Huntsville, Alabama 35804-0486
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Preschool Music Program
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with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the Huntsville Housing
Authority’s Cultural Arts Conservatory provides biweekly,
half-hour, preschool violin instruction at the Second Mile Preschool
and at Alabama A & M University’s Early Childhood Development
Center. These classes are provided to small groups (3-5) of children,
and focus upon the children’s cooperation, listening, and
learning skills, as well as enhancing their manual dexterity.
This program provides children with age-appropriate music instruction on a consistent basis at the onset of their educational development. The Authority has developed this program to ensure that even the youngest children have the opportunity to benefit from music instruction as a part of their developmental process. This program also serves as preparation for these children to later participate in the Conservatory’s ongoing music instruction program and the elementary school residency program. Music education has been shown to have a positive effect on the learning, retention, and thinking skills of the children who participate. Additionally, recent studies have shown that those children consistently involved in music education show greater rates of high school graduation, lower incidences of adolescent pregnancy and delinquency, and a higher level of attendance at school. Especially in regard to the children living within and around the Authority’s communities, affecting any of these factors in our children’s lives will provide extensive future benefits (future dependence having a high correlation to low educational achievement). In the coming year, we will be working with both Oakwood College and The University of Alabama in Huntsville, as well as Alabama A & M University (AAMU), to develop and train student interns to work with the children engaged in the music program. This will allow us to both reduce our teacher/student ratio and to expand the number of children that we reach. If you would like more information about the Preschool Music Program, please call (256) 535-2272. |
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