Heather Scott, Director of Little Woodstock Music Together


I am passionate about children and their musical development. One of the things I love most about Music Together® is that it has a solid research base. My degree is in Psychology, with a research emphasis.  Because Music Together is engaged in ongoing research, it's Directors and Teachers are fortunate to have access to the latest research from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, anthropology and even archaeology about how and why humans are wired to make music.  

Perhaps the most fascinating recent research has been the discovery that the ability to make music is naturally selected.  Think about that for a moment.  It means that making music is innate, it is part of what it means to be human. 

For the last more than 20 years, Music Together has had an active interest in reversing the trend showing the decline of community music making in our Western Culture.  Research now shows that children of Western Culture are 2 years developmentally delayed in achieving basic music competence than children of other cultures.  Many do not achieve it at all anymore. 

I am absolutely committed to reversing the trend we are seeing in our communities in which we have lost our cultural music making, instead leaving music making to the "professionals"- perhaps buying an "appropriate" CD, rather than actively making music. As a Music Together Center Director and teacher, I work to create a fun, informal, social setting that spurs engagement and supports each child's musical development. My background includes piano, voice, musical theatre and dance. I bring world music, energy and all around goofy fun to Music Together classes.

As Director of Little Woodstock Music Together, I regularly attend Songs and Skills Workshops with my fellow directors and teachers from all over the state of Washington.  I am always so heartened by the unbelievable level of professionalism, passion and commitment to early childhood music and cultural music making that I find at the workshops.  I am grateful to be surrounded by so many in the Music Together community who are also doing this work.

 Perhaps one of my favorite things about Music Together is it's deep understanding of multiple intelligences, personality, learning styles and age appropriate behavior. Over my 12+ years teaching and directing Music Together and seeing 200 kids per week, I am still endlessly fascinated by all of these same things that I was fascinated by in college. I am grateful, after these years, that I have become (as Music Together encourages all their teachers/directors to be), a true early childhood advocate in my community.

 I've had the honor over the years of working in different settings in my community outside of my Music Together classes. If you're looking for a local endeavor to support, I heartily recommend looking at Kids In Concert. I was honored to teach for them at the Headstart Early Learning Center in Suquamish 3 years ago, and to be a teacher/mentor for their after school program two years ago. Kids In Concert is based on the El Sistema model, and is a thing of great beauty. Watch this video for more information about El Sistema: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nwlj6YtaGk4  

Kids in Concert would love your support: http://www.kidsinconcert.org/

 

 

photo Heather Scott

Director of Little Woodstock Music Together

Heather is a mother of two and has been a Music Together Center Director since 2005.
She received her Music Together training from one of the co-founders of Music Together, Dr. Lilli
Levinowitz. She continues to participate in Teacher Trainings in Seattle and regularly attends
and presents songs at Songs & Skills Workshops in Seattle with her local Music Together teaching
community.

She began playing piano at age four, and later expanded into both chorale singing and musical theater,
both in school and also productions around her hometown, Denver Colorado.

Heather has a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Montana, and took substantial
coursework in child psychology and child development. After working in the business world for a
number of years, and taking time off to be with her young children she decided to get back to what
she loved... music.

Founding Little Woodstock Music Together is truly her life's passion and purpose and she continues to
be grateful every day to be able to do what she loves most... working with little people, their parents
and her community in a musical setting. She is passionate about the basic philosophy and mission of
Music Together...which is to restore cultural music making to our society as we are all richer for the
very human experience of making music. It is part of what it means to be human, and a joyful part of
our lives we were all meant to experience.