Changing The World Through Music

The most critical stage for a child’s language, social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development is between 0 – 5 years of age. By age 3, children from low-income families hear 30 million fewer words than children in higher-income families. With advancements in brain research, we know of many ways in which active music participating can help to strengthen neural connections and develop important areas in the brain, especially in early childhood when the brain is rapidly developing from experience. Prelude Music Foundation focuses on serving pre-k to kindergarten age children during the most formative years of their lives. Our mission is to transform the lives of underserved children in Houston through the power of music. Through our in-school music residency, we provide students with a quality, research-based music and movement program that supports their overall development during the most formative years of their lives.

DEVELOPMENT   -   INCLUSION   -   INSPIRATION   -   ENGAGEMENT  -  ASSESSMENT

DEVELOPMENT - Weekly Music Classes using research based, developmentally appropriate curriculum aligned with Texas Pre-K and Kindergarten Guidelines.

INCLUSION - Professional Development and continuous mentorship for classroom teachers on how to use music to supplement their every-day curriculum

INSPIRATION - Classroom visits and school-wide concerts with musicians from Houston Symphony & Mercury Chamber Orchestra.

ENGAGEMENT - Parents are provided with songbooks, CD, digital access to the music and parent education materials in order to continue making music at home.

ASSESSMENT - The Prelude Music Foundation is constantly seeking ways to facilitate continuous improvement and to reach the evolving needs of the communities we serve. 

WHY MUSIC?

1. Musical learning supports all learning®. 
2. Our songs support emergent language and literacy development by exposing children to the basic structure and sequence of sounds involved in language, including phonological awareness and alliteration. Our music also supports children's developing narrative skills, breath awareness, vocabulary, and active listening skills.
3. Participation in music activities can foster children's self-regulation, social competence, self confidence and the ability to work with other in a group by providing young children with leadership opportunities, practice with turn-taking and behavioral control, and allowing for self-expression.
4. Songs and rhythmic chants in varied meters familiarize children with concepts of proportions, patterning, and counting, supporting their emerging math skills. Music and movement activities can also support children's developing representational abilities and concept knowledge, and provide opportunities to explore cause-and-effect.
5. Executive functions are cognitive skills that help children organize their thinking and behavior, helping them to solve problems, figure things out, and achieve a goal. Music activities can support executive skill development, including  inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. 
6. Recent research using music in the fields of medicine and psychology highlight the potential "healing" power of music as it can promote relaxation, reduce anxiety and depression, and lift one's spirits.
7. Adult-child music interactions support positive parenting practices and parent-child interactions, particularly in the earliest years when a child relies on his or her adult attachment figure to learn about the surrounding world, gin self-regulatory skills, and begin language development.
8. Recent research revealed that shared music-making can activate and synchronize similar neural connections in participants, resulting in feelings of togetherness and shared purpose, fostering positive social interactions and increased empathy between the adults. Even in infancy, adult-child music and movement interactions can lead to increased coordination and connection, both rhythmically and emotionally, between adult and child.