A music class for babies and young children has taken off in Orange with thousands having been through the program.
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Ruth Thompson started Early Years Music School after moving to the region more than 11 years ago.
The business combines her experience as a classroom music specialist with her training as an early childhood teacher to provide early music experiences specifically targeting children aged from nought to five years of age.
"It began in Millthorpe and I only had about 30 or 40 children enrolled and only did a few classes a week and then I expanded into Orange and I had to close Millthorpe down because Orange sort of took off," Ms Thompson said.
Since moving the Early Years Music School to Orange she now operates 12 to 15 classes a week with between 10 and 12 children in each class.
"I only work in the mornings because all my clients are in bed after lunch," Ms Thompson said.
"A lot of kids have gone through the school and I'm very grateful for the support of Orange mums and families, it's been amazing.
"They can enrol as young as six weeks of age. It's really up to how early mum wants to get out and about and do things with their little one.
"If I'm really lucky and the mums have the ability to keep coming I've had children from three months right through to when they start school so I get to witness their growing up. It's just so lovely."
She said the program helps young children develop their neurological pathways and the best time to do it is while they are younger than seven years of age.
"When children hear mothers speaking or any speaking they are actually hearing it melodically so their brains are wired to make sense of all the sound around them.
"When we do it through music it engages the whole brain.
"It forms a beautiful bond between the mother and the child, it engages children socially because they are doing something together in an ensemble, even if they are all just shaking shakers.
"It's wiring the brain quite differently, it's developing their neurological pathways that music has been proven to do better than anything else."
In addition to Early Years Music School, Ms Thompson also has a sister business called Teachable Music.
"I provide digital professional development into the early childhood space to try and upskill teachers in the early childhood arena because they don't have anything," Ms Thompson said.
"That's me getting my head empty of all my creative juices and putting it into a digital format."
The businesses came about after Ms Thompson left her home on the Sunshine Coase and rented a small cottage in Millthorpe.
"All my children had grown up and they didn't need me any more, I'm a single person and I had been watching Orange in the Country Style magazine for years and thought, that looks like a nice place," she said.
"Because I trained at Mitchell College at Bathurst last century I knew the Central West was a lovely region and I grew up in NSW so it was like coming home.
"The Millthorpe community were just amazing towards me and then I had an opportunity to buy a house so my money went further in Orange in those days and still does so I bought a house in Orange."
The business is now purely based in Orange.
In February Ms Thompson and her Early Years Music Program was one of dozens of recipients for a community recognition award presented by Member for Orange Phil Donato.
That award followed a speech to parliament in 2023 in which Mr Donato recognised the program's 10 years of service.