{"id":35266,"date":"2025-11-15T21:22:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/35266\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T21:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:22:05","slug":"philadelphias-please-touch-museum-hosts-the-lullaby-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/35266\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia\u2019s Please Touch Museum hosts The Lullaby Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s \u2018infectious\u2019<\/p>\n

This is the second time that Musicopia has come to the Please Touch Museum for the Lullaby project. Sean Evans, the Please Touch Museum\u2019s Museum Learning Coordinator, called the program infectious.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost, like, hypnotizing,\u201d Evans said. \u201cYou don\u2019t even know you\u2019re reaching that state. It was so funny. We were just humming and singing, repeating words, and then they started incorporating body movement, and the next thing you know, I\u2019m doing things with my hands. I don\u2019t even know what I\u2019m doing, but this feels so wonderful. It really is just such an incredible program.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Musician Lia Manaker, who played the piano, has worked with the program before, but was excited to share it with her 3-year-old daughter for the first time.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI love how people can surprise themselves, that they can write a song that speaks to them, that feels like a real song,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that the process of creating and making music connects the people in a way where they feel like \u2018I can do this.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Nathan Rifenburg, Musicopia\u2019s program director, said that parents often come into the room a little self-conscious.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first they\u2019re like \u2026 \u2018I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not really musical. I don\u2019t think I can do that,\u2019 he said. \u201cBut I think as they discover that connection that they actually then have, and there\u2019s this way to express their love and a format that is really vulnerable for them.\u201d
\n\"ProfessionalLyrics for the original song included aspirations that parents had for their children, including \u201cBe strong\u201d and \u201cKnow your Worth.\u201d (Julia Binswanger\/ Billy Penn)\n<\/p>\n

The Lullaby Project is backed by the William Penn Foundation<\/a>. Rifenburg believes in the program not just because it is fun \u2014 which it is \u2014 but also because of how music can be vital for childhood development.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the research about the way that music can help with anxiety in children,\u201d he said. \u201cMusic helps foster language in children. There are just so many studies [about] the benefits of doing music. But even for them to just have a moment to sit with a percussion instrument and bang, you know, it\u2019s a very something within us that feels good.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Music and its impact on young minds<\/p>\n

A 2020 study<\/a> from the University of British Columbia backs up Rifenburg point. The research, which looked at more than 110,000 students, found that kids who get involved in musical education, like band practice, dance class or chorus, were often academic overachievers. They also tended to gain higher scores on exams in multiple subjects, such as English, math and science exams, than their nonmusical peers.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cCaregivers are the first educators of young children, and that music is such an important part of that early brain development and function,\u201d Rifenburg said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be that you\u2019re playing some Mozart \u2026 It could be singing a silly song. It could be a \u2018Wheels on the Bus,\u2019 and it\u2019s okay to share that with your child, even if you\u2019re not the best singer.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Talukder echoed this sentiment.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important to take time to sing songs with your kids,\u201d he said. \u201cOr, get them some toy instruments and just let them kind of jam out. You don\u2019t have to wait until they go to school, or you want to get them a private music teacher. You are their first teacher, so go teach them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This story is part of a series that explores the impact of creativity on student learning and success. WHYY and this series are supported by the Marrazzo Family Foundation, a foundation focused on fostering creativity in Philadelphia youth, which is led by Ellie and Jeffrey Marrazzo. WHYY News produces independent, fact-based news content for audiences in Greater Philadelphia, Delaware and South Jersey.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s \u2018infectious\u2019 This is the second time that Musicopia has come to the Please Touch Museum for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,21997],"class_list":["post-35266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-please-touch-museum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}