Groundwork Music Project

Welcome to the Groundwork Music Project Website. The following is an overview of Groundwork’s vision and how you can help make that vision a reality!

The purpose of the Groundwork Music Project is simple: to provide music education to young children who could not otherwise afford it. Preschool years are critical to the development of musical skills, and musical skills are critical to our development as human beings. Exposing young children to a rich musical environment nourishes a natural process of learning to carry a tune and keep a beat.

Why provide music education
to preschool aged children?

Children respond to music from the moment they are born. This is why lullabies and other types of children’s songs are universal. We are hardwired to be musical. Developing musical skills is no less fundamental than learning to move and speak and analyze the world around us. Yes, the development of musical skills correlates with higher performance in a number of academic areas, but it should come as no surprise that such a fundamental human activity seems to have a powerful impact on nourishing other areas of development.

So why are the preschool years
so important for musical development?

Musical skills develop naturally in young children. With exposure to the appropriate environment a process of natural playful activity takes on a life of its own.

Music Education professor Lili M. Levinowitz points out the similarities between the development of language skills and the development of musical skills. Just as speech begins with “babble”, the earliest evidence of musical expression are fragments that slowly synthesize into a coherent musical pattern. Also, just like speech and language, the period of “musical babble”, the preschool years, are the most critical for the development of musical skills. It is during this time that children develop an internal understanding of rhythm and melody. It is during this time that children learn to carry a tune and keep a beat.

Carrying a tune and keeping a beat is the foundation for all musical ability, and all of the great benefits that being musical affords. And with the right kind of environment, every child can become musical.

Music education for preschoolers is very specific. Hence, the teachers and musicians providing classes for Groundwork have a thorough knowledge about developmentally appropriate musical activities and lesson plans. Neal Kassanoff, one of Groundwork’s founding members, received training from Princeton’s Music Together and has a Master’s Degree in School Psychology. He has recorded numerous children’s CD’s. Among these recordings are songs and activities written just for preschoolers. Neal has begun to work with other musicians in order to pool educational skills and creative abilities for both the classroom and the recording studio. The work of these musicians will be at the disposal of Groundwork and the communities it serves.

“The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling — training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attentional skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.”

— Ratey John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain.
New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.

A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. (Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997)

Across a broad spectrum of research, the development of musical skills is linked to positive outcomes. Music nourishes our intellect. It enriches connection to our own culture and the cultures of others. It provides myriad opportunities for personal expression and social interaction. Through music and its inextricable relationship with dance we make contact with our deepest physical self, while other elements of music make the abstract discernable at a very early age.

"As parents we've seen our child begin by enjoying this music to absolutely loving it — the instruments, the dance, the fun... the full immersion has begun. It's great to see a light in a child's eye when something so basic to the soul such as music is introduced and integrated into daily life."

The mission of the Groundwork Music Project is simple, but the impact of reaching that goal may have tremendous implications. To help young children become musical is part and parcel of helping children fulfill their greater potential. This simple activity, in turn, becomes a vehicle for a stronger community. A rich musical environment should, ultimately, be available to every young child.

By donating to the Groundwork Music Project, you help to bring weekly music classes to children otherwise unable to afford such services. You will also be contributing resources for the development of recordings and literature for classroom and home activities. The link below provides simple instructions on how to make a donation to Groundwork. Thank you for visiting our site!

The link below provides simple instructions on how to make a donation to Groundwork. Thank you for visiting our site!

The Groundwork Music Project provides free music education to preschool aged children. Scroll down to see a video with more information. Click here to donate. No donation is too small!

Why provide music education to preschool aged children?

So why are the preschool years so important for musical development?

The Groundwork Music Project provides free music education to preschool aged children. Scroll down to see a video with more information.

Click here to donate. No donation is too small!

Why provide music education
to preschool aged children?

So why are the preschool years
so important for musical development?