"Here is the beehive, but where are the bees?" he asked his young students as their parents repeated the chant with him and made bee-like hand gestures in rhythm.

Any parents who were worried about looking less than adult in this situation could take comfort in the fact that they were helping teach their children to buzz in rhythm. Music Together combines song and movement to help infants through 4-year-olds learn the basics of musical competence. The program began in 1987 as an educational project of the Center for Music and Young Children in Princeton, N.J., and is now being taught internationally. Researchers there developed an early-childhood music curriculum that strongly emphasizes adult involvement.

"There's a profound connection between music and learning," Friedman said. "One reason I love doing this is seeing children grow and build musical competence."

Music Together defines musical competence as the ability to sing on pitch and keep a steady beat, but Friedman said parents shouldn't worry if they don't have rhythm or can't carry a tune in a bucket.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm teaching parents how to have fun with their children," he added.

Susan Wahyudi and her 3-year-old son Aaron Soerjohadi enrolled in Music Together classes for the first time this summer. Wahyudi said they'd taken a similar class in another city, but she appreciated having Music Together in Campbell.

"He likes music," Wahyudi said of Aaron as he took a turn strumming Friedman's guitar. "We have the [Music Together] CD at home, and he sings the lyrics. Sometimes in the car, he wants me to play the cassette. He knows all the songs."

Families are encouraged to re-create the Music Together experience at home and are issued CDs and cassette tapes of the songs they learn in class.

Wahyudi said she enjoys sharing the Music Together experience with her son. "Watching our children be happy makes me happy, too," she added.

Sometimes the children are happiest when they're not quite getting with the program. Toward the end of class, Friedman led his students through a lullaby, but Aaron was having none of this brief naptime.

"Wake up!" he yelled at his mother as she lay on the floor in faux repose.

Different children participate in Music Together at different levels. Some bang a drum and shake a maraca, while others just watch and use various instruments as substitute binkies. Any percussion that's been chewed or drooled on is placed in a "wet bag" to be washed before the next class.

Campbell's Recreation and Community Services Department began offering the classes two years ago through Music Together of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties, an area licensee of the New Jersey-based parent company. This summer, eight Music Together classes are being taught at the community center for newborns to 4-year-olds and their parents. In these mixed-age classes, younger children benefit from watching the older ones, and older children hone their leadership skills by teaching the younger ones.

"People called and wanted it here because they had it in Los Gatos," said recreation supervisor Misty Booth. "It really feeds our other programs. People come in and see our community center and check out our other classes."

This fall, the recreation department will offer a class just for infants and their adult caregivers. Since infants learn rhythm through their parents' bodies, this class will emphasize making a physical connection, with adults tapping out beats on their babies.

Music Together teachers are encouraged to personalize the development of the classroom materials by creating their own songs and movements and then sharing them with other instructors. This approach helps broaden the program. Some teachers' ideas have been folded into the program's international curriculum.

"There's a lesson plan," Friedman said, "but in the classroom we can play with the songs and have fun and include things we do musically in our daily lives."

Friedman started teaching Music Together about 18 months ago when he was earning his master's degree in music at UC­Santa Cruz. Several of his classmates also became teachers.

"It's such a wonderful program," he said. "A lot of us finally learned how to play with music. It's helped me grow as a musician."

Parents can register for fall Music Together classes at www.cityofcampbell. com beginning Sept. 8. Fees for the fall session are $169 for 12 classes, plus $35 for CDs, cassette tapes and songbooks.