Fab Teachers: California

Rowena Morgan

Music Together in the Tri-Valley Inc. (San Ramon, Walnut Creek) | Director/Founder/Teacher

How long have you been teaching? Since the last century!

What inspired you to be a teacher? Music Together is a research-based, international, Early Childhood Music program. As a professional musician, I was somewhat skeptical of a music class for infants and toddlers. But after taking my 9-month-old to class, I fell in love with the program. I admired its musical diversity, the parent-child interaction and its informal and playful approach. I took the teacher training in Princeton, New Jersey, and moved to California where I founded my own branch in 1998.

What is your greatest joy in teaching? Seeing parents and children playing together through music. Play = Bonding. Whether they’re tapping the beat on each other’s drums or sticks, a parent bouncing their child on their lap to a song, or jumping together in dance, it’s very special to facilitate and witness that.

What is your greatest challenge? My greatest challenge is unlocking the inner musician in all of us. That’s no problem for the young child, they haven’t developed much self-consciousness. They just love music and dance and play! But adults can bring insecurities in their ability to sing or move well. However, in Early Childhood, a parent’s disposition toward something is more important than any level of technical skill. The most important thing a parent or caregiver can model for their child are simply pleasure, interest and the desire to participate in music activities. I encourage parents to join in the singing and movement because it’s not about them, they are doing it for their child.

What if a student can have only one takeaway from time spent in your studio, what would it be? First, let me define who is the real “student’ in a Music Together class. While a parent will enroll their child in the class, the adults are the real students, for whatever skills/loves/fears a parent has will be unconsciously passed onto their child.

So, what do I want my students to take away? That music is for everyone. It’s a basic life skill. Everyone can learn to sing in tune and keep a beat just as we all learn to swim or read, or ride a bike. There is no culture on earth that does not have music and dance, and we should all feel comfortable participating in a joyous and community activity at whatever level we are at. It is only by doing something that we get better at it.