OUR MISSION STATEMENT

Moo Moo Musica ignites the joy, vitality and imagination that is the essence of the human experience. It was inspired by a desire to promote world peace through multi-cultural music and movement. ©

OUR FOUNDER

JULIEANNE SEARLES, MFT:
Moo Moo Musica was created in 2002 by JulieAnne Searles, MFT, a licensed psychotherapist, an accomplished musician, a devoted wife and mother.  The popular multicultural music and movement program was inspired by JulieAnne’s childhood memories of family gatherings filled with singing and playing musical instruments as well as her professional therapeutic work with children and parents. It is also infused with her deep commitment to caring for and repairing our planet.

Through her more than 20+ years’ experience as a psychotherapist, JulieAnne recognized how crucial positive early attachment and bonding experiences between infants and parents are to healthy childhood development, and in fact, a healthy and functional adulthood. Singing, playing, modeling and mirroring experiences between parent and child as well as group interaction from a very early age help foster happy, secure individuals.

From the time her child was an infant, JulieAnne took him to the various programs for mothers, babies and toddlers but soon grew disenchanted by what was available. Some were simply routine and uninspired, while others she felt clashed with what she knew professionally was best for children and parents to promote learning and bonding.

After a long search for a music class both she and her son would enjoy, JulieAnne decided to draw on her multifaceted background to create a music and movement program that was uniquely different from anything she had experienced.

Since its debut in 2001 with a small group of five families, Moo Moo Musica has flourished and grown into a highly regarded and successful business. In that time, it has educated, entertained and delighted thousands of families. In addition to its popular infant and toddler classes in the Los Angeles area, Moo Moo Musica has branched out to include private, in-home birthday parties, pre-school and elementary school programs as well as programs in other cities. With songs in more than 25 languages and movement to stimulate development of motor and social skills, Moo Moo Musica is a joyous celebration of aliveness and interconnectedness.

“The mission of Moo Moo Musica is to promote world peace through music and movement,” says JulieAnne Searles. “Singing in multiple languages and moving to the rhythms are powerful pathways to peace.”

Neuroscience research indicates that babies, even in the womb, have a much more highly developed capacity to recognize sounds and melodies and to distinguish between the native languages of their parents and others than previously assumed.

As infants and toddlers in class hear the words and melodies over and over and eventually begin to repeat them, the neural networks of their brains essentially “lay the tracks” so that they become instantly recognizable, familiar. Whether the content of the words is understood or not doesn’t matter; the sounds and patterns are permanently embedded in their neurology.

We’ve known for a long time that it’s much easier to acquire new language skills at an early age and it’s quite possible this exposure to various languages in our Moo Moo Musica classes can help facilitate this capacity in young children.

But on an even deeper level, what inspired me to explore multiple languages through music and movement was the idea of creating direct, somatic experiencing that breaks down the barriers of the “other,” the unknown.

Regardless of whether any child who participates in our classes goes on to develop a fluency in a given language, he or she will always have, in their deepest being, an openness and receptivity to those sounds, a connection that resonates.  Essentially, my hope is to dissolve the concept that other languages, people, cultures are ‘foreign’ or ‘alien,’ i.e., ‘alienating.’

Anyone who’s experienced the delight of communicating with others from a different culture, through music, dance or even a few simple words, however mangled the pronunciation, knows the power of that connection. For me, this is where it starts, and how an abstract concept like ‘world peace’ becomes real. This is the gift I try to bring through Moo Moo Musica.”  ©

OUR TEACHERS

CHRISTIANE:
Christiane grew up in Montreal, Canada and is fluent in both French and English.  In school throughout her teens she sang in chorale groups and went on to study in the arts.  Christiane has a BFA from Mount Allison University in New Brunswick and a degree in Education from McGill University in Montreal.  She has taught art extensively to both young children, teens, adults and seniors. She sings with Coeur Maha and with a sanskrit chanting group in Montreal. She also enjoys playing the flute and joined the Moo Moo Musica team in 2008.  She is currently running Moo Moo Musica Canada in Quebec. ©

IN THE COMMUNITY