Ten years ago, Chicago Academy High School was not known for the strength of its music program. With only a general music class, there were no instruments, no band or choir electives and little opportunity for students to explore the performing arts.
At Dempsey Middle School, there is a vibrant performing arts program; students can elect to take band, orchestra or chorus. With 300 students in Tracy Cinereski’s choir program alone, she spent a lot of time knee-deep in weekly theory assignments. She admits to feeling “constantly bogged down” trying to keep up with all the grading, which could be up to 10 hours a week.
When Davide Garofalo took on the role of Arts & Technology Head and Band Director at Bishop Allen Academy, little did he know that he was about to set a ripple effect into motion, effecting change at the school and across a community.
How Albuquerque Academy Uses Technology to Help Kids Learn Music.
The sixth-grade general music class is the foundational course for all the performing arts. “It can be an intense first year introduction for the students. What’s tricky about it, is that some students enter the class with years of music lessons and others may have absolutely no experience with music training at all.”
Getting funding is always a huge challenge for music teachers. And it can sometimes be hard to prove the value of incorporating music theory in a performance program. But that didn’t stop Jayne Marie Flores, doctoral candidate and band director at Faith Christian Academy from creating a cost/benefit analysis to make the case for Breezin’ Thru Theory.
When Thunder Mountain M.S. adopted a 1-to-1 technology initiative to better prepare students for the digital world, music director Sarah van Vegten started to explore how these Web-enabled devices might enhance student learning and shed some of the paperwork. At the same time, she was facing a challenge that many music teachers know all too well — her sixth-grade music elective enrolment numbers were declining. “It’s a real commitment to be in music.”