Hartmann to Havre for concert, workshop

By Lorraine Verploegen

Jack Hartmann, a nationally recognized children's singer, songwriter, author, keynoter, presenter and workshop leader will be in Havre April 24 and 25 presenting a family sing-along and a workshop for area early childhood professionals.

After receiving his bachelor's in psychology and master's in child psychology, he started his work with children's music, working with autistic children at the University of Florida Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainsville, Florida, as a counselor, social worker and trainer. Hartmann has worked 25 years with children, families and human service professionals in Pinellas County, Florida

Music plays an important role in each of our lives on a daily basis-ranging from enjoyment to setting the mood in movies.

For young children, early exposure to music greatly enhances the development of the thinking process. Educators, researchers and neuroscientists agree that music stimulates and motivates critical thinking.

Hap Palmer, a children's music specialist, found that songs not only stimulate children's oral language development, but young children can even learn to read. It is also noted that because music heightens emotional involvement in learning, it makes it easier to remember information.

The family sing-along will take place Friday, April 24, at the Havre High School Auditorium, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is $5 per person, with children 2 and under admitted free.

This concert will get all the children and grownups singing, clapping, wiggling, twisting and just having fun with songs that include hip-hop, reggae, country, rock, gospel, Native American, Latin, Caribbean, African and pop rhythms.

Tickets are available for purchase at the HRDC reception desk, 2229 5th Ave, or the Havre-Hill County Library.

Hartmann sings live and demonstrates fun and creative movements to a wide variety of early childhood topics including: language development and phonological awareness skills, basic math with counting and number skills and more.

Saturday, April 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the HRDC Fireside Room, early childhood professionals, music teachers and early primary teachers will have an opportunity to see how music plays an important and vital role in teaching young children during his workshop presentation.

To register, contact Lorraine Verploegen at 265-6743, ext. 1112. Registration fee is $25 until April 17 and $35 after that date.

"I would teach children music, physics and philosophy, but most importantly music for patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning," said Plato

Organizers extended a special thank-you for the following agencies and businesses which helped bring this opportunity to Havre: Best Western Plus Great Northern Inn, Child Care Link, Havre Daily News, Havre/Hill County Library, Havre Public Schools, Hi-Line Child Care Association, HRDC District 4, and New Media Broadcasters.