Music Together’s Dr. Lili Levinowitz Key Contributor to NAfME Teaching Guidelines for Early Childhood Music Education during Pandemic

As the largest organization for music educators in the US, the National Association for the Music Education (NAfME) has created numerous resources to support music teachers as they teach through the pandemic, in-person, virtually, or a hybrid.  

Dr. Lili Levinowitz, Music Together® coauthor and Director of Research, has been actively involved in the development of professional development tools for early childhood music educators. Her webinars and articles cover topics including music and family engagement, STEAM learning for the K-2 music classroom, and how music supports social and emotional learning—all critical topics for teachers and families, particularly right now.

Most recently, Lili was an integral part of a committee formed by NAfME, in collaboration with the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association (ECMMA), tasked with developing guidance for safely and effectively teaching early childhood music during the pandemic. As part of the Policy sub-committee, Lili was a lead contributor to the guidelines and implementation guidance issued last month and posted to the NAfME website for teachers.

According to Lili, the group first outlined what the guidelines should address, including parent/child classes, itinerant music teachers in person, and then classroom teachers-in person, and recommendations for online classes. Then, came the big job of creating a comprehensive spreadsheet of all the activities that could be used in music class in online and in-person settings. Since Lili had the most experience teaching online classes, and adapting music activities for the online platform, she took the lead on this critical piece of the project. The resulting spreadsheet is an impressive, comprehensive resource for all music teachers working with children in early childhood.

When asked about the research that informed the policy, Lili said, “Our policy is based on extrapolating the research on singing/movement from adults and older children. No research has been done for preschool and below, so we took a conservative approach: basically no singing in person without being outside and socially distanced (at least 10–12 feet) because of the aerosols that singing emits. This is especially important for outdoor parent/child classes.”

Thank you, Lili, for your contributions in supporting early childhood music teachers so they can continue to bring music into the lives of young children.