Tam Tam is dedicated to building community and supporting NYC children and their families through live, participatory music-making. We are proud to offer the early childhood music program Music Together®. Since 1987, Music Together has introduced millions of children, parents, and teachers around the world to the joys of family music-making and the powerful benefits of having music in their lives. Today, classes for children ages birth through second grade are found around the world—including right here in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bed-Stuy!
What is Music Together®?
The mission of Music Together is to make the world a better place by making it more musical! To do this, we bring the highest quality music and movement experiences to children everywhere–and we involve the adults who love them in the magical process of musical, cognitive, motor, social and emotional development.
- Music Together is an internationally-recognized participatory music class for children aged 0-5 and their caregivers.
- Our program is research-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music curriculum that strongly emphasizes and facilitates adult involvement.
- We aim to develop your child’s basic rhythmic and tonal competence, in a pressure-free environment, all while having a great time and fostering the bond between the parent/caregiver and child.
- The main premise is that all children are musical, and with the right support, all kids can learn to keep a beat and sing in tune.
- Family involvement is key to children’s music-making, and parents/caregivers are the best role models. Your child will learn through making and experiencing music together regardless of your musical abilities.
- More information is available on the Music Together website.
Research-Based Curriculum
Music Together has twelve song collections, designed to be used one collection per semester, each including a beautifully illustrated songbook and music recordings. The collections are not sequential, so a child can begin Music Together classes at any time with any collection.
The music is pitched in just the right range for children’s voices and includes songs, rhythmic chants, tonal and rhythm patterns, and instrumental play-alongs, all in a rich variety of tonalities and meters. Original songs and arrangements by the program coauthors make these collections especially unique. Each song collection also includes traditional US folk songs and chants, music from many other cultures, always including at least one song per collection in another language. Outstanding instrumentalists play a variety of instruments, such as guitar, bass, flutes, keyboards, and percussion. And all of the songs are suitable for mixed-age groups, perfect for childcare centers or families with children of different ages.
Award-Winning Music
Music Together’s song collections are research-based and artistically conceived and produced. They are also classroom- and family-tested. Since 1987, the feedback of hundreds of teachers and thousands of families has been incorporated into these constantly evolving materials.
Three award-winning Music Together Family Favorites and Lullabies CDs feature some of our families’ most loved songs from all nine Music Together song collections. Listen to a full selection of songs, read reviews and awards, and purchase your own copy!
We think our classes are absolutely the best you could find to enrich your children’s lives, so come and see for yourself.
Music Learning Supports All Learning®
Wiggling, singing, and laughing with your child is so much fun, it’s easy to forget how much learning is taking place! Our research-based curriculum not only develops music skills, it nurtures creativity, self-expression, and confidence while also supporting social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Because these benefits build over time, children enjoy the fullest growth in each of these areas when they participate as consistently as possible up through kindergarten.
We Teach the Way Children Learn
At Music Together, we know that children learn differently than adults. They learn instinctively and constantly, and teach themselves through imitation and play, through being immersed in their environment, and through interaction with adults and older children. The family-like setting of Music Together classes creates an ideal learning environment. And it’s all based in research in early childhood and music development.
Learn about the research behind Music Together at the Music Together Worldwide website.
Your Role is Essential
You are your child’s most important music teacher right now! Young children learn through play and experimentation and by watching and listening to the grownups they love. Setting an example as an enthusiastic participator in music activities is the best thing any parent or caregiver can do to help set a child on the road to a lifelong love of music. Parents don’t need to have music skills—they just need a desire to play and have fun with their children! Our teachers are specially trained to create a safe atmosphere so you can happily join in, experiment, or even get silly—and feel closer to your child while doing so.