Music Brings Communities Together

Music Together is all about community. Every week in classes all over the world, children, parents, and teachers form their own music-making communities, as they also become part of the global community of Music Together families who have sung with us across generations. And, as families meet and form connections in our classrooms, our centers become important parts of their local communities, which in many cases includes supporting those in need. We are proud of all the ways our center directors have worked to become a part of the village it takes to build a strong community. Read on to learn more about just a few of their inspiring projects.

Bringing Music Education to Marginalized Communities

In 2014, Dr. Ana Treviño-Godfrey and Jonathan Godfrey founded the Prelude Music Foundation with the goal to bring high-quality music education to preschoolers in underserved communities in Houston, Texas, where the husband-and-wife team operate the Music Together center Prelude Music Classes for Children. Today, the Prelude Music Foundation reaches over 1,950 pre-kindergarteners at nine elementary schools in Houston and at Casa de Esperanza de Los Niños, a residential foster care and crisis intervention facility.

Prelude Music Foundation Board of Trustees President Eli Levinowitz says,

“Our role in the community is to give the same incredible gift of music I had growing up to families who don't have the means to get it for themselves. There are so many schools out there without sufficient music or arts programs, especially within our lower-income communities in Houston. Our goal is to give everyone access to their birthright of music.”

Students participate in weekly Music Together classes full of music activities that support their academic and music development. The Prelude Foundation program goes beyond the classes to include professional development for teachers and family engagement support.

An exciting part of the Prelude program is the community partnerships with some of Houston’s leading performing arts organizations: Apollo Chamber Players, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, and the Community Embedded Musicians from the Houston Symphony. Several times each year, professional musicians visit classrooms with their instruments and make music with the students. The year ends with a Family Engagement Concert, where children, parents, and teachers sing and make music as a community alongside some of the world-class musicians from their partners.

On April 7, 2022, the Foundation’s My First Orchestral Concert was held at Houston’s Miller Outdoor Theater, on what the Mayor of Houston proclaimed to be Prelude Music Foundation Day. Musicians from Prelude’s community partners joined teachers to lead more than 3,200 students, parents, and teachers in a concert. As the musicians played and the teachers sang from the stage, children and their families became a part of the music-making experience as they sang, danced, shook shakers, and waved scarves along to the tunes they had been learning all year. It was a joyous occasion for all.

Ana says,

“Thank you to our community partners for sharing your passion, skill, hard work, and love of music with Houston's youngest music-makers! Keep making the world a better place by making it more musical. We are so grateful to have been able to reach so many students in the Houston area who might not otherwise have access to music education.”

Learn more about the work of the Prelude Music Foundation at www.preludemusicfoundation.org.

Making Music with Grandfriends during the Pandemic

Music Together Generations classes have been held at an assisted living center in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Dahl Studio, for a few years. In these intergenerational classes, senior participants, called Musical Grandfriends, become a part of a mixed-age class and join in singing, moving, and playing along with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and their grownups.

When COVID-19 hit, classes had to be suspended. In order to keep the music going, Director Keri Dahl arranged for the seniors to receive weekly videos of Music Together Online classes. And, when it was safe for families to gather outside, Dahl Studio arranged community card-signing and crafting events every month or two, and then took the crafts, cards, and banners to the center to help brighten the residents’ days and help them through the quarantine.

Keri shares,

“Our studio families really stepped up, as well as community partners like Denny’s, who donated crayons, and Smith’s, who donated flowers that the staff at the assisted living center delivered to the residents. We didn't want them to feel like they were alone or forgotten. We were able to restart our Generations class this last winter, and it was beautiful to be back together.”

Supporting Neighbors in Need

As a part of the community where they hold classes, many Music Together centers support local causes, often raising money or collecting goods for organizations and individuals in need. These efforts have included collecting canned goods for food pantries, diaper drives, donations to fund childhood cancer research, natural disaster relief, and more.

At Music Together Tri-Cities in Richland, Washington, collecting supplies for the Safe Harbor Support Center, a local teen and women’s shelter, has become a holiday tradition (even during Covid!). Every year since 2015, families bring in hygiene items, cleaning supplies, diapers, wipes, and monetary donations. Director Jana Hair says,

“It it something families in our center look forward to every year, and every year I am amazed at their generosity and how much we are able to collect!”

Bringing Music Together to More Families

Music Together in Phoenix, Arizona, has partnered with First Things First, the state’s early childhood agency, to offer Music Together outreach classes every week. First Things First supports programs across Arizona through grants to community organizations that provide services for young children from birth to age 5 (before kindergarten) and their families. Through the partnership, all families have the opportunity to attend one of three weekly Music Together classes free of charge.

In Harmony Music in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, works with several organizations who work directly with families in need, including First Five California, Glide Memorial Church, Mickie's Miracles, and Support for Families. Director Justine Chadly says,

“We know how much family music helps in times of distress, so we make sure it's always accessible!”

Through their partnerships, In Harmony Music welcomes families into ongoing classes, as well as bringing music into shelters during natural disasters, like California’s wildfires. Most recently, the center has served several families who arrived from Ukraine. Although they aren't always in one location consistently, they are able to tune into online classes from wherever they are.