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-Elementary Schools enjoying classical music
Laurence MacArthur Elementary School at the South Yarmouth enjoys daily classical music. Laurence MacArthur is the first D-Y school to adopt the free, non-directed, listening program the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra offers to elementary schools.
Music teacher Norma Kelley, who is also a cellist with the CCSO, says the program allows music to reach all students. “Exposure is great for everybody. I haven’t heard a negative comment since we introduced this on the first day of school.” That’s six weeks of children starting their day with classical music.
Principal Peter Crowell says the short narrative and musical composition “center” the day and have quickly become an expected component of his school’s morning routine. “Children come in, go to their classrooms, hear morning announcements, pledge allegiance to the flag, then sit quietly and listen to classical music.”
Neither Kelley nor classroom teachers impose meaning on the brief selections. “What they get out of it is personal,” Kelley says.
The program’s authors, David Brummitt and Karen E. Taylor, are music educators in Canada. Several years ago, to celebrate Mozart’s birthday, they played a brief selection from his compositions every day, broadcast throughout their school for six weeks. When the music stopped, everyone asked for more, leading Brummitt and Taylor to develop what is now a five-year program. CCSO purchased the program, which they offer at no cost to all Cape elementary schools.
Each morning, Crowell or Kelley reads over the loudspeaker a short script that names the composer, the composition and an interesting tidbit about the instruments children will hear. Last week’s featured composer was Aaron Copland and the featured composition was “Hoe-Down” from “Rodeo.” Each day, children heard that information plus something new about the composition in which Copland “wanted to capture the spirit” of bustling country fairs and fall festivals, leading up to Thanksgiving. The same musical composition plays each day for a week.
Most teachers devote time for student responses to the day’s listening. Second-grade teacher Jane Tucker asked her students how the music made them feel. One student said he envisioned “a race with motorboats in a big hurry.” Another “heard horses galloping,” and a third said, “It made me feel calm.”
One little girl told Tucker, “I imagined a cat chasing a mouse because when I watch Tom and Jerry cartoons, there’s music like that.” Already, some youngsters are noticing classical nuances in music they hear everyday.
Down the hall, Sue Anarino’s kindergarteners listened to the music with the lights turned off. Some swayed to the rhythm, while others waved arms as if conducting or tapped small fingers on desks. All but one said they’d be sad if the morning music stopped.
From Wicked Local Dennis; excerpts, edited by MUSICON