Music Together® to Celebrate United Nations International Day of Peace with Worldwide Events Featuring Children Singing "May All Children" Around the Globe September 21

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Music Together^®, the leading international early childhood music education program, will commemorate the United Nations International Day of Peace (September 21) with family music events at many of its 2000 locations in 40 countries, including special festivities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Tennessee, Michigan, Hawaii, Massachusetts, California, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, and Maryland, as well as in Austria and Canada (www.musictogether.com/IDP).

The centerpiece of these events will be thousands of children and families singing "May All Children," Music Together's signature song for peace. The song is a passionate wish for world peace written by Music Together founder/director Kenneth K. Guilmartin in 1986 in honor of UNICEF's fortieth anniversary. 

According to Guilmartin, who will appear at the Hartford, CT, event on the International Day of Peace, "Over the past two decades, 'May All Children' has been sung millions of times throughout the world, in Music Together classes and by community, church, and school choruses as part of our work to support UNICEF. In an effort to keep world peace and children's well-being foremost in people's minds, in the early 2000s we made 'May All Children' available for download on our website with a request that the performing organization make a donation to UNICEF in lieu of paying us royalties. The International Day of Peace is an important time for us to spread the song's message as far and wide as we can. Dozens of Music Together center directors and teachers are encouraging their communities to come together and sing out at Peace Day events on September 21."

September 21 Music Together International Day of Peace Day events include:

• Academy of Music in Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids MI
• Amie's Music Together, Washington, IL
• Beach-Mesa Music Together, Costa Mesa, CA
• Boston-area Music Together centers at Life Is Good Festival, Canton, MA
• Eastside Westside Music Together, New York, NY
• Elevated Arts, Traverse City, MI
• Growing with Music Together, Fredonia, NY
• Heartsong Music, Austin, TX
• Hummingbirds Music Together, Detroit, MI (with the Detroit Children's Choir)
• In Harmony Music of Middle Tennessee, Nashville, TN
• Joyful Jumping Music Together, Carlsbad, CA
• Learning World, St. Louis, MO
• Long Island Music Together centers at the Maritime Festival in Greenport, NY
• Mommy, Music & Me, Queens, NY
• Music and More With Kelly, Maplewood, NJ
• Music Play Studios, Hoboken, NJ
• Music Together Family and Friends, Bridgewater, NJ
• Music Together of Catonsville, Catonsville, MD
• Music Together of Fairfield County, Fairfield, CT
• Music Together of Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY
• Music Together of the Triad, High Point, NC
• Music Together Princeton Lab School, Princeton, NJ
• Music Together Summit, Fairlawn, OH
• Musical Me, Inc., Santa Cruz CA
• Ohana Music Together, Hawaii
• Over the Moon Music and More, Scarsdale, NY
• Peace, Love & Music Together, Hartford, CT
• Salzburg Music Together, Salzburg, Austria
• Songbirds Music, San Diego, CA
• West Side Music Together, Vancouver, BC, Canada
• While They're Little, Great Neck, NY

For a complete list, visit www.musictogether.com/IDP.

In addition to events, Music Together has announced the September 20, 2013, release of May All Children (ages 1 to 7; 32 pages; board book $9.95; hardback $13.95), the next title in its Singalong Storybook series. As part of Music Together's support of the International Day of Peace, all proceeds from sales September 20–22 will be donated to UNICEF. 

The storybook inspires pre-literacy learning and imaginative play between children and their favorite adults and tells the story of children from all walks of life sharing a simple, heartfelt wish for peace for everybody on our earth and is based on the song of the same name.

For more information about May All Children visit www.musictogether.com/mayallchildren (the song) and www.musictogether.com/storybooks (the book). 

About Music Together
Celebrating its 25th Anniversary this academic year (2012-2013), Music Together is an internationally recognized early childhood music and movement program for children birth through age seven. The Music Together curriculum, coauthored in 1987 by Guilmartin and Rowan University Professor of Music Education Dr. Lili M. Levinowitz (Director of Research), is based on the recognition that all children are musical: all children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning. Music Together offers programs for families; schools; at-risk populations; and children with special needs, in over 2000 communities in 40 countries around the world. The company is passionately committed to bringing children and their caregivers closer through shared music-making and helping people discover the joy and educational value of early music experiences. More at www.MusicTogether.com and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/MusicTogether.

About the International Day of Peace
Created by a United Nations resolution in 1981, the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21. It is a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.

SOURCE Music Together