It’s a place where children can just be children.”

Johanna Wearsch, Colibris Folk Music for Young Children

A native creature brimming with energy, the hummingbird zips around in a blur — a distorted curiosity vibrating by.

The beat of its wings and the zoom of its flight are easy to miss, but the hummingbird makes music all the same. The chirping, squeaking, whistling, and buzzing is like the silence before a symphony.

“We have so many hummingbirds here,” said Johanna Wearsch, “I’m so amazed how many hummingbirds live year round in our area.”

The word for hummingbird in Spanish is colibrí — a melody of a name for the secretly musical bird.

“I felt like that was an appropriate name for a children’s music group,” she explained.

Wearsch created Colibris Folk Music for Young Children, a parent-facilitated community arts program, after moving to the Jefferson County area from Portland last summer.

“Before the pandemic, I was taking my youngest child to a Music Together music class and it was such a wonderful way for us to start to get to know other families and then to have music education,” she explained.

“When we moved here, I was looking for a similar community.”

Wearsch owns and operates her therapeutic bodywork practice, Madrona Wellness, where a thread of her work involves community wellness.

While it doesn’t go directly hand-in-hand with her one-on-one craniosacral therapy, Colibris Folk Music for Young Children is therapeutic in nature.

“For me, bringing people together, especially children, families, to learn about the arts is part of that community wellness.”

The program takes place outdoors twice per week, alternating between weeks of folk music class and parent-child play groups. Colibris Folk Music for Young Children seeks to provide safe and intentional spaces for young children in nature. Through the use of folk music, the program inspires an early love for music in young children while connecting families.

Wearsch described the research on how music impacts cognitive, social, and emotional development.

With the folk music classes children are free to sing and dance to live music of local artists, some of whom have many years of experience working with young children.

These musicians are playful and imaginative in the music they present to the children.

“They just bring that connection to the music,” she explained.

In song circles, children get exposed to language in music.

“We’re singing songs,” she said. “Children have an opportunity to express themselves and learn new words and clap.”

They get to learn songs that have been passed down through generations, which is often just as fun for parents as it is for children.

“Sometimes there are old-time classics that will just totally melt your heart as a parent because you sang them as a kid.”

“What’s fascinating about folk music is that the same song can be sung so many different ways and it’s still the same song,” Wearsch added.

“It has its own life, so to speak.”

From ukulele and guitar to harmonica and even cello, children also get to experience a wide variety of instruments and sounds.

Through the program, children get to be with each other and interact, Wearsch said.

In the parent-child play groups, families get to experience unstructured and free fun on the beach or nearby in grassy areas. The gatherings give children a safe opportunity to explore the environment while learning how to relate to one another through peer interaction.

“I think that it is powerful in that I can create a space where people can belong. It’s a place where children can just be children,” she said.

It’s a place where they can begin to learn about relationships, community, and music.

“I know that even though we’re in challenging times that coming back to our foundations of belonging and community is what the children will benefit from,” she said.

This program is designed for young children ranging from birth to ages 7 or 8.

Every Monday the group meets at North Beach in Port Townsend. Tuesday gatherings take place at East Beach on Marrowstone Island.

All are welcome to join in the fun and families can come and go as they wish.

To support the local musicians, a cash payment of $10 to $20 is suggested per family who attend the music classes, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The play groups are free.

To get on the list for the weekly email newsletter, email hello@madrona-wellness.co.