Music Together® Celebrates and Joins Communities in High-need Schools in Houston, Texas
This past April, more than 4,000 children, teachers, and families in Houston, Texas, got together to sing, dance, and jam along to their favorite Music Together® songs at the fourth annual My First Orchestral Concert, hosted by the Prelude Music Foundation (PMF), an organization that brings Music Together to preschoolers at dozens of high-need elementary schools in Houston.
At the interactive concert, Music Together teachers were joined by musicians from some of the premier arts institutions in Houston, the Apollo Chamber Players, Houston Symphony, and Mercury Chamber Orchestra. The teachers and musicians performed many of the songs the preschoolers sang in their classrooms all year. Thousands of voices, young and old, joined together to greet each instrument during the “Hello Song,” explore a range of emotions with “Mr. Rabbit,” and dance, dance, dance with “Don Alfredo baila.”
Susan Darrow, CEO of Music Together Worldwide, got to experience the concert firsthand this year. She says,
“I can’t tell you how powerful it was to hear thousands of children singing the ‘Hello Song.’ It moved me to tears! I am so impressed (and grateful) for the work the Prelude team has been doing to bring music to so many children in Houston for so many years. They are such an inspiration to all of us in the Music Together community.”
Volunteers from the community (including our CEO, Susan Darrow), greeted students with whimsical welcome signs and high-fives and distributed thousands of scarves to use during the performance.
My First Orchestral Concert is an end-of-year celebration for the students and their families—and it’s a culmination of a year of community music-making! The Music Together songs are a part of everyday classroom life all year. In addition to weekly classes, the preschool teachers use the music and songs throughout the day to support transitions, circle time, and curricular areas. Plus, in the weeks leading up to the concert, the professional musicians who appeared on stage visited the preschool classrooms with their instruments, giving students the chance to meet and make music with the very musicians they would later see performing.
Since 2014, PMF has been partnering with families, teachers, school leaders, physicians, and foster parents to bring the power of music to high-need schools in Houston, through their in-school music residency program. Through weekly classes, the specialists at PMF use the Music Together curriculum to bring excellent music education to the students they serve, many of whom would otherwise not have the chance to experience arts education. In addition to working directly with the children, PMF provides educational opportunities to parents and caregivers to help them learn how to use music as a tool to connect, soothe, redirect, and play with their children. In the 2023-2024 academic year alone, PMF led 3700+ hours of music classes in more than 125 classrooms!
According to Ana Trevino-Godfrey, Prelude Music Foundation Co-founder & Director of Education,
“Through these joyful, play-based classes, serious learning is taking place. Music-making activities support social and emotional development, emergent literacy, numeracy, and physical development. By integrating music intentionally into early childhood programs, Prelude supports the holistic development of young learners and helps them build the skills they need to thrive.”
And their contribution to the communities they serve does not go unnoticed. In recognition of the work they do, the City of Houston officially proclaimed April 8, 2025, as Prelude Music Foundation Day. Congratulations, Prelude Music Foundation! What a wonderful example of Music Together’s mission of making the world a better place by making it more musical®.
Learn more about the work of the Prelude Music Foundation at www.preludemusicfoundation.org.
Photos by Lynn Lane