Our Teachers

Director and Teacher.  Julie has been teaching Music Together and bringing families together in a community for over 35 years.   She holds a Certificate Level 2 from Music Together CMYC (the Center for Music and Young Children) in Princeton for demonstrating achievement in musicianship, movement, parent education, and teaching the Music Together program. She has been a Music Together In-School Specialist for over 25 years, is able to provide the Music Together curriculum to preschools and offers professional development workshops to preschool teachers and child care providers.  Julie teaches Music Together Babies only, Mixed-Age, and Rhythm Kids, Level 1 classes.  Here background includes voice and piano.  Julie has studied Creative Arts Therapy and Dalcroze Eurhythmics.

As a parent in the program, Julie has taken her daughter to Music Together classes since she has been in utero as she taught up until her 8 mth of pregnancy. Her daughter Alexa, now 27, has studied dance, clarinet and piano.

Julie is very passionate about bringing Music Together to the families in the surrounding areas.  She would like to share with parents what she has learned about the importance of musical development in early childhood as well as the experierences and joy it has brought to her family and others who have taken the journey with their children. 

Samantha is a classically trained soprano from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from New York University in Vocal Performance (Classical Voice) and a Master of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin (Opera Performance). Since the age of five, Samantha could be found on stage or in a choir. Her passion for singing, working with younger singers, and being a part of a musical community also led her down a vocal directing path for middle school productions and summer arts programs.

Samantha’s professional performing career began in Austin, TX and then moved to the east coast. Credits include Austin Opera Chorus, Austin Baroque Orchestra, Florida Grand Opera Chorus, Palm Beach Opera Chorus, and The Wick Theater (Boca Raton). She also performed four shows a week at the Quisisana Resort in Maine during the summer. There, she was introduced to children’s opera which would quickly become her forte. Samantha really enjoys being silly! Following Quisisana, Samantha joined FBN Productions, INC, a children’s opera touring company based in Columbia, South Carolina. The tour brought children’s opera to thousands of elementary school children across the southeast. Samantha’s almost decade-long performing career came to an abrupt halt with the arrival of Covid. She then had two beautiful children with her husband and moved to Connecticut. 

Samantha’s Music Together journey began in Florida when her son was 9 months old, and the rich musical variety and play-based education methods resonated very deeply with her. The teachers there encouraged Samantha to start teaching Music Together, and after moving to Connecticut and finding Julie (who offered similar encouragement), Samantha has completed the full cycle of Music Together collections and participated in classes for almost 5 years. Samantha has experienced first-hand the magic of Music Together and the monumental effect the program had on her children.  Now that both of her children will be in school, Samantha is ready to join the Music Together Monroe Trumbull community as a teacher while still attending classes with her daughter. She looks forward to singing, dancing, bringing the fun, and teaching the wonderful repertoire of Music Together to the families of Monroe, Trumbull, Stratford, and Shelton.