Music for Early Childhood
Building Roots & Wings
Our preschool-aged Roots & Wings program addresses gaps in the local music education network. Music education in early childhood is crucial for a child’s academic, linguistic, and social development. And, music is fun, engaging, and kids LOVE to do it! However, early-childhood music classes are often prohibitively expensive, and many local childcare centers struggle to offer music as part of their curriculum.
To address this gap, The Front Porch sends professional music teachers to well-established early childhood centers that serve historically-marginalized families. Currently, Roots & Wings teaching artists bring music to 300+ preschoolers weekly in 26 classrooms at Barrett Early Learning Center, the YMCA Early Learning Center, through the Albemarle County Bright Stars preschool program, and at local Head Start preschools. And, for the large majority of preschoolers, Roots & Wings is the only music education they receive.
The three-to five-year-olds in our preschool program explore rhythm, melody, sound, and expression while developing deep relationships with their music teachers. They learn about instruments, sing songs, write rhymes with their teachers, work with rhythm and movement, and share their emotions through music.
Roots & Wings’ preschool curriculum synthesizes the latest research in music education and uses Virginia Early Learning Development Standards (VA ELDS) as benchmarks for student progress. This helps young minds build academic skills and learn language – and in several classrooms, English Language Learners make up 87% of our student body!
The budding music makers in our Roots & Wings program get to experience a full range of musical opportunities! For example, last year the students at Barrett Early Learning Center visited the recording studio to record their version of the “Hello Song,” which was written by a Front Porch teacher and opens every Roots & Wings pre-k class. Check out a video of the experience below.