About Sing and Hum 

The idea for Sing and Hum came in the spring of 2003 while Mari was enrolled in a Certification Program at the Open Ear Center, on Bainbridge  Island,WA. Mari was working with small children and kept asking the instructor, "What about Children"?  Mari brought the story idea to Maya, a musician and artist who also worked with music as therapy.  Maya wrote the poetic prose for Sing and Hum and vibrantly illustrated the book.  Maya spent three years researching music and sound therapy in producing the CD soundtrack and composing the orchestration to the original guitar by Erik Sorensen.  The fun inspiring message of Sing and Hum became a reality. 

"We hope this fun loving message will change
your family's lives as it has ours."

About Mari

Mari E. Howerton, CCMSHP, has a BA in Elementary Education and has worked in early childhood for almost 30 years. She has served as Director of an Early Childhood Center, developed kindergarten curriculum and worked with special needs children. While enlisted in the Peace Corps, Mari supervised classrooms and held training for pre-school teachers for the Ministry of Education in Belize, Central America. The teachers made puppet shows for more than 2,000 children and teachers. For two consecutive years, the shows were broadcast to the entire country via radio, and a videotape of the performances is housed in each of the five district libraries in Belize.

Mari is a certified Cross Cultural Music and Sound for Health Practitioner from the Open Ear Center on Bainbridge Island, Washington. This training in music is what inspired Mari to create Sing and Hum Bumblebee. Mari is now combining the healing power of music and sound and her love of all special children, young and old, by writing books for children. Mari lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the mother of three and the grandmother of five.

About Maya  

   "Maya" Karen Sorensen CBP, ParBP, is a Certified BodyTalk Practitioner, utilizing the body's innate wisdom to safely and effectively conduct its own healing by releasing indicated stress patterns, thereby restoring communication within the body, allowing a regeneration of physical and emotional health. 

As a musician and songwriter, Maya's interest in healing led to research of the ancient knowledge of sound healing. In producing the soundtrack, Sing and Hum, she used tones from the early Gregorian chants to embellish the guitar compositions by Erik Sorensen.  The vowel sounds in the songs are intended to sooth and calm, returning children, and adults, to a peaceful perspective.

Along with co-writing, she illustrated Sing and Hum Bumblebee. Her impressionist paintings inspire an investigation into a unified existence within the life forces of nature. These paintings may be seen at www.galleryofmaya.com.

Education in Psychology and Child Development led to experience working with young children and a deeply inspired desire to create pathways to guide children positively.  Maya is the mother of four.