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All Around This World

All Around This World is a unique, interactive music class for children 0-8 years old that encourages kids to explore the world by enjoying global music, rhythms and movement. In weekly, 45 minute sessions, kids and their parents/caregivers sing, dance and play together while experiencing different languages, cultures and traditions.

Jay Sand, guitarist and children's music teacher, dad of three girls (2-7 years old) and world traveler (much more so before he became the dad of three girls), developed All Around This World with his girls as a way to introduce them to the countries he's already visited and the many more he plans to visit with them.


SO MUCH EXCITING STUFF!!
  • All Around This World seeks enthusiastic music teachers!!

    Interested in sharing world music and your enthusiasm for global cultures with kids and their families? Visit AATW's "SEEKING TEACHERS" page for information.
  • Summer Classes are Coming SOOOOOOON!!

    The summer session of music class in West Philly, featuring the wonderful music of the U.S. and Canada and focusing on the global roots of that music, will start on Wednesday, May 30th. That's really soon! Oddly, Saturday classes for the summer will start on Saturday, June 16th. How is that possible? Look at the schedule page for details.

    Schedules for classes elsewhere around Philly vary by location, so check with your teachers. Basically the spring session ends at the end of May and the summer session starts the first week June.

  • There are now classes in FAIRMOUNT, CENTER CITY, SOUTH PHILLY and FISHTOWN/NORTHERN LIBERTIES. See the schedule page for class times and locations. This spring classes in South Philly, Fairmount and Fishtown are featuring music from East and Southeast Asia.

  • Have free musical fun with Cameron in Northern Liberties each Saturday, 2pm, at Home Slice Pizza on Liberties Walk! Discount slices, $1 juice boxes and much revelry. No RSVP necessary, just come. (do toss a few bucks into Cameron's hat on the way out. sugesting $5/kid.)

Want more information about All Around This World happenings? Sign up for the AATW e-mail list.


"All Around This World" was in Philadelphia Magazine's 2010 "Best of Philly" issue as "Best Date with Your Kid!!!" Thanks to Philly Magazine for the honor. Also, check out YELP reviews of music class especially those Yelp filters because they sound too good to be true.

Follow All Around This World on Facebook and/or Twitter @AllAroundMusic.


Each All Around This World/West Philly season focuses on a different part of the globe:

  • Spring 2012: Western Europe and the Nordic Countries : Songs in French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Swedish, German, Finnish, Icelandic, Greenlandic, etc.

  • Summer 2012: U.S., Canada and Global Roots: Focusing on the global roots of music from 'round here.
  • Autumn 2012: Latin America: Songs in Spanish, Portuguese, Mayan, Quechua and Garifuna. Learn about and listen to the songs.

  • Winter 2012-2013: Africa: Songs in twenty African languages from all over the continent. Learn about and listen to the songs.

  • Spring 2013: South and Central Asia: Songs in seventeen languages from South and Central Asian countries like India, Nepal and Uzbekistan. Learn about and listen to the songs.

  • Autumn 2013: The Caribbean: Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, etc. etc. We're going to learn about calypso, rumba, junkanoo, soca, ska, reggae, son, etc. etc. etc. Learn about and listen to the songs.

  • Winter 2013-2014: Eastern Europe and the Baltics<: Songs from Russia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czeck Republic, the Balkans, etc. We're going to dance the polka and mazurka, sing Sutartines and Sevdahs and rock out to klezmer, Roma music and Balkan brass. Learn about and listen to the songs

  • Spring 2014: East and Southeast Asia: We'll bang Chinese gongs, dance the Okinawan Bon Odori and sing enthusiastically about potatoes.
  • Summer 2014: EVERYTHING IS A DRUM! Rhythms from around the world. Songs from 22 different countries from Peru to India, from Greenland to Tokelau, featuring rhythms and drumming from 6 continents. Summer session classes started the first week of June and will end the last week of August.

  • Autumn 2014: West Asia/the Middle East: Songs from all over the region from Turkey to Iran, Azerbaijan to Yemen to Egypt. We'll dance (bellydance!) drum (dafs and doumbeks!) and sing (in Arabic, in Persian, in Kurdish) a lot.
  • Winter 2014-2015: Oceania and the Pacific Islands: Songs from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Check out the schedule page for details and REGISTER NOW.

Discounts, scholarships weekend, evening and free trial classes are available!


To join the All Around This World e-mail list and receive infrequent yet always enthralling announcements of extra classes and special events, contact Jay.


Questions? Contact Jay.
Logo by Sean Wolfe. Copyright 2009-2010

Also, check out friends of All Around This World, PhillyFun4Kids: