Music Together celebrates 10 years in Elkhart County with new and traditional classes

Goshen College’s Music Together program for young children is celebrating 10 years of family music-making this fall. All families are invited to experience the joy of making music together in mixed-age and babies classes in Goshen and Elkhart, now open for registration. New programs being offered are an exciting new hand-drumming class, MT Rhythm Kids, in both Goshen and Elkhart locations, as well the new mixed-age Music Together con Español class in Goshen for both English and Spanish speakers.

Mixed-age classes are for families with children from birth through age five, the babies classes serve infants from birth through eight months and their caregivers, and Rhythm Kids is for children in kindergarten through second grade. Tuition for all classes is based on a three-tier sliding scale, except the six-weeks class for infants, which is offered free through Goshen College’s Community School of the Arts. Details including sliding scale fees and registration are available online at gcmusiccenter.org/music-together, or by calling the Music Center office at 574-535-7361.

For more than 30 years, the international organization, Music Together LLC, (musictogether.com) has led in developing research-based concepts using playful song and movement to help children learn to sing in tune, keep a beat and gain confidence in the music of their culture. Holding that all children are musical, the Princeton N.J. based organization’s mission is to make the world a better place by making it more musical.

The Goshen Music Together center began its programs in the spring of 2009 with an after school class of eight children at Chamberlain Elementary, and soon included other outreach classes at Prairie View Elementary and the Tolson and Roosevelt Centers in Elkhart. In 2010, Goshen held its first national Music Together Teacher Training, with one of the program’s creators, Lili Levinowitz, coming from its Princeton, New Jersey, headquarters to lead 13 local persons and GC students in the rigorous three-day training.

By the end of 2010, Goshen Music Together was serving around 400 families, due in part to several Head Start and Early Head Start classrooms served through support of the Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties Head Start Consortium. At the 2011 national Music Together Annual Conference in Princeton, the Goshen center received recognition for being the MT center with the highest annual growth that year, and was acknowledged for its outreach emphasis and leadership in the Music Together organization in this important area.

In the intervening years, the GC Music Together program has continued with outreach in many settings, along with regular family classes in new locations such as CAPS offices and the Greencroft Campus. Hundreds of Elkhart County families are impacted each year through GC Music Together’s Family, In-school, Babies, Big Kids and Rhythm Kids classes.

GC will host its ninth national teacher training on campus for any person interested in exploring this unique way of working with children and music. The training will be held at the GC Music Center from October 19-21, 2018. Online registration is at musictogether.com/teach, or contact Goshen Music Together director Deb Kauffman at 574-535-7907 for more information.

To celebrate Goshen Music Together’s 10 years of community music-making, a special family sing-along will be held on Saturday, Nov. 17, featuring MT personality and recording artist “Uncle Gerry” Dignan. Gerry will bring his magical leadership to this time of group singing and activity. Details about this event and all classes and registration can be found online at gcmusiccenter.org/music-together, or by emailing musictogether@goshen.edu.