ThisWeek UA 2/16/2011
Last week, First Community Village put the rock back into Roxbury.
With the help of several preschoolers and their parents, as well as the residents of the Alzheimer’s care facility; the Roxbury Cottages on Riverside Drive were alive with song and dance.
Director Sarah Case of Bloom! Music and Movement Centre on Northwest Boulevard brought her Music Together class to First Community Village as an outreach field trip for the children and their families.
“The program lets parents and kids explore music and dance in a playful way,” Case said. Taking the class to the Alzheimer’s residents seemed like a natural fit to Case and her students.
Roxbury Cottages Activities Coordinator Brooke Randolph worked with Case to bring the group in.
“Anything that involves kids and music works well for us and the seniors in our care,” Randolph said. “She [Case] brought instruments to share and scarves to twirl. We even had residents in walkers participating. Out of 34 residents, 27 of them joined in.”
Randolph said she looks for activities that get her residents up and moving. She said music and children are the right combination to make that happen.
According to the website, Music Together is an early-childhood music and movement program for infants through kindergarteners, and the adults in their lives, that focuses on the idea that all children have music in them.
Case and Randolph were so pleased with the results of this program that they are working to make it a monthly event. They felt it was a great experience for everyone involved.
“It was beautiful to see the seniors liven up with the music. I think it is amazing; this power of music to bring everyone across generations together and share in an experience,” Case said.