Sesame Street Music Works is an ongoing initiative to get kids up to age six and their parents, teachers and caregivers involved in active music making. The program uses the powerful appeal of the Sesame Street characters to spread this message across numerous media components, including television, video, the Internet, books, magazines and local/national public events.

Since 2001, NAMM and Sesame Workshop have provided over 1 million free Music Works DVDs and educational materials to the public and preschool instructors to further promote the initiative and create more active music makers. Sesame Street licensees have given away an additional one million of these fun and educational DVDs!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are the goals of this program?
The program aims to...

• Show parents and caregivers the role music plays in a pre-school age child’s development
• Provide means for parents and caregivers to make music with children regardless of musical talent or training
• Demonstrate that everyone can enjoy, make and value music
• Encourage a love of music in children during their formative years
• Illustrate musical links among cultures

Q. What are the central messages of Sesame Street Music Works?

• Children grow and learn with music
• Everyone, everywhere can celebrate with music
• We express ourselves through music
• Children learn about music by enjoying and making music

Q. How did Sesame Street Music Works come about?
NAMM, the International Music Products Association and Sesame Workshop, the producers of Sesame Street, hosted a two-day symposium in February 2000 that assembled a broad spectrum of music education and early childhood development experts. The purpose of the gathering was to lay a conceptual groundwork and develop educational goals for a cutting-edge, multi-media Sesame Street outreach initiative in English and Spanish on music education. Leading researchers in early childhood development, education, the music-brain connection and other disciplines joined forces to design a multi-media program.

Q. What organizations are sponsoring Sesame Street Music Works?
NAMM is the founding sponsor of Sesame Street Music Works. Major support for the creation and development of Sesame Street Music Zone, the program's online component was provided by the ChevronTexaco Foundation. The initiative was orginally co-sponsored by the National Association for Music Education (MENC), The Heckscher Foundation for Children and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).