Few children's music classes begin with Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" playing as the students and their parents enter the studio.
The song's chorus, however — "Don't worry about a thing" — could well be a motto for those attending class at Music Together, a 2-year-old program in Salt Lake City. One 45-minute session will see children up to age 5 using egg-shaped rattles in unison, waving their arms and running around with tie-dyed handkerchiefs on their heads. And, connecting everything else they do, they sing.
Music Together started as an educational project of the Center for Music and Young Children of Princeton, N.J. The now-15-year-old program is based on the premise that all children are musical and have the same innate ability to learn music as language, according to a newsletter. Dance, African chant and tambourines are par for the course.
"We're not approaching music on a scientific basis, but by experience, learning by play," said Paul Mulder, owner and co-director of Salt Lake Music Together.
According to Mulder, the general idea is that when children are placed in an environment where their brains are saturated by culturally rich music — as far-reaching as Hungary and Arabia — they are forced to process it, or challenge it in some way.
"If you watch a show like 'Barney,' there's no richness. It all sounds the same," said his wife and co-owner, Darlene Casanova. By varying the tones and adding half notes to the music students are already exposed to, according to Casanova, they end up with a richer music listening experience than they might normally have in America.
There are no desks in the 2995 E. 3300 South studio where a majority of the classes are taught. People take off their shoes before entering. And the students aren't learning songs to perform at a recital down the road, though most parents will attest to knowing the songs as well as their children do within the first couple of weeks.
"The CD is always going in the car, and now even my husband knows all the words," said Kris Barta, who has been taking her 2-year-old daughter, Paige, to Music Together for most of her young life now.
The classes extend beyond the classroom as well, Casanova said, in that children who might not actively participate in classes end up singing and dancing to the songs at home. Phyllis Polster said her granddaughter's singing "You Are My Sunshine" on her family's answering machine — complete with all the correct pauses and intonations — is a direct result of her taking the classes.
"The brain is just sitting there ready like a sponge, and if you don't pour the water on it, it's going to dry up," said Polster, who, along with her husband, Dave, takes her two granddaughters to the classes. "That is why it's worth all the money in the world to pay to have your child go to a class like this."
Music Together's fall session begins today and lasts for 10 weekly classes. Free classes are also taught at the Children's Museum of Utah one Saturday per month, and workshops are taught throughout Granite School District as part of its Even Start program.
The best comments Casanova gets on the music classes have nothing to do with research.
"One mom said to me, 'If nothing else, (my child singing around the house) is a sign she's happy.' The research is true, but it's just plain fun, a good time."
E-MAIL: dmoody@desnews.com