The Music Together® Philosophy
Most people think being musical is a question of talent—you either have it or you don't. While that may sound reasonable, it's completely untrue! All children can learn to dance and sing just as naturally as they learn to walk and talk. With this in mind, we formulated four basic principles that guide everything we do.
The Four Principles of
Music Together®
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All children are born musical.
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All children can achieve basic music competence—that is, they can learn to sing in tune and dance accurately to a beat.
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It's crucial that parents and caregivers participate in class and model music-making for their children in class and at home, regardless of their own musical ability.
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The environment that best fosters young children's musical growth is playful, musically rich, and developmentally appropriate.
There is no need for music knowledge or skill to be a great music model for your child, any more than you need to be a professional public speaker for them to learn to talk. Immersion in a music-making family and community supports each child’s development naturally and effectively and gives rise to the cherished stories and memories of a musical childhood.
Music Together® Beginnings
1985, when composer Kenneth K. Guilmartin began to develop the Music Together program, he and coauthor Dr. Lili M. Levinowitz quickly realized that they would have to look past accepted music education practices to the field of early childhood development. After all, the best, most engaging song repertoire in the world would be useless if children couldn't receive and process musical information in developmentally appropriate ways.
So Ken and Lili turned to research in neuroscience and psychology in addition to early childhood learning theory. What they were searching for was insight into how children learn, how a child's brain processes and organizes music, and how developmentally appropriate learning can be supported. The end result of this research were principles that are still the cornerstone of the Music Together philosophy today.