Seedling Symphony Launches Early Childhood Program

Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College launches a new educational outreach program called Seedling Symphony. This new program was developed by Signature Quartet musicians and combines music and movements in the classroom with the goal of expanding the type of music in early learning programs.

Seedling Symphony raises the level of music beyond nursery rhymes and lullabies to expose young children, from birth to six years old, to complex and intricate music using string instruments, the viola, violin and cello, in a live performance. In addition, teachers participating in Seedling Symphony receive a packet of information researched and compiled by TCC students majoring in Child Development to help incorporate additional music and activities in the classroom.

“We want to develop a classroom culture that uses music differently and goes beyond music appreciation to help young children with communication, behavioral and emotional skills,” said Erica Parker, Signature Quartet musician and one of the creators of Seedling Symphony.

Research by the Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University shows the brain architecture of a young child (0-3 years old) changes with the use of complex serve and return activities which means the adult doing a gesture, the young child copying that gesture and the pattern repeating. Seedling Symphony uses music and movements incorporated with each song to create this learning technique.

Currently, there are three lessons with movements such as pop/sway, snap/clap or dance/prance with the possibility of adding additional lessons.

TCC Child Development students teamed up with the Signature Quartet for a semester project to provide educators with supplemental material about the use of music in early childhood learning. TCC students researched the benefits and found the ‘best practices’ from across the country. The lists of organized activities and examples were assembled into a binder to help teachers incorporate music in the learning environment.

“This partnership between the professional musicians and TCC students allows our Child Development majors to go beyond a textbook and apply the latest research to early childhood learning and use critical thinking skills and analysis,” said Debbie Deibert, TCC Assistant Professor – Child Development.

Seedling Symphony will work with children at TCC’s West Campus Child Development Center and has already booked performances for March and April. For additional information on Seedling Symphony, please call the Signature Symphony office at (918) 595-7776.