The Abreu Fellows of El Sistema model came to play with the ORCHkids all week.
The Baltimore Symphony has an outreach program called ORCHkids which is fashioned after El Sistema. I teach for this program in a west Baltimore city school. The very popular 60 minutes episode on the difference El Sistema is making with underprivileged youth in Venezuela was broadcast in spring of 2008. Now, they're coming to my school. That's right. 60 Minutes (and Bob Simon) is coming to our program to document the seeds of the El Sistema attitude begin to sprout in Baltimore. It's a very exciting development.
The first grade students last year learned to audiate (hear in their minds, predict) I, V7, IV and V7/V in major; i, V7, iv in minor.
In a school not more than 1/2 a mile away from the school that hosted a very special music program last year, the children are notably different. Most of the Pre-K sings in tune even without having had any formal music instruction. I expected 70% or less to use their singing voices consistently, but not 80% to sing in tune!
That's what I'll be doing twice a week this fall. I plan to keep you updated on the children's musical progress after we start the school year. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra started their ORCHkids outreach program last year (http://www.bsomusic.org/main.taf?p=3,17). Now most of the kids have moved to a new school where I'll be teaching their younger schoolmates musical readiness skills. This will be hard-core ear training for the youngest.
The economy is taking its toll and some schools are cutting music programs. Some parents get music lessons for their children. What percentage? Maybe 10%?
Of the remaining 90%, who has children who would have excelled in music, but no longer have a program offered in their school? And many of these children already have disadvantages from being in inadequately funded schools.
Here's where I ask you for your ideas. What would you want from an online music service? Think of the 2-way interaction: forums for your questions; a wiki for collaborating on the content you want; video and audio content; live chat/video; tons of possibilities.
Is this something to consider in the new technological age we're in?
I'd love your thoughts.
My daughter sings better than anyone in the family. I wasn't always confident that she would be musical. She was always expressive, but not always in tune or with the beat. She's always had a lot of style.
It doesn't matter when children start singing in tune. Sometimes it's as early as 3 or 4, but often not until 5 or 6. My daughter was still not consistently singing intune until almost 7 years old.
It does matter that we sang and had fun all these years. The best fun we have is when we improvise together. We made up the "Poopy Blues" a couple years ago. She never forgot it. The second verse is the "Ploopy Bues" or the "Bloopy Poos." It's all the same imagery and we giggle about it.
Sing and have fun. That's the best a family can do.
Around the Seder table makes it just a little more special.
How about 6 years old?
I'm not kidding!
Children as young as 6 hear these harmonic functions, name them, and discriminate among them.
I've done this in minor too.
I've had 4 and 5 year olds hear tonic, dominant and subdominant. We don't call it that, but they can discriminate among them when presented to them in context and WITHOUT the theory.
In fact, I believe that the theoretical approach, in which most of us music teachers were trained in, actually inhibits ear training.
What's that mean when young children can do what some college music majors can't?
