Young children, Toddlers, Babies
Parent-child music development classes for babies through age 7.
Tonewood is the name given to a variety of wood that has inherent musical potential. These types of wood are used to make the world's most beautiful instruments. We at Tonewood Family Music believe that children are like tonewood -- each child has the potential to become a beautiful instrument; he or she just needs to have the right experience, environment, and - most importantly - involvement from you!
Music education supports all education. How? Music introduces concepts such as numbers, shapes, sounds, colors, adding/subtracting, languages, and classroom behavior. It develops self-confidence through self-expression and coordination through complex movement exercises. Research suggests that music can increase memory function and builds up the brain's ability to more quickly access information. All these are skills necessary for school, sports, and a healthy social life.
Music is its own reward, but can also bring with it skills that help your child be successful in every aspect of life.
Every Music Together® teacher must complete an intensive teacher training in order to be allowed to teach the program. A Music Together teacher has a special mix of musicality, creativity, and silliness that allows children to feel comfortable creating music of their own both in class and at home.
David Ford, Tonewood's director, holds a BFA in Drama (Musical Theater) from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2008, David and his family moved to Gainesville from New York City where David was a professional actor, singer, dancer and instrumentalist. He has appeared around the world in dozens of professional stage productions - and in several motion pictures. With the birth of his second son, David decided to bring Music Together to Gainesville with "Tonewood Family Music, Inc." Find out more about David at his actor website: www.DavidPatrickFord.com!
Andrea
October 30, 2019 at 10:05 PMAn excellent learning environment for kids. We do not only enjoy watching our daughter thrive in class but she continues to play music and sing outside the class. We love the CDs and workbook that comes with the registration. Overall a great experience, exceptional guidance and quality learning environment.
Julie
October 25, 2019 at 1:11 PMI highly recommend the parent-child class! Mr. David is highly interactive with the kids, keeping them engaged and having fun the whole time. He’s such a talented musician and a wonderful teacher.
Liz
October 22, 2019 at 9:55 AMThe amount of energy, love, and passion David Ford has poured into his studio and classes is apparent in every detail of Tonewood. My daughter and I have attended the Babies class and Parent-Child class and it has been a pleasure to watch her develop musically with the program. It’s such a delight to watch babies, toddlers, and children all highly engaged every week in class.
Kat K
October 21, 2019 at 6:51 PMMy 3 year old LOVES LOVES LOVES Mr. David. The classes are so much fun and so engaging. He’s not afraid to get silly singing and dancing with the kids. My son and I look forward to going every week. My husband took him once and came home saying “ That guy needs his own show!” Great experience. Worth every penny!
Alicia Smith
October 21, 2019 at 6:18 PMI highly recommend Tonewood Music classes to anyone with little children. David Ford is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about music as well as sharing that love of the art with children and their families. His enthusiasm shines through with his energetic and engaging instruction. Both my children enjoy his class.
Harriet Kramer
October 21, 2019 at 3:52 PMMy granddaughter and I have been attending Tonewoods with David Ford for over 3 years now. He is a wonderful teacher who knows how to relate to children of all ages. His classes are educational and so much fun for the children and the adults also. Most of the time the kids and adults don’t want to leave when the class ends because they were enjoying themselves so much singing, dancing, and playing instruments.