For more reviews, see Music for Preschoolers and Music for Babies & Toddlers

Re: Jon's vs. Music Together vs. Jingle Jamboree
We have done MT and Jon's school of music, but not Jingle Jamboree. MT was much more mellow and had fewer instruments to experiment with. Our teacher was Cheri Hudnut and she has great energy and I think she's a fun teacher. We switched to Jon and have been mostly happy with his classes. He is very high energy and fast moving- has a lot of instruments for the kids to play with- and I think delivers superior music ''education'' than MT. Our son (age 2!) has learned so much from Jon. He can pick out where a D is on a piano. He understands musical concepts and can, unassisted, bang out a somewhat complicated beat with his hands and do it accelerando and decelerando and understands both concepts. He understands quarter and eighth notes. I credit all of this to Jon- and he would not have learned any of that in MT. For a child who is more mellow, I'd recommend MT. For a child who really LOVES music and has a lot of energy and parents who don't get annoyed easily , I'd recommend Jon. music mom

Music Together worth it for young babies?

I was hoping to enroll my son in a Music Together ''Babies'' class, but it turns out he will be too old - it's for babies younger than 8 months, and he will be 9 months old so he'd have to do the ''mixed ages'' class. I saw a previous review that said Music Together isn't worth it before the child can walk/stand. It sounds like young babies just sort of watch the older kids but can't really participate. I'd love to hear from parents of younger babies about whether the mixed ages class was worth the $200. I have read the MT website about how great having mixed ages is, but I have my doubts since my child won't be able to sing or dance at 9 months (I don't think!). we can always wait

Music Together in Alameda

I'm thinking of enrolling my 11 month old son in a Music Together class in Alameda, but am worried that the age range for the class (6 months to 5 years) is too large in terms of children being able to equally participate. If you're currently (or were) enrolled in the program with an under-2 year old child, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I'm currently in a Kindermusik class where the kids are grouped similarly by age, and it's been great so far, but am considering switching because it's further to drive to. Just want to make sure the switch will be beneficial for my son. Thanks! Music Mommy

Re: Music class for 4 year old
The Music Together program is now in it's 18th year nationally, and 8th year locally. Responding to the success in helping young children become excited, confident, competent music makers, Music Together is now offering classes for our 'graduates'. The program was several years in the making and is now available in the East Bay. Only teachers with Certification level training, or early childhood education and experience will offer these classes. Below is the information about choices and schedule. You can also visit www.eastbaymusictogether.com

We are very excited and delighted to announce new classes for 4-5 year olds, and 5-7 year olds. These classes will involve more structure and challenge designed to engage the new musical and cognitive abilities of you elementary school child and Music Together graduate.

We have three styles of class to offer. The first is Music Together Graduates with Holly, ages 4-5 years with parents at Danspace on Sundays. The secons is with Ryk on Saturdays at 11:30 at the Crowden Center for Music in the Community. This class will be for the children 5-7 years, alone for the first 30 minutes, but will include parents and caregivers for the last 15 minutes as we enjoy our free dance and play along.

The second class will be Big Kids Family Music Together, with Nura on Wednesdays at 4:30 in Montclair. The program comes from the Center for Music and Young Children and Music Together LLC in Princeton N.J., the same people who have brought us the wonderful Music Together experience for newborns through 4 years. ''Big Kids Family Music'' is a new 60-minute class geared to the interests and social nature of children ages 5 and 6. (To attend the Bid Kids Family Music class, your child must be 5 years of age by the start of the semester you wish to attend.) Families still play an important role in this class, although the adults and children may have different musical roles. Games, songs, folk dances, jam sessions, dramatic play, and more structured work in rhythm and tonality will be included. The class will use the BONGOS Song Collection and additional materials. Learn how to support your child musically as he or she develops interests and skills in singing, playing instruments, taking dramatic roles, creating, and dancing.

*Note: Younger siblings are not developmentally ready for thestructure of these classes; therefore, except for babies eightmonths and younger, only children in the specified age range and their adults may attend these classes. julie tanenbaum ebmusictogether at earthlink.net

Anyone have recommendations on the best Music Together teachers in Berkeley or Oakland? We just moved from LA where we had found a great teacher and a great space... Looking for the same here. Thanks! sabrina

In the parents manual that they give you, they actually encourage mixed ages and that kids come with their siblings. If your child is 5 months, pretty soon she will be sitting up and will be able to participate in a whole new way. Not only will she simply enjoy watching how the older kids move and interact, but seeing different developmental ages will be a good stimulus for her - such as watching other kids crawl. anon

In response to the family asking for recommendations for music classes for toddlers, I highly recommend the Music Together classes which I have been taking with my now 14 month old daughter. Though I have been a musician, dancer, and singer for years and started sharing these with my baby before she was born, I have learned a lot from these classes about how to bring these dimensions of the human adventure into her world in a way that is fun for both of us (and in a way that avoids the traumas of my own childhood music education). The things I particularly like about the Music Together program include, in no particular order:

1) The teacher, Julie Tannenbaum. She is fun, down to earth, musically adept,
welcoming, playful, respectful and inclusive of each person there. She can be
reached at 843-8641.


2) The singing and playing of rhythm instruments is always done for the joy
and adventure of it and is not associated IN ANY WAY with "performance" or
doing it "right".  We are making music together - no child (or adult!) is put
on the spot to perform in front of the others. I guess I would say that the
atmosphere is one of celebration rather than performance.

3) The music making is almost always accompanied by movement - marching,
dancing with beautiful colored scarves, shaking various rhythm instruments,
etc. While I've done a great deal of dancing, the movement-music connection
here is creative and I've learned a lot about how to create such
whole-body-music-expression for my child. The best musicians also dance, the
best dancers are also musicians. I want not just her fingers and brain to hear
and play music but for it to be part of her core sense of Self. And I want for
her to both feel joy and to know how to express that fully and articulately...
thus my delight in gaining tools at Music Together for sharing such with my
daughter at home.  This is where I learned how to translate what I wanted to
share with her into toddler-ese.

4) The classes are both fun for me as an adult, and age appropriate for the
toddlers on up in our class.

5) I like the variety of instruments, etc. that we all (kids and adults) play
with at each class. And I like the variety of colors of things (scarves, the
music books, etc.).

6) I like most of the music and the variety of music. I am particularly fond
of interesting rhythms (Balkan music and crooked French Canadian tunes for
example) and find some here.

7) I like the other parents in the class and the location at St. John's Church
with easy parking. And I like that if I miss a class I can make it up on
another day as there are classes offered several mornings each week.

And by the way, I also wrote in a couple of days ago about the BACDS Family
Music and Dance Camp in the Sierras which I attended last summer. The camp
also has many of these qualities. Good luck!

At about 10 months, I took my daughter to a MusicTogether intro class. I thought it seemed good, but she seemed pretty uninterested. At that time, Kindermusik didn't have the infant class that they now offer (Village class, for infants up to 18 mos). Since MusicTogether didn't have any classes in my area, I let it drop for the time being.