By Myles Ma
Pick out any child attending preschool in Trenton. There is a good chance they know a song called the “Hello Song.”
The children learn the song from “Music for the Very Young,” an early childhood music program started by the Trenton Community Music School in 2000.
Though it is an outcrop of the Trenton Community Music School, the Music for the Very Young program’s reach has extended far beyond the school’s original purpose, which was to provide music lessons for Trenton children. Soon after Marcia Wood started the school with 27 students, charter schools started reaching out to her to bring instruction into classes.
Wood enlisted Ronnie Ragen, the school’s community outreach director, to establish Music for the Very Young, and the program has grown to reach many private early childhood centers and every pre-K class in the Trenton district. The program reaches 500 families a year, Ragen said.
Wood said it was natural for young children to take to music education. Ragen agreed. “They’re wired to love music,” Ragen said.
Through the program, a specialist comes into preschool classes once a week and holds a class with the children. In addition, teachers receive training on how to incorporate music into their lessons.
The children’s families receive songbooks and CDs and are invited into schools for family music parties. The program uses materials and music designed by Music Together. To celebrate the Music for the Very Young program’s 10th anniversary, the Music Together band, which is featured on the CDs used in the lessons, will hold a concert April 24 at 10:30 a.m. at the Mt. Bethel Church of God at 491 Bellevue Ave. in Trenton.
The Mt. Bethel Church of God is where the Trenton Community Music School is held on Tuesdays. Recently the school opened a Saturday branch at the Copeland Center of the Emily Fischer Charter School of Advanced Studies.
The school has moved many times since opening at Arthur Holland Middle School in Trenton in 1998.
“My husband calls us the hermit crab music school because we move so much,” Wood said.
Wood opened the school to fill a need: Trenton children have little access to music education. The school started just as the Trenton school district was eliminated instrumental music lessons.
The Trenton Community Music School offers lessons in clarinet, saxophone, flute, acoustic and bass guitar, piano, viola, violin, cello, voice and drums. Lesson feels are heavily subsidized, thanks to support from foundations, the Mercer County Cultural Heritage Commission and donations from individuals.
“Every child deserves music,” Wood said. “Music is brain food.”
Aside from giving Trenton children access to music, Wood said, the school, and the Music for the Very Young program, create a sense of community. The pre-K program creates a musical experience shared by children all over Trenton, and the school’s holiday party brings families together to watch their children’s recitals.
The Trenton Community Music School holds lessons at the Mt. Bethel Church of God Tuesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and at the Emily Fischer Charter School of Advanced Studies Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call (609) 394-8700, or go online to tcmusicschool.com. To reserve free tickets to the Music Together Concert, e-mail info@tcmusicschool.com.
(Trenton Community Music School file photo.),
