Our Reopening Plans (By: Marissa Scott)

Good Afternoon Friends & Families of The Sonatina Center, 

First of all, thank you so very much for taking the time to share your thoughts, concerns and ideas with us regarding reopening. We have been thinking long and hard about when to reopen and how to do it effectively. Your responses genuinely helped us come to a decision.  We have carefully crafted a Strategic Plan for reopening the center which is publicly available here.

With all things considered, your safety, and especially the safety of our most vulnerable, immunocompromised clients is our number one priority. We have decided that on June 15th, we will reopen for in-person individual therapy or music lessons only. If you are an individual therapy client or individual music lesson student, we will be reaching out to you later this week with our safety protocols and will ultimately let you make the choice of whether you’d like to resume in person sessions & lessons or continue remote sessions & lessons.

As many of you already know, our center is fairly small, and we don’t feel our group room is large enough for a small group to gather and be socially distant even by 2 feet. It is also incredibly difficult, especially in art groups, and not financially sustainable, for us to have enough materials so that individuals do not have to share with each other. These and some of the other guidelines put forth by Governor Sununu for Youth Organizations also helped us to make this decision. 

As for Groove & Grow Music Classes and Makin’ A Mess with Me Art Classes, Miss Cacia, Miss Aliah, and I will be offering some facebook live music & art enrichment programming spontaneously throughout the summer. Jordan will also be occasionally offering music & mindfulness which is geared for adults but of course children and teens are welcome to join in. 

However, we have decided to put Groove & Grow Music & Makin’ A Mess With Me Art classes, both remote and in-person, on hold for the summer. While this is not the ideal choice for me, I have thought so much about it. I designed Groove & Grow classes to target specific goals. During each and every class your child should have the opportunity to make a choice, connect with a peer, move their body, express themselves, follow directions and have their parent’s full presence and attention. Touch is a HUGE part of that as is sharing. While you have all been so wonderful at engaging with your children during classes, I do not feel like we are hitting the mark. Nothing can replace the connections made in person with a parent and child fully mindful and present. I will be taking the summer to create a curriculum that works for remote sessions, but I certainly hope that I won’t need to use it and that we will be able to gather again in the fall.

In the meantime, if you are interested in hosting a small music & movement class in your large back yard where a small group of your choosing can be socially distant, Miss Cacia and I can come to you to facilitate. We would not be bringing instruments to share, but children could use their own instruments or materials or the class can be entirely music and movement. Contact us at info@thesonatinacenter.com if you are interested in being a host. 

Thank you for your patience as we weighed the pros and cons of reopening. We will reach out to you as soon as we feel our center can safely accommodate groups and classes again. 

If you are interested in individual music or art therapy sessions or music lessons over the summer, please contact us at info@thesonatinacenter.com to get started.

Warmly,
Marissa