Ann Arborite Robin Robinson

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thin, red-haired and freckled, Robinson, arms constantly in motion, croons at the top of her lungs.

This is "Robinsongs for Kids"--a class created by the former New York singer to hook the preschool set on music. Too often, Robinson believes, "We just consume music at home by putting on an iPod or watching it on TV or listening to it in the car.

"The child picks up their disposition towards music from the parents. So if they are engaged and having fun, the child is more likely to do the same."

Now forty-four, Robinson graduated from the intense and competitive U-M musical theater program in 1987. She moved to New York, pounded the pavement, and after a year and a half landed a small part as a "Hollywood blonde" in the 1989 revival of Gypsy. "I cried all the way home on the subway, and I walked in the door and my sister was there," she recalls. "At first she looked terrified because I was crying...I said, 'No, it's good--I'm going to be on Broadway!' "

After Gypsy, she worked in many smaller regional productions and did a six-month gig in Germany in the musical My One and Only. Robinson also started a band and eventually began teaching music to kids, using materials from a curriculum called Music Together, which emphasizes parental involvement.