Does My Family Need to Speak English to Benefit from
Music Together?
No. Even though Music Together songs are recorded and sung primarily in English, families need not speak English to benefit from the program. Our common language is music and movement. The rich, diverse Music Together curriculum includes a mix of original songs and traditional tunes from the folk, jazz, and world-music traditions. From American to African, from Korean to Hebrew, families are exposed to a wide variety of international musical styles designed to provide engaging experiences of rhythm, song, culture, and community from around the world.
Although Music Together is not a language-instruction program, many families do appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to the English language through song. The illustrated songbooks offer visual cues to the meanings of songs which help to support pre-literacy skills for children learning any language.
Besides singing in English, Music Together teachers encourage children and adults to create new verses in their native tongue. This stimulates creativity and independence and supports families in learning ways to play with music outside the classroom, too. The curriculum also features many "songs without words"—sung on sounds like "la" or “doo”—which enable children and their adults to learn melodies without being distracted by the need to make sense of the words. This mix of English-language songs, improvisation in the native tongue, and "songs without words" provides people all around the world with many ways to play with and enjoy music together.