCP) in Austin, TX serves many children in the area that have been the victims of abuse and neglect. They are a supporter of our partner, AFPYC, because of their research and findings that positive educational programming provided to disadvantaged children
creates an inner confidence and sense of well being. CCP has learned through research that preschool children who are involved in special programs like Music Together are less likely to be victimized because of the higher self-esteem
and confidence that is developed. And this confidence, along with other adult role models who they can trust and can confide in, allows the children to report any instances of being violated in any way, if abuse is happening. Our Music Together program
and teachers can instill this sense of self-confidence and give children a voice if they are in a very difficult situation.
Project Details:
Heartsong Music and AFPYC have established a long term partnership, with long term benefits for children.
Our goal is to teach 20 classes of Music Together® each week, for a full 31 week school year. We will reach the same 300 children every week, building a relationship between the children and the classroom teachers.
The children will experience 50 to 75 songs a year and become familiar with important aspects of music-making including: moving in rhythm, singing in various tonalities, improvising, listening, using language in musical ways, dancing,
and “reading” songbook pages. Music becomes part of daily classroom life, extending to other curriculum areas like language, art, and math.
Benefits of Music Together Preschool Classes:
- Helps children to learn music in developmentally appropriate ways.
- Supports cognitive, language, emotional, social, and physical development.
- Gives parents enjoyable and significant ways to relate to their children.
- Engages at-risk children.
- Enhances happiness and well-being in the school community.
Support for Classroom Teachers:
- Many of the classroom teachers at these preschools are young adults without college educations, with little experience working with preschoolers and dealing with classroom management. They often cannot afford continuing education.
-The Music Together teacher will teach music with the classroom teacher present, giving the classroom teacher fresh ideas on classroom management, and showing how singing and dancing can ease the transitions throughout the day.
- Classroom teachers adapt activities to their curriculum needs and interests using the Music Together teaching materials provided for classroom use.
Music at Home:
- Children “bring the music home” for parent/child musical play, sharing the songs and activities lea
rned
in school.
- Music experiences provide adults with a new arena for observation, evaluation, and appreciation of the child’s cognitive, language, emotional, social, and physical development.
- The joy of music at home and in school creates a natural circle of learning that builds parent/child, parent/teacher and parent/school relationships.
- Each family receives a songbook and 2 CDs (one for the car and one for home)
Carey Youngblood, Owner and Director of Heartsong Music
