Appoquinimink Schools are filled with
music
By: SHAUNA McVEY/The Middletown
Transcript
Posted: March 25, 2009
"What's the silent beat
called?" Music Teacher Susan Osborn asked a class of 23 third-grade students,
all with fingers strategically placed on their recorders as they stared at the "rest" on their sheet music.
The
recorder is the first instrument most of them have played. They only started a
few months ago, but they already know how to play each note to form several
songs, like "See You in
Dixie."
They're preparing for their first
concert on May 12, and with just 45 minutes every six school days to practice,
every note is crucial.
March is the the National Association for Music
Education's Music in Our Schools Month.
Technically, students in the Appoquinimink School District don't learn
instruments in school until they reach fourth-grade, but Osborn is trying to
give them a head start.
"The whole point of doing recorders at
third-grade is we're trying to build self confidence," she said. "We want them
to have a good experience with this $5 instrument so when they have that opportunity to play another instrument, they say,
Yes!"
Osborn speaks from experience. She first became
interested in music when she was given the chance to play the recorder as a
third-grader.
"That was the turning point for me," she said.
She then moved on to the piano.
"My mother didn't let me give up," Osborn said.
"When I bugged her to let me quit, she said, No."
Third-grader Jimmy Griffith said playing the
recorder is fun.
"You get to play music," he said. "When I'm older,
I want to play electric guitar."
Hearing things like that is music to a music
teacher's ears.
"How many of you want to play an instrument after
you learned to play recorder?" Osborn asked her class. Twenty-three hands shot into the air.
Barbara Euculano teaches band at Townsend Early
Childhood Center and Silver Lake Elementary School. Every elementary school in
the district has band for fourth and fifth-graders.
She said she uses singing, instruments, games and
movements to help kindergarten students at the Townsend
Early Childhood Center build an appreciation for
music.
Euculano said band is an outlet for elementary
school children just like sports, dance, karate or other extracurricular
activities.
"It really makes them come out of their shell," she
said. "They have to learn to read music and transfer what they've learned from
Mrs. Osborn and put it into practice with band."
Euculano said she enjoys when students run into her
classroom asking to play.
"It's rewarding to see them get so excited about it
and really enjoy it," she said. "It makes me think they're having a good time
and a positive experience."
Greta Myers, string orchestra director for the
district, said she starts from scratch teaching fifth-grade students violin,
viola and cello, and culminates the year with a concert. She started the orchestra program in the district last year and
it's already one of the largest in the state.
"The first lesson they're learning is how to take the instrument out
of the case," she said. "By the spring they're performing. They know how to sit
and act as professionals in an ensemble and the
concert is always amazing. The parents are surprised at how much they learned in
one year."
Myers said students are excused from one class each
week to play with sections of the orchestra, and they also forfeit some recess
time to rehearse with the whole group.
"This is better than recess," said Brick Mill
Orchestra Musician Dianna King. "I get to be with my friends and learn new
music."
Alicia Collier said she also has fun playing in the
orchestra.
"It's easy, but you have to put
a lot of practice into it," she said.
Through learning to pluck strings to a beat or play
notes on a piano as read on sheet music, students learn hand-eye coordination.
Music teachers say "practice makes perfect" for
good reason - discipline.
Myers' students practice six days a week for their
once-a-week class.
Euculano said she wasn't very good when she first
started to play the flute in fourth-grade.
"I kept at it and worked hard," she said. "It does
make sense that when I practice, I get better."
John Gordon, who directs
middle and high school orchestras in the district, said he directs about 75
middle-schoolers, mostly sixth-graders from last year's elementary orchestras, and a few high-schoolers.
He said the orchestras will grow each year as the students who
started last year move through the grades.
"It's a unique experience, especially in Delaware.
There aren't many string programs," Gordon said. "We're very fortunate to have
the program in the district and have administrators back it up."
He said having orchestra programs
opens music up to a larger amount of students.
"For certain students, band instruments don't quite
suit their musical taste," Gordon said. "It's another opportunity for students
to make music, and that's what we're here to
teach."
Myers said students can connect with themselves and
others through music.
"It helps them be creative. It helps them to convey
their emotions by using music," she said. "It helps them connect to other people
when they play in an ensemble."
Euculano said she eventually branched out to other
instruments, like piano, trumpet and trombone, and found music has many
benefits.
"I went to high school and played in jazz band, pit
orchestra and went on trips," she said. "It opened up a whole new world of
activity. You have so much fun doing it, how can
you not want to do it?"
Kathleen McGrath, band instructor at Louis L.
Redding Middle School, said the three middle schools in the district formed an
Honor Band this year of hand-selected students to
play in a concert March 25.
"We wanted to promote a higher standard of
playing," she said. "We thought this would be a great opportunity for them to
play with other students who were striving for that higher level."
McGrath said the band brought together musicians
who had played together before they were separated with the new feeder patterns
when Alfred G. Waters Middle School opened.
She said bringing students together from different
schools helps prepare them for when they get to high school.
McGrath said music is another form of expressing
oneself.
"Music is what we call a universal language,"
McGrath said.
Euculano said playing an instrument isn't just for
fun. It enhances students' ability in other areas, too.
"They make connections to all sorts of other
subjects - science, social studies, reading, language fluency and phonics,"
she said.
Osborn said she helps students make connections
with math and social studies in almost every lesson.
She also teaches them about staffs, notes and
beats. She uses a word wall, which is the same format used in English language
arts classes, to teach her students music terminology like sustain, rhythm, treble clef, mezzo piano, mezzo forte,
meter, measure, crescendo, decrescendo, improvisation, melody and
timbre.
Myers said playing instrumental music engages both
sides of the brain.
"Every subject is included in learning music,"
she said. "There are studies that prove higher test scores and better grades in
school go along with being in an instrumental music program."
NAMM states that students in high quality music
education programs score higher on standardized tests than those in deficient
music education programs.
A 2006 poll of high school principals by Harris
Interactive revealed 96 percent agreed that by participating in music, students
are encouraged and motivated to stay in school.
NAMM is urging music education enthusiasts to
contact their legislators and school administrators and stress the importance of
music in schools.
NAMM states, "Anticipated budget cuts for
schools across the country are causing concern about support for school music
programs. More than half of the state and district-level music supervisors recently surveyed report that their
schools are currently experiencing cutbacks now or expect them in the coming
year, and more than half expect those cutbacks to
impact the music programs specifically."
Osborn said she frequently hears parents of her
students express regret that they stopped practicing the instrument they played
as a child. Her profession is the perfect example
of why musicians should stick it out through every practice, even if it's
grueling at times.
"Don't give up," Osborn said. "It could change
your life."
Pictured above: Students
Alicia Collier, Dianna King and Brianna Eckeard play their violins in the Brick
Mill Elementary School Orchestra.
Photograph by: Shauna
McVey
