Music Together© philosophy and method
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Music Together basic philosophy?
What Music Together offers to my family?
How are Music Together lessons?
The teachers
Silvia Ruggieri: Director of the Music Together Center
in Rome. Soprano, sings and plays
the piano since she was a child. She studied music theory
and piano at “Scuola di bel canto” with Maestra
Donata Tabet. She graduated as Music Together teacher
at Westchester Conservatory of Music of
White Plains, NY (USA) and took the second degree
at Music Together in Bologna. She worked for may years assisting
disabled people and children with learning difficulties
Sergio Mazzanti: graduated as Music Together teacher
at Westchester Conservatory of Music of
White Plains, NY (USA) and took the second degree
at Music Together in Bologna. Master Degree in Literature and
foreign languages and PhD in Slavic studies.
He is also interested in Musicology and Ethno-musicology
(member of the International Association for
the Studies of Popular Music). Bass player and back-vocal in
rock band “RASSìA”.
Plays electric bass and acoustic guitar.
Alice Di Clemente: successfully completed the MUSIC
TOGETHER TEACHER TRAINING guided by Lili Levinowitz,
at MusicTogether in Bologna. She studied singing, music theory,
armony and rhythm at Centro di Studi Musicali “l’Ottava” in
Rome and studied classical ballet, contemporary and african dance
at IALS in Rome. Certificate of attendance at
ORFF-SCHULWERK- Primary Music and Dance Education training with children from 3 to 11 years old.
and certificate of attendance (100 hours) at
Dalcroze Musical Education Method training.
Singer, dancer and educator she teach
music and dance-theater laboratory courses in primary and secondary schools.
She collaborates as music therapist e dance therapist with
social coop TUTTIGIUPERTERRA, specialized in assisting
children with developmental an communication problems.
Gerry Italia: bass player with many years of experience
and electric bass teacher
He studied with nationally and internationally renowned teachers
such as Massimo Moriconi and Alessandro Patti.
He recently founded the rock band “Flyzone” with other musicians
and, after many live concerts, they produced the first album “Hard day’s morning”
He took electric bass and musical theory professional trainings at Roma Rock School and
Percentomusica schools and had begun the study of double-bass.
He successfully completed the MUSIC
TOGETHER TEACHER TRAINING guided by Lili Levinowitz,
at MusicTogether in Bologna.
Roberta Giancristofaro: graduated in piano and musical theory
at Pescara and Campobasso Conservatories. She took the abilitation in
Musical Theatre at M.T.A. in Rome.
She studied classical ballet, contemporary dance and modern jazz
at “Arte e Balletto” school in Roma and at IALS.
Tip tap dancer with many years of experience, she took an in-depth study of Strasberg acting method
with Francesca De Sapio e Viviana Di Bert.
She studied singing with internationally renowned teachers
such as Valentina Marraffa, Raffaella Misiti an Nicky Nicolai
at Saint Louis School in Roma e and took the CFP certificate (Voicecraft method)
at Estill International with Elisa Turlà.
She successfully completed the MUSIC
TOGETHER TEACHER TRAINING guided by Lili Levinowitz,
at MusicTogether in Bologna.
Giovanni Iurisci: after the high school degree he moved to Rome
where he devoted himself to the study of music and guitar at
Saint Luois college of Music and Roma Rock School.
Singer, pupil of Marinella Fusaro and frontman
of the rock band “Flyzone” with whom he produced an album.
He played in many live concert in Italy
In 2011 he successfully completed the MUSIC
TOGETHER TEACHER TRAINING guided by Lili Levinowitz,
at MusicTogether in Bologna.
Luca Perrone: Degree in clinical psycology and
qualified to practice as a psychologist
“First Certificate of Cambridge” english language degree.
Sound engineer in important drama, concerts and cultural events.
Since twenty years sound and video manager
at Accademia Lancisana in Rome.
He always played guitar and he worked for many years as a DJ.
In 2013 he successfully completed the MUSIC
TOGETHER TEACHER TRAINING guided by Lili Levinowitz,
at MusicTogether in Bologna.
OUR BASIC PHILOSOFIC PRINCIPLES
Many people mistakenly believe that only a talented few are musical and the rest of us are doomed to sing out of tune and dance with two left feet. But the truth is, we are all born musical. In a supportive environment, children learn to dance and sing as naturally as they learn to walk and talk . This knowledge helped us develop a four-point philosophy that guides the Music Together program to this day.
1. All children are musical.
2. All children can achieve basic music competence—the ability to sing in tune and move with rhythm accuracy.
3. The participation of parents and caregivers—regardless of their musical ability—are essential for child’s musical growth.
4. Young children’s musical growth occurs best in a playful, musically rich, and developmentally appropriate setting.
For these reasons Music Together offers:
– mixed aged classes
– moments for parents education during classes
– songs with various tones and rhythms
– knowledge of the various musical modes (Major, Minor, Doric, ecc.)
– free and guided improvisation
– every child is encouraged to participate according to his own level of development
– guidance for adults in musical activities
WHAT IS MUSIC TOGETHER?
Music Together® is an internationally recognized music program for children – from birth through age 5 – and the grownups who love them. Parents, primary caregivers, early childhood professionals-everyone is involved in the educational process. It started from an educational project by Center for Music and Young Children® at Princeton, NJ, USA, in 1987 then spread across the world with more than 2500 locations.
A Music Together lesson is not a “music lesson”. It is not addressed to train young concert performers (this may happen later), nor a model of musical perfection.
It is instead a way of MAKING music with your children!
Music Together classes are based on the idea that making music with children, in the family and in a family community…
· enriches the life of children and adults and…
· promotes children’s musical growth, improving their musical skills and…
· it should be fun!
It’s a relaxed and playful exploration experience, that develop the musical growth, allows children to develop their musical intelligence and lays the foundation for their future progress in music.
WHY MUSIC TOGETHER? WHY NOW?
The formal music educational practices can not teach a child to be musical or to find joy and inspiration in music. A musical predisposition, or the intrinsic inclination to be musical for a lifetime, is the result of positive, happy and fulfilled experiences and their association with music in early childhood.
During their musical journey with Music Together, young children get the opportunity to not only learn through play and experimentation but also watch and listen to the grownups they love and look up to. In fact, this modeling is essential to their growth into confident music-makers.
Understanding the musical development of children will make you appreciate the way your child responds to musical experiences and will make the interaction amongst yourselves more interesting and intense.
The most important aspect is that it motivates you to give your child a variety of musical experiences to grow and share your same passion for music and to feed his emerging musical SELF.
WHAT MUSIC TOGETHER OFFERS TO MY FAMILY?
· Music Together classes will expand your musical repertoire. Every quarter you will receive a CD with
new songs and its corresponding book. The music includes traditional songs, original songs and
rhythmic rhymes. The songs include various shades, time and cultural styles exposing the child to a
wide diversity of musical elements.
· Music Together classes will be a source of ideas on how to bring music into your life every day in a spontaneous, fun and challenging way for your child. Not only you will be able to recreate most of the classroom activities in the context of your family, but you will also discover that your creativity will be stimulated and you will always find new music games to do with your child.
· You will learn the mechanics of music learning of your child. You will better understand the process
through which your child can, given a musically stimulating environment and an enthusiastic reference model (you!), reach the basic musical skills in the early years of his life.
HOW ARE THE MUSIC TOGETHER CLASSES?
Classes are formed by 7 to 14 families of one or more children accompanied by one (or both) parents or caregivers (nanny, grandmother, baby sitter …). The Music Together teachers leads the class into songs and rhythmic figures that change every quarter. The songs are accompanied by activities that include:
· games and amusement
· free and expressive dance
· use of objects (scarves, balls, elatic bands, hula hoops, …)
· focusing on the rhythmics and tonals elements of music
· small and large movements
· instrumental accompaniment
· improvisation opportunity with children and adults
Instructional moments for parents during classes improve the understanding of the importance of the activities that takes place for the musical development of the child. The atmosphere invites and encourages the participation of children and parents regardless of their skills and musical talent. Parents participating in Music Together discovers that playing with the music can become a decisive model for the musical development of their children.
Also they can see their own musicality come out!
Each course consists of a weekly class of approximately 45 min for 10 consecutive meetings.
WHY WE SING IN ENGLISH TOO?
In childhood, children have the ability to recognize and memorize all kinds of sounds regardless of the language they belong. Growing up this ability is drastically reduced. So getting the child used to ear the sound of English further its ability to learn other languages in the future. English songs are mainly composed of simple words and short phrases that are repeated several times in order to facilitate the process of learning. For parents this can be an opportunity to improve or refresh their english in a fun and informal situation!