Miss Judy

Judy Leff is the Director/Owner of While They're Little, a company she started after her second child was born. Her vision is to offer services and products to families with young children that will empower and nurture both parent and child.  She is very proud to offer Music Together classes and loves that her job responsibilities include singing and dancing with your children! She has been studying voice since she can remember, taking a 12-year break from it to pursue a career as an actuary/risk management consultant. Music came back into her life after her children were born. Soon after, she was taking Music Together classes with them and was hooked! Judy has been teaching Music Together classes since 2003. In addition to the Mixed Age classes, she also teaches Pre-School, the Babies class, and Big Kids Family Music. In April 2005, she was awarded Music Together Certification Level 1 from the Center for Music and Young Children in Princeton, NJ, having demonstrated outstanding achievement in teaching, musicianship, program philosophy and parent education. Judy is proud to have the only Music Together center in NY to offer a class in Hebrew!

Miss Tara

Tara Hoisington holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music with concentrations in Voice and Italian from Syracuse University and a Master of Music Degree in Voice Performance from the New England Conservatory.  She has performed roles with several regional opera companies including Syracuse Opera, Knoxville Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Longwood Opera and the Seagle Music Colony.  Tara was introduced to the Music Together program through her experiences as a former pre-school teacher and nanny.  In addition to teaching our Music Together classes (Mixed Age, Babies and Big Kids Family Music), Tara trains our new teachers. Tara can also be found in her new position in our managing office, having recently quit her other "day" job.  She is excited to be able to share her love of music and early childhood education with others.

Miss Tara just became a MOM...click here to see a picture of baby Keira.

Miss Ronit

Ronit Elias was born in Israel and music has always been a part of her life.  As a child, she took years of piano instruction which became the foundation of her interest in music. Ronit led many children in song and dance when she was a Youth Leader in the “Ichood Ha Chaklai” after- school program in Israel.  She later went on to sing professionally in the Israeli Moran Choir. In 2004, Ronit was introduced to Music Together through her youngest child, and immediately knew that this was a program that she wanted to be a part of.  She apprenticed with Miss Judy in the Fall 2005, took her training that December and is now a registered teacher.  She continues to incorporate music in her personal daily life as the mother of three beautiful children, all whom have shown great interest in music – not only in singing, but also in playing musical instruments.  She looks forward in helping others in her classes to find the beauty in sharing the wonders of music and movement with their own children. In addition to the Mixed Age classes, she also teaches Pre-School and the Hebrew class.

Miss Cheryl

Music has always been a part of Cheryl Kwak's life and the language closest to her heart.  Cheryl has been performing since childhood with professional recordings in her native Philippines, regular sets at some of NYC’s best known supper clubs, and most recently as the lead singer of Island Magic, one of LI's most recognized wedding bands.  Cheryl holds a B.S. in Music Therapy from Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY.  She is a classically trained vocalist, plays the guitar and the piano.  She has used her talents, love of music, and training in music therapy to help others by working as a music therapist with both special needs children and geriatrics.  After the birth of her daughter, Madelyn, Cheryl became a Music Together mom and marveled at the way Music Together helped her connect with Madelyn.  In Music Together she found the perfect marriage for her love of music and the love she holds for her children.  Now a registered Music Together teacher, she looks forward to every opportunity she has to share with parent and child, the language of music, the language of her heart.

Miss Libby

Libby Boland has just completed her first year of teaching Music Together and has enjoyed every minute! She graduated from the Hartt School of Music in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in vocal music education and has been teaching music to grades K-12 at a private school in Forest Hills since then.  She is particularly impressed with the philosophy and structure of Music Together, and is delighted to be a part of such a unique, wonderful early-childhood music program. Libby teaches Music Together classes on evenings and weekends during the school year, and enjoys teaching more weekday classes during the summer months as well. Music has been a huge part of Libby's life since she was a child herself, and she can't believe she gets paid to make music with kids and play all day long!

Miss Anne

Anne Kilarjian began piano lessons at an early age and went on to study flute, completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in flute performance from S.U.N.Y. at Purchase. After several years as a freelance musician, she followed many of her musical colleagues into the computer world, and worked as a programmer/analyst. The birth of her daughter Grace in April 2006 inspired her to return to her musical roots, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine her longstanding love of music with her new love of babies and children. Miss Anne passed her Music Together training in winter 2006 and apprenticed with Miss Judy in spring 2007. She considers it wonderful good luck that she has begun her teaching career playing the flute for her students with the Music Together Flutes collection. Miss Anne also sings with the choir at St. Anthony's church in Oceanside.

Miss Liz

Liz Stroppel has acted in many musical theater productions in Brooklyn, Long Island, Manhattan and London. Liz also founded and directed the Bay Ridge Theater Project, an after school theater program for elementary thru middle school aged children for 6 years. Liz grew up in a family of six siblings that always sang together, whether on long car trips or at family parties. After participating in Music Together with her son Joe for 2 years, she completed the training in April 2005 to become a Registered Music Together teacher. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to share her love of music with other families, and still comes to classes with her son Joe,now 4 years old, both loving it more than ever!

Miss Roni

Roni Kohen-Lemle discovered the magic of music as a young child when she attended the Third Street Music School Settlement in Manhattan. Her musical journey has included singing with rock bands while at Oberlin College, performing as a jazz vocalist, recording a song for Sesame Street, putting out a CD of poems set to music, and learning about as many instruments as she can. Roni is one of the founders of the Long Island Children’s Museum; she created the music exhibit there and developed the family arts programming for the museum in its early years. Having studied music therapy at the graduate level at NYU, Roni is familiar with the power of music in hospital and classroom settings. Her current special interests include finding music in the everyday environment and playing with homemade instruments. The Music Together emphasis on live musical interaction in an intergenerational community is one that Roni embraces, and while she continues to celebrate music with her own two grown children, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to sing lullabies and shake it up in her Music Together classes.

Miss Elana

Picture and bio coming soon!

Carole

Carole Hausman is not one of our teachers but is an important part of our team, having recently come out of retirement from Macy's to work in our managing office. She is very familiar with the Music Together program and philosophy, having taken the training in 2005. She is thrilled to be working closely with her daughter (she is Miss Judy's mom). In her spare time, Carole can be found spoiling her grandchildren.  

Carole won't let us take a picture of her, so here is a drawing by one of her grandchildren.  Grandma is standing next to each dinosaur to illustrate scale.

Miss Christina

Christina Cook has been a Music Together Mom since her older son was born in 1999 and is the person responsible for introducing Miss Judy to Music Together. In 2005, she decided that being a Music Together Mom just wasn't enough and quit her day job in Marketing in order to join the While They're Little team. In addition to the Mixed Age classes, Miss Christina has taught our licensed pre-school classes at CLASP Children's Center and worked in our managing office. She is very proud of her own two little musicians, who have shown her first hand the joy of family music-making and its influence on a child's musical aptitude when introduced at a very young age.

Christina no longer teaches with us (having recently relocated out of the LI area), but Judy just can't bring herself to taking down her picture!!