2022 Memorial Day Issue

Families Happily Make Music
with Interactive Class
Story by MELISSA SUMMERS
Photos by KAREN FUCITO
Anyone strolling by Memorial Park in
Mount Arlington on a sunny afternoon
in April might have been pleasantly surprised
to hear the lively tunes and playful giggles
coming from the cozy nook surrounding the
white gazebo.
Genevieve Schmidt, 62, has been hosting
children’s music classes in the area through
Music Together for 28 years, bringing joy and
developmental benefits to kids from birth to
early childhood.
Before Music Together, Schmidt owned
another business called Play Arena. She ran a
storefront but also traveled to teach gymnastics,
dance and other active kids’ classes in other
locations. “I ran it till I had my second son and
then realized I didn’t want to work that hard,”
she said. “They told me about Music Together,
and instead of moving around all that gym
equipment, now I can travel with just a cart.”
Music Together is an international company
based out of Princeton, N.J. “They are in 40
different countries and 4,000 communities
worldwide,” Schmidt said. “Everyone does the
same collection of music at the same time, no
matter where you live.”
The curriculum is divided into semesters—
Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer—and the
collections cover three years without repeating,
according to Schmidt. The classes are held in
various locations and in different formats for
babies, toddlers and older kids. But the benefits
go far beyond sing-alongs and dance parties
because the program is designed to touch on
skills essential to a young child’s growth.
“There are tonal patterns and rhythm
Henrik Horstman hits sticks with
his parents, Christon and Liz.
patterns,” Schmidt said. “Rhythm patterns
have no melody to it, like ‘bah, bah, bup, bup,
bah,’ that kind of thing, and it helps them
with learning to repeat things back. They are
learning by listening and following.”
Tonal patterns make up the melodies. “The
songs are placed in the children’s voice range.
At this age, they have probably six notes, so
if you don’t sing in their voice range, they are
just singing on one note,” Schmidt explained.
“Music within their voice range teaches them
to parrot back the melody, and they’ll learn
how to have a conversation—so it’s my turn,
then it’s your turn, then it’s my turn, etc. That’s
why we do it.”
And it’s not just vocal development, according
to Schmidt. “Everything we do, we do for a
reason. We hit this stick and then this stick
because crossing the midline is a pre-reading
skill,” she said. “Your eye has to transition from
the right side of the brain to the left side of
the brain to read across the page. The science
does show that you do need to do things with
both hands and legs because it straightens the
connection between the left side and the right
side of the brain.”
Parents say there is something for everyone in
experiencing Music Together.
Denville resident Jillian Wells has been
bringing her kids, Carina, 2, and Theo, 5, to
classes whenever she can and has been coming
since Theo was a toddler.
“Theo likes to play instruments, and it
makes him get up and dance,” she said. “He
even makes up his own songs.” The program,
she said, nurtures parents’ ability to interact
with their kids. “It makes things 100 percent
easier. It gives them room to be silly.”
Schmidt has had to adjust her classes
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “Before,
when we got up and danced, we’d dance in
a tight little circle,” she said. “Now everyone
has to dance around their own little spot. It’s
isolating, but at least when we are outside we
Kathy Bolanos with her
grandson, Alexander Passaglia.
can move a little bit more.”
She also had the opportunity to teach online
classes. Through a contract with Music Together,
she and 14 other teachers sang and danced with
a preschool program in Richmond, Va. “It was
so cute—you could see a dozen faces and they
loved it and it was fun for everybody.”
But when she couldn’t be there with the
families, it was the babies-only classes that were
a real thrill. “It was nice because the mothers
were looking at me and the babies were in front
looking at them,” she said. “I would give the
instructions to the parents and show them with
my [stuffed] monkey what to do. This way they
were really engaging with their child and just
glancing at what I’m doing.”
There are lots of ways to take advantage of the
curriculum at home and on the go, Schmidt
added. There’s a book for each semester that
has all the songs and the first line or two of
the music and a supplemental CD. On the app
or website, you can download the songbook or
full score of the music, which is ideal for parents
who play an instrument at home. There’s also
an option on the app to turn down the lyrics
if you want to add your own and the ability to
video your creation.
It’s a family affair for Liz and Christon
Horstman of Landing, who bring their children,
Henrik, 20 months, and Luka, 2 months, to
the class. They have been coming since Henrik
was 10 months old. “We like coming together,”
Christon said. “In the wintertime, we were
doing indoor classes, but these outdoor ones
being so close here are awesome. The kids
are outside in the grass and playing around
and it’s awesome.” They
even brought their own
instruments to play along
and listen to the CD at
home.
For parents who
are raising children
in a bilingual home,
early childhood is the
best time to introduce
multiple languages,
Schmidt points out. “For
a child at that age, if it’s
a nonsensical song, it
has the same effect on
JJ Weintraub bangs
on a tambourine.
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LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Memorial Day 2022
Genevieve Schmidt leads a class in song.