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Fields: Molding Young Musicians

August 2007

Musicians in the Making, an early childhood music program, is celebrating its 15th year of bringing top-quality music to West Windsor and Plainsboro. In 1993 Linda Fields acted on her vision of filling a piano studio with classes for younger children. Children from ages two to six enjoy singing, playing, listening, and dancing, while building a strong foundation for instrumental study. Fields also teaches private piano lessons in her home, along with a monthly class for all piano students in the studio.

"The years since 1993 have been a wonderful journey," says founder and director, Fields, a longtime West Windsor resident. "We have seen children come to us as toddlers, barely matching pitch, and over the years they have developed into competent pianists, earning blue ribbons in piano festivals — true musicians in the making!"

Fields, who has her master's degree in piano from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and, with level III certification in early childhood music and movement, believes she may be the highest ECMMA certified teacher in New Jersey.

She later added curriculum by Musikgarten to give a new dimension to the early childhood music classes. "The program is unparalleled in how it trains the body and the ear, leading solidly to music literacy at the appropriate age," Fields says. "In addition, its emphasis on the world of nature and on family music-making resonates perfectly with our goals of wholesome, environmentally-focused activities."

Initially at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, the early childhood music classes eventually met at Windsor Chapel from 1994 to 2000. In 2000 it was time to move the piano students from Fields' home to a new location in West Windsor. Alison Lont (since married and settled in Virginia) came on-board, kicking off a highly structured program for piano study. The following year the growing studio moved to East Windsor, offering both early childhood music and a piano class and lesson combination in one place.

Two years later Musicians in the Making settled into its current Plainsboro location, the Office Center (behind Princeton Meadows Shopping Center).

Fields also offers free family music parties several times a year to provide a music-making opportunity geared to children age six and under and their families. "This is something that is rare our current culture, and yet it is one of the most significant and healthy ways parents can impact their children's lives," says Fields.

Says Fields: "The most important component for musical development is the home environment. How interested and involved the parents are bears directly on the interest and involvement of the child, from infancy all the way through formal instrumental study."

"When children have a repertoire of very familiar songs that have been explored and experienced in many ways from infancy, by age seven, most children are ready to transfer from pitched and unpitched rhythm instruments to the piano," says Fields. "Having experienced the essence of music from the very beginning, these students show an innate sense of artistry, and confidence in projecting musical ideas.

Roy Bhame, a rising sophomore at High School South, attended classes taught by Linda Fields when he was younger. He spent his middle school years at American Boy Choir and is still active with the alumni chorus at the school. They recently recorded a few pieces of American music for a new CD being released this fall. He will be singing in the concert choir at South and hopes to be in musical productions as well.

Both he and his younger sister, Marlena, attended Field's early childhood music classes for several years. "Roy constantly would sing the little songs he learned in the class and Linda chose him to be a leader of some echo singing they did," says his mother, Karen Bhame.

"Roy has been singing with accuracy since he was 18 months old," says his mother, (The News, February 18, 2005). "He would learn songs instantly and if I put on any kind of beautiful vocal music including opera, Roy would stop what he was doing and stare into space and listen. I knew he was processing complex music at an early age."

"The classes were delightful in every way and the variety of the music and activities always kept them interested," she says. "She (Fields) had introductory parent classes where we sampled the recordings and activities and she had a lending library of music-related stories that was freely available."

"I remember that Marlena couldn't get enough of 'The Magic Flute,'" Karen Bhame says. "The materials and homework were very professional and fun to do. The songbook had beautiful illustrations along with the musical scores."

Marlena, now 12, enters seventh grade at Grover Middle School. A member of the Princeton Girlchoir for several years, she will join the concert choir and looks forward to her first tour next summer.

"While every child will enjoy music classes, I found Linda's classes to be extremely helpful for Roy, who needed to be musically challenged," says Bhame. "He was above the curve in singing from a very early age and the level of artistry of the recordings and class really fed his abilities and motivation to keep learning."

"To prove how much the kids loved the program, they would ask me to play the cassette (Roy) and later the CDs (Marlena) for a long time after they graduated," says Karen Bhame. "Hearing the music again brought back good memories for them." — Lynn Miller

Open House, Musicians in the Making, 666 Plainsboro Road, Building 500, Suite 505, Plainsboro, 609-750-0600. www.musiciansinthemaking.com. Musikgarten demo classes hourly for ages birth to six years. Register online. Free. Wednesday, August 29, 10:30 a.m.

Information Meeting. For parents about the program. Open to the community. Registration requested. Saturday, September 8, 10 a.m.

From the Cradle, Nurturing Young Musicians

July 2006

"I can't recall when I wasn't interested in music! I can still remember the feeling of being held and sung to by my mother in a rocking chair," says Linda Fields of West Windsor, founder and director of Musicians in the Making. "Even a pre-mobile infant will respond to being rocked and sung to in the arms of a trusted adult. And that's the right time to start music lessons."

"The studio came out of a vision I had — to provide group and private piano instruction coming out of a foundation in early childhood music," she says. "We started out in a church in 1993, with the goal of offering music classes that would bring local families into casual contact with a faith community."

"The body is the first and most important musical instrument, available to all at a very young age," she says. "My studies in early childhood music made me aware that training the ear and the body in the language of music can and should come years before attempting to read, write, and play it."

She enjoys demonstrating her growing collection of instruments including clarinet, oboe, trumpet, French Horn, trombone, and violin, to her early childhood music classes.

"There are seven golden years for a child to "play with" music-based experiences. Singing develops pitch sense and dancing develops rhythm. Doing these things in a community setting, especially within the family, brings emotional bonding into the picture — the strongest situation for learning that there is."

Fields started taking piano lessons when she was five and later realized that she was too young. "When they start too early, what children are actually learning from formal piano lessons is often a visual and tactile skill — not properly connected to listening," she says. "This is perfectly normal for four to six year olds, who are fascinated with the visual components of learning to read and write."

"Research, and my experience, shows that about age seven is the right time to begin formal study on a musical instrument," says Fields. "I knew from personal experience that learning how to control a ‘toy/tool' like a musical instrument, simultaneously with learning about reading music, can be both frustrating and counter-productive, something like learning to type in a foreign, unknown language," she says.

"True music literacy results years later, when those very familiar melodies and rhythms get connected to symbols," she says. "Eventually, producing those tunes, harmonies, and beats on a musical instrument becomes a fulfilling, natural next step."

She was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her father, a retired advertising account executive, is from a family with a lot of musical interest. Her mother, a well-known calligrapher, founded the Calligraphy Guild of Oklahoma.

"She and Dad used to sing fun-type songs around the house, and integrated them into our daily lives," she says. "In their own way, each of my parents passed a ‘music in the home' lifestyle down to me, my sister, and brother."

"I loved visiting my grandmother in Kansas, where there was a piano that dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins enjoyed playing," she says. "When I was about three or four years old Dad taught me how to play a few little pieces on the piano at grandma's. About a year later, when our family got a piano, I enjoyed figuring out melodies that I heard on the radio."

In elementary school she studied the flute, and minored in it in college. Over the years, she played in band, orchestra, wind ensembles, and even did some solo flute gigs during college and graduate school. She has also studied pipe organ to an advanced level, and played piccolo, recorder, harmonica, guitar, and even the ukulele.

She earned a bachelor of music degree from the University of Texas, a masters of music in piano from the Peabody Conservatory, and a church music certificate and graduate credits in organ from Westminster Choir College. Her professional credits include certification in early childhood music and movement and professional level certification in Kindermusik. She served on the faculties at Westminster Choir College, Hood College, and the Peabody Preparatory Department.

At Windsor Chapel, she was a church organist and children's choir and preschool music consultant. An active member of the Piano Teachers' Forum of Central New Jersey, she is now serving as president.

Her husband, John, received a doctorate in physics from Princeton University, and has been with Sarnoff Corporation since 1977. Over the years, he has worked on a variety of projects involving computer modeling of physical systems and software design for engineering applications. He uses computers to analyze live video from cameras mounted on vehicles especially in recovering information about the three-dimensional structure of the environment through which the vehicle is moving.

They moved from East Windsor to West Windsor in 1981 and have lived in their first house ever since. Both of their sons are poster children for the connection between math and music.

David, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Class of 2000, is a computer scientist working for Microsoft in the Seattle area. He plays trombone in a community orchestra and in church, and sings in an a capella group of Microsoft employees.

Mark, a graduate of High School North, Class of 2004, just completed his sophomore year at Carnegie Mellon as a math major. In addition to studying music composition there toward a possible minor, he plays in the CMU Kiltie Band (drums when they march and French Horn in concerts), and leads Joyful Noise, a Christian a capella group on campus.

"I'm proud that Musicians in the Making is a place where families can come for an integrated program that will build music literacy along with performance skills, one age-appropriate step at a time," she says.

"Although we are now in rented space in Plainsboro, we still seek to encourage young families with wholesome activities and a genuine spirit of caring for each person that comes through our door."

Summer Music Party, Musicians in the Making, 666 Plainsboro Road, Building 500, Suite 505, Plainsboro,609-750-0600. Songs, games, circle dances. prizes, and refreshments for families with children ages birth to six years. Register online. Thursday, July 13, 7 to 8 p.m.

Open House, Musicians in the Making, 666 Plainsboro Road, Building 500, Suite 505, Plainsboro, 609-750-0600. Demo classes hourly for ages birth to six years. Register online. Free. Saturday, August 26, and Wednesday, August 30, 10:30 a.m.

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