The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, one of New Jersey’s premier private charitable foundations, has awarded a $52,500 grant to Trenton Community Music School, to support the Trenton Music Makers preschool and orchestra programs.

The Trenton Music Makers preschool program was launched in 2000 to ensure that Trenton’s pre-K students received the academic and social benefits implicit in high-quality early-childhood music and movement instruction. Developed in partnership with the Office of Early Childhood Programs of the Trenton Public Schools and The Center for Music and Young Children, then in Princeton, the program has to date engaged over 3,000 children and their families, and trained 250 classroom teachers to integrate high-quality music activities into their daily routines. The orchestra, originally named El Sistema — Trenton, is an intensive music and social development program operating in two school locations, Grant Elementary School and Dunn Middle School, in partnership with the Trenton Public Schools. Entering its fourth program year in September, the Trenton Music Makers Orchestra included 75 children last year and plans to grow to 110 in 2017-18.

“We are honored by the Dodge Foundation’s invaluable continued support,” said Carol Burden, executive director of Trenton Community Music School (TCMS). “Dodge has provided us with technical assistance, matching funds, board leadership development, and funding that has helped the kids in our music programs to thrive.” Funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has supported Trenton Community Music School’s community-based music programs since 2002. The preschool program includes regular classroom visits from TCMS’s early-childhood music specialists, with concurrent training of the classroom teachers in weaving music throughout the curriculum to enhance the children’s learning. The program uses the renowned Music Together™ resources, which children take home to share, so that entire families can become involved in their children’s music learning; parents also join their children at school for TCMS’s Family Music Parties. The orchestra program meets three days per week after school, and children receive string instrument instruction, musicianship training, and regular rehearsals as a string orchestra. Based on the El Sistema philosophy that emerged from Venezuela in the 1970’s, the Trenton Music Makers Orchestra provides a model for positive social interaction and the results of hard work in creating collective success. Its most meaningful goals include helping children to understand their role as an asset to their community.

“Families whose children take part in our preschool program tell us that they spend more time together singing and making music at home, and their teachers report that they spontaneously include music in their play,” notes Ms. Burden. After our first three years of the orchestra program, the kids are showing significantly higher attendance rates, improved conflict resolution skills, and greater courage in approaching new things. And of course, they can really play. This is what gets us up in the morning, and we are so grateful to have the Dodge Foundation on our team.”