This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Blog: The Importance of Music Education at Los Gatos Schools

Fisher Middle School was the first ever to perform the National Anthem at a Stanford women's basketball game, but its music education started in kindergarten!

This is the second in a series of articles exploring some of the -funded Science, Math, Art and Technology, or SMART programs available in the that take education beyond just the basics.

Every year, I (like many other parents) proudly watch my child sing or play in their school’s annual music performance. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our music teachers, the performances are as much fun for the kids as the parents that watch.

In December of 2011, I not only enjoyed performances by elementary and middle schools, but also attended rehearsals and a class with Ana Hartwick’s third-grade students.

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The performance consists of singing and dancing. Preparation for the performance takes three months. Weekly classes also include curriculum on music theory, so there is not as much time to practice the songs and dances as many parents might expect.

I did not envy Hartwick in trying to coordinate a performance of almost 100 third-graders, but she pulled it off with grace and without a hitch. Throughout the performance the singers followed her instructions, and kept their hands at their sides, their bodies facing forward and their eyes and ears on Hartwick. The dancers moved swiftly and smoothly to their positions between songs and retook their places on cue. They obviously remembered Hartwick’s words from rehearsal: “Smile while the parents are clapping, count to ten in your head, then move back to your spot.”

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The next week, I joined Hartwick and one of her third-grade classes for their last lesson before the holidays. The first thing I noticed in Hartwick’s classroom was the prominently displayed lists of music vocabulary for each grade:

Kindergarten: steady beat, soft, loud, low, high

First grade: rhythm, quarter note, eighth note

Second grade: pitch, sixteenth note, pentatonic scale

Third grade: syncopation, cut time, common time

Fourth grade: dotted half note, dotted quarter note

Since it was the last lesson before the holidays, Hartwick had decided to have some fun with the students as a reward for their hard work for the music performance. The students chose to play “musical instrument bingo.” Hartwick would describe or make a statement about an instrument, for example:

This percussion instrument is often called a kettle drum. (Answer: Timpani)

This string instrument is larger than a violin and its strings (C, G, D, A) are tuned lower. (Answer: Viola)

Once the students identified the instrument correctly they covered that square on their bingo board. The winner was the first to cover a line of five instruments. I am reluctant to admit it but, the students were much quicker than I at figuring out which instrument Hartwick was referring to.

Talking to Hartwick and music teacher Jenny Anderson, I realized how uninformed I was about the music programs offered by LGUSD. Kindergarten students concentrate on music and movement. The first and second grades focus on sounds, counting and singing.  By the third grade, students have the opportunity to learn the recorder. Fourth-graders become familiar with the violin. Fifth-graders are offered a choice of flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, voice or percussion. Instruments for fifth-grade lessons are paid for by parents, but district instruments are available for families that qualify for financial aid.

Fifth-grade students are taught by one of four music teachers, each of whom specializes in one area: Hartwick (brass), Alyson Ancheta (woodwind), Carolyn Simon (strings), Kelly Walker (voice). Free lessons are offered to interested fifth-grade students before or after school.

At Fisher Middle School, 35 percent of the students opt to take music as an elective each year. Students can choose band, string orchestra or choir. Anderson teaches three bands, seventh-eighth-grade string orchestra, and jazz ensemble. Carolyn Simon teaches sixth-grade string orchestra and Maricel Riley teaches three choirs. Some instruments, especially the more expensive ones such as the tuba, cello, bass, tenor sax, and bass clarinet, are available for rent from . But, the majority of instruments are paid for by parents.

There are five or more performances by the Fisher Middle School music students a year, including local events such as the Los Gatos Holiday Parade, and festivals hosted by the California Music Educators Association. In the words of parent Eleanor Gallmeister, “the parents really get to see what has transpired when the 6th grade students perform.  This is the first time they have heard their children in a true ensemble after practicing three times weekly.”

The music program offered by the LGUSD is much more comprehensive than I thought, and (with the help of LGEF) has grown substantially over the last few years. With future donations to LGEF the music program will continue to grow, and benefit our community through student performances.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Hartwick and Anderson for providing an overview of the music programs at Blossom Hill, Daves Avenue, Lexington, Van Meter and RJ Fisher Middle schools. A special thank you to Hartwick for allowing me to observe a third-grade class and rehearsal.

LGEF provides a grant to fund two certificated music teachers, to provide weekly music to all K-5, as well as sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students participating in the band, orchestra and choral classes.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?