Over 20 children and their parents participated in Green Street Art Center’s new “Music Alive!” program on Friday. Music Alive! is a ten-week musical workshop for children between one and five years of age.
The program meets for an hour every Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. until Dec. 18.
As Green Street Arts Center anticipates the opening of its new facility at 52 Main Street, it is currently holding its Music Alive! classes at the Church of Holy Trinity on Main Street.
The classes are lead by Peter Hadley, conductor of Wesleyan’s wind ensemble, WesWinds. On Saturday Hadley began class by getting the children to sit around in a circle and sing a welcoming song that included all of their names.
For the rest of class, children sang songs aloud in unison. Many of the songs were about dinosaurs and animals, giving the children the opportunity to act out their favorite animals as they sang. At other times, the children got to play musical instruments as they sang together. The children offered a very colorful rendition of “This Little Light of Mine,” accompanied by xylophones, maracas, tambourines and other instruments.
But Music Alive! is not only an interactive musical program for children; it is also for the parents. Parents also stay for the class and participate in the activities with their children.
“It not just parents dropping their children off in the morning,” said Ricardo Morris, Director of Green Street Arts Center, who added that it is a very enriching experience for parents and children to learn together.
“I really enjoyed being able to watch all the children express themselves,” said Mylene Dubois, a participant in Saturday’s class. “Even at such a young age, these children have such a profound sense of voice and personality.”
“It’s a national curriculum, which is one of the reasons it works so well,” Hadley said. He added that he was impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of the students.
According to Morris, Music Alive! is the first introduction to music for some of the students in the class. Morris added that, with an increase in the number of children in the area receiving home schooling, Green Street Arts Center might be the only musical outlet for some children.
Morris also hopes that Music Alive! will serve as an introduction to Green Street Arts Center for many people. The center is renovating an old school on Green Street that will reopen in January as the center’s new permanent home.
The new Center will have a musical lab replete with video, photographic and sound-recording equipment. It will also feature two new visual arts studios and a dance studio.
“[Music Alive!] is an effort to put on activities to the opening of the new center,” Morris said.
Starting January, the Green Street Arts Center will begin its after-school program, to be held Monday through Friday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“We want Wesleyan students to get involved,” Morris said, adding that it will take approximately 50 volunteers and workers to help run the after-school program.
Morris also said that there are possible paid positions for people who want to instruct private musical and art lessons.
Tuition for the Music Alive! program is $100 and financial aid is available. Morris said that he encourages parents to come down for a class for free to observe the program.
Morris said he also hopes that the new Green Street Arts Center will be a positive presence in the north end of Main Street and an integral part of the neighborhood’s revitalization.
The center itself is an initiative that resulted from collaboration between several organizations and institutions in the community, including Wesleyan, the North End Action team, the City of Middletown, the Community Health Center and Holy Trinity Church.
“But the Green Street Arts center is not limited to children in the North end,” Morris said.
According to Morris, children from all elementary schools are expecting to participate in the program.
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