For years, I have been saying that music makes a child's brain bigger. Apparently, music also makes his/her brain live longer. This is another reason why music should be a core subject, at least in elementary school.
As a director, I was able to two schools to create their programs, one PK - 5 and the other PK - 8 and in both, I introduced a three-pronged approach music. In a third, I was able to increase the importance of music.
The first wheel of my tricycle was curricular music for all students. Preschool curricular music was based on group singing, things like the cleanup song or the lining-up song but also songs with strong simple meldies and lyrics, and on rhythm including chanting, clapping and stomping.
Elementary school curricular music had five strands : instrumental, theory, history, ethnomusicology and appreciation. Instrumental was of course the records, theory was largely reading notation, ethnomusicology and appreciation were built around exposure to different genres and styles, and ethnomusicology and history were woven into social studies. Being curricular, all students had the same minimum content and expectations and the same preparation for middle school.
Middle school curricular music had five options. One was the continuation of the elementary program for non-musician, the other was as a main subject, a la English, Math and Spanish, and students had to choose it as a likely high school specialization.
Preschool music was incorporated into the program as activities, although it was planned by teachers like any other subject area with currcular and assessment goals. Elementary and middle school curricular music was taught by faculty specialists. Co-curricular music at both levels inlcuded trips to concerts, visits from performers and random surprise lunchtime serenades from parents or univerosty music students.
The second leg to my musical stool was an optional before-school instrumental program with about 10 instruments and at significantly reduced fees. (You would probably not be surprised to know that every instrumental teacher has availability 7 - 9am and many were willing to cut fees by 50% or more.) Students could choose from once-a-week exposure, three times a week "serious" or five times a week "dedicated" options. Many choose once-a-week for five different instruments to begin with, then after a year or two a three-day or five-day program.
Middle school instrument classes continued but by then, students had laregly made their choices and fewer participated, essentially the dedicated musicians and those who wanted to taste something new to see if they liked it.
The instrumental program was administered by the business office, although the curricular specialists kept an eye and an ear on quality, visited classes for QA/QC and advised on recruitment, retention and student or level assignments.
The third tine to my melodic trident came through the afterschool extra-curricular program. Students had two possibilities, a choir program and an instrumental ensemble program. The choir program had Choir A for general participation, and Choir B which was serious, dedicated, and performance- and competition-oriented. The instrumental was built around ensembles of 4 - 6 which were largely formed by the students themselves : friends with mixed levels and instruments, by level with mixed instruments or by instrument. Again, some ensembles were aimed at participation and some at performance and competitions.
Middle school ensembles continued as above and note that we consciously did not attempt an "orchestra".
Extra-curricular was administered by the business office while the music specialists and several of the general classroom teachers ran ensembles. We also had parents and a rotating crew of college music and college of education students involved as coaches or ensemble conductors.
The high schools I led already had established music programs, although in neither case was music strong nor student numbers high, and of course changes were needed to be made at lower and younger levels. In both, I introduced the two-choir approach and beefed up co-curricular activities. However, neither reached the levels of the elementary and elementary-middle schools. The school I founded and which implemented the above program was named in only its second year as the "leading school for music in the region" by the dean of the local university's music department.
So while my motivations were connected with producing generally rounded, sophisticated and knowledgeable students and in making my students' brains bigger, I am thrilled to know that I also helped them live longer.
**Please leave questions and comments below.**
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