Months before they can talk, children learn how to keep a beat with Music Together.
By: Daniel Shearer
When children get their hands on instruments, they’re bound to make sounds of some sort.
Delighted giggles fill the room as Larry Goldfield distributes a tray of bells and wooden mallets to youngsters and parents attending his Music Together class at Pebble Hill Church in Doylestown, Pa.
The children, some not even old enough to walk, promptly start tapping away, filling the room with disjointed beats, all part of the same chord thanks to Mr. Goldfield’s foresight. The most remarkable part of the exercise comes about a minute later, as the instructor walks across the room and turns on recorded music.
With help from Mr. Goldfield and parents, a simple rhythm emerges, restoring order from brief chaos. The activity continues until the end of the song, at which point Mr. Larry, as he is known in class, asks the children to return their pretty bells to the matching red box in the center of the room.
"Jack, can I have the stick please?" asks Mr. Goldfield, turning to one straggler.
Jack smiles and toddles across the room, replacing his mallet before waddling back to mother’s waiting arms.
"Thank you," Mr. Goldfield says, before leading the class into the next activity, this time marching and dancing to the beat. A few minutes earlier, he had the entire class singing a delightful, nonsensical melody, "Alee-ga-loo, gal-loo," with a joyful "whee" at the end of the phrase, as some parents lifted their children into the air.
"Now moms, when you’re holding your kids’ hands, remember to keep your palms up," says Mr. Goldfield, speaking just loud enough for his voice to carry over the music. "It helps them feel the pulse better."
Meanwhile, the dancing continues, this time to a giddy Latin beat with more fun vocalizations: "Gee-di-di-di-dee, bum-bum bump."
The idea behind Music Together, geared for infants though age 4, sometimes a few years older, depending on individual personalities, is basic music competency. Mr. Goldfield held his first Music Together class in the early ’90s with four families in a Doylestown living room. The Buckingham native heard about the program while living near Hopewell.
Dissatisfied with his career as a management consultant, he approached Music Together founder Kenneth Guilmartin and went through the Music Together certification program. The job, it turns out, combined two of his passions: working with children and music. Mr. Guilmartin later offered him employment at the Center for Music and Young Children in Princeton, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary.
Mr. Goldfield now runs Music Together of Bucks and Center City, which offers several classes near Doylestown, along with another session at First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He also plans to offer classes in New Hope in the fall.
"Part of musical development is learning rhythmically accurate movement, not just in the upper body, but in the lower body as well," says Mr. Goldfield, during a break between his two 45-minute classes Thursdays at Pebble Hill. "In the early years, music development is happening along two tracks, a tonal track and a rhythmic track. Rhythmic competence is keeping an accurate beat. On the tonal side, it’s singing in tune. Those tracks are happening sort of independently but in parallel. What we want to do is get kids to the end of that journey.
"Traditionally in the United States, we have seen children getting those skills around age 6. Many never get them at all. The trick is, you need to get them through the journey in the early years."
Occasionally, Mr. Goldfield offers classes exclusively for infants 8 months and younger.
"My experience is that even though all the kids are benefiting greatly, really the youngest are benefiting the most," he says. "You can’t see it right away, but I have seen the kids over the years who started Music Together when they were only a couple of months old. I see those kids when they’re 2 years old, versus their counterparts who are coming here for the first time, and it’s pretty clear something was going on with those kids."
After only a few sessions, Pipersville resident Christine Harte has seen results from Mr. Goldfield’s sessions. Ms. Harte is attending the class with two children, Mora, 2, and 10-month-old Brendan.
"I think starting young, with the baby, is a really good thing," Ms. Harte says. "At his young age, he starts to bang on things, even at home, like pots and pans, when we have music on.
"With Mora, she’ll pick up on things, like on ‘Sesame Street.’ She started to sing the ‘Peek-a-Boo’ song they play in Music Together, and it’s only her third class. She picks up on it and retains it, and she even starts mimicking the things that Mr. Larry does."
With his next class, Mr. Goldfield leads the students though a scarf dance, with children, moms, even a grandmom whirling around the room holding colorful fabric. They play along to a variation on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with shakers, bells and triangles, then Mr. Goldfield brings his guitar to the center of the room and calms down the group as he sings a lullaby, "The Water is Wide." Before parting ways, the group sings the "Goodbye Song," which names the young participants gathered in the circle.
Mr. Goldfield also offers a few brief explanations of rhythmic and tonal development to the adults in the room, along with encouragement for those who may lack confidence in their singing abilities.
"Now remember, moms, what’s important is not how well you’re singing," he says, "it’s that you’re singing with your children. We want everybody doing it together."
Music Together of Bucks and Center City currently holds classes at Pebble Hill Church, 320 Edison-Furlong Road, Doylestown; Doylestown School of Music and the Arts, 263 N. Main St., Suite B, Doylestown; and First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. 21st St., Philadelphia. The 10-week program of 45-minute weekly classes costs $145 per family and includes songbook, CD and cassette, and a parents’ guide. For information, call (215) 348-7937. On the Web: www.musictogetherbcc.com

