Meet Mrs. Tara & Mrs. Hollis

Meet Mrs. Tara
Center Director/Teacher
 

I'm Mrs. Tara, the Center Director and one of the Teachers at Music Together® with Mrs. Tara here in Plainfied, IL. I have been a Plainfield resident since January 2016 and I love living here and sharing music with the families in and around this town! I have been a mother since 2010 & 2012, so my babies are a bit older than yours are, but I started my Music Together®®  journey as a parent in class, just like you, back in 2013 in Palos Park. After experiencing the magic and joy of Music Together®  with my own children, I knew that I had to continue my journey as a Music Together®  Teacher. 

I finished my Music Together®  training in May of 2014 and I've been teaching ever since! I've taught in Frankfort Square, Yorkville, Sugar Grove and Plainfield. I look forward to continuing my Music Together® teaching for many years to come. I recently completed my Music Together® Teacher Training Refresher in the summer of 2022 and it has opened my eyes wider to the reason WHY I teach Music Together® and HOW I teach Music Together. 

Each quarter, Music Together®  has Songs & Skills workshops to prep us teachers for the upcoming sessions and I look forward to being a part of them. Teachers from around the area come together to learn from each other, share ideas and bond over music! I want to share the magic and joy of music making with all of my current families and those future families either just starting out on the parenting path or those who want to share music with their preschool aged kiddos.

I have had music in my life in many ways over the years. When I was younger, I played the piano, violin and the trumpet. As the years went by, the trumpet was my instrument of choice, but eventually I stopped playing and focused on athletics. It wasn't until I became a mother that I began singing simple songs to my boys and through my Music Together®  journey I have brought music back into our lives. Now I sing a little bit everyday, more when I have classes, and I've learned to play the ukulele!

Music Together® teachers come from all sorts of backgrounds, but they’re united by a common passion: Sharing the joy of music with children and families in their hometown and surrounding areas!

 

Meet Mrs. Hollis
Apprenticing Teacher
 
    I’m Mrs. Hollis, and I’m so excited to get to sing, play, and dance with you in Music Together®! Since I was very little, music has been a huge part of my life. My music journey started with Disney Sing-A-Long tapes and my mom singing along with her guitar. I took piano lessons for a few years, then decided I didn’t like solo projects and joined concert band in 5th grade. Trumpet was my instrument of choice, and I carried that with me through college. In my years with music I have done concert band, pep band, jazz band, pit orchestra, brass choir, concert choir, music theory, and even starred in my high school musical of Oklahoma! My pride and joy, however, was the Hawkeye Marching Band at the University of Iowa for four years. This gave me the opportunity to perform at the Orange Bowl in Miami, in Glendale, AZ at the home of the Arizona Cardinals, and at Soldier Field. This is also where I made lifelong friendships and met my husband!
 
    After college, I kept up my love of music by attending many live shows and plunking around on guitar that I have taught myself (nothing fancy, just basic chords to get me through most songs in popular music). I continued to see the importance of music in people’s lives. Fun fact: I started off in college as a music major, but it wasn't meant to be for me (at the time!). 
 
    My son was born in 2021 and very quickly I wanted to expose him to music. I routinely sang lullabies to my son and bought him various baby instruments to shake and bang around on. I also took him to Baby Storytime at the Plainfield Area Public Library where he was exposed to some of the basic children’s tunes, and he loved it. I knew he needed more music in his life. Thankfully, I found Music Together® with Mrs. Tara and I have been participating in classes since summer of 2022. I now bring both of my boys, and was lucky to have the opportunity to recently become a Music Together Teacher, too!
 
    I have loved seeing my boys grow in music over the many sessions they have participated in. My family sings these songs at home together, and I’ve even caught my son singing them while picking up toys at the end of the day. I am truly excited and honored to be teaching your children the wonders of music. It’s so much more than notes on a page, or sounds in a recording. You will hopefully find that Music Together® is a wonderful opportunity to expose your children to a variety of music, but also to create memories with your little ones.
 
photo Mrs. Tara
     
photo Mrs. Hollis