Golden Age Home offers music and movement class

By Nicole Burnett
Special to the LPR

On Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. there is a beautiful mixture of songs and laughter floating throughout the hallways of Golden Age Home. In January, Golden Age Home started an eight-week Music & Movement Class. This class, generally geared towards preschoolers, is centered around awareness of body, world, and self. The instructor is Reagan Quinn, local musician and owner of Reagan Quinn Music in Austin.
Quinn has uniquely designed the class at Golden Age Home to incorporate not only the child and parent but also the senior adults. All who come to the class (children, parents and senior adults) are encouraged to sing and dance to popular and nontraditional children’s songs, jam with different types of instruments, play with shakers, scarves, and participate in a few group activities.
“The class at Golden Age Home is the first multi-generational class I’ve had the opportunity to teach” said Quinn. “It has been such a wonderful experience to see the older adults and children interacting and participating. They each bring a natural energy and joy to the class. This session has been a testament of the powerful and positive effects that music can have in our lives–no matter our age.”
“This unique class allows for the children to become comfortable with people of all ages and abilities while the children’s energy and excitement are contagious for the older adults. It has quickly become the favorite morning of the week,” said Nicole Burnett, Golden Age Home Executive Director. “We look forward to hosting more classes like these in the future.”
Community member Kathryn Peterson was key in bringing this class to the Lockhart. Kathryn had participated in Early Childhood music classes with each of her children and was looking for a local class for her one-year old son. When there was no longer one offered in Lockhart, she decided to organize it herself. Peterson recognizes that music supports social, emotional, cognitive and physical development in children.
“I’ve attended several events at Golden Age Home and had the pleasure of interacting with the residents. It was obvious that the residents loved seeing children.” said Peterson. “I loved that my children could form friendships with seniors, especially since their grandparents reside outside of Texas. I also understand that many older adults can get lonely or bored. I thought having Golden Age Home host the music class in a multi-generational setting would be beneficial to everyone.”
The Music & Movement class is the first of many multi-generational activities that are being implemented at Golden Age Home in 2020. To sign up for future classes, contact Golden Age Home at 512-398-2421.
Reagan Quinn has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Addiction Recovery from Texas Tech University. She began her music program after years of teaching and studying the positive effects of music in child development. Quinn has been offering Music Movement classes for the past 2 years. For more information about Music & Movement classes, visit Reagan Quinn’s website at http://www.reaganquinn.com/music-classes.