During the school year, Charlie, a first grade student at Liberty Park Elementary School, experienced the loss of his mother. Since then, he’s had trouble coping with her passing and difficulties interacting with other students. Last week, Charlie met musicians from the Palm Beach Pops orchestra who are visiting his school for their weekly Music & You classroom session. Charlie learned to sing a new song that was taught to the class, and it reminded him of his mom. The healing power of music touches the human heart and soul, bringing hope and comfort through even the darkest times.
“My mom’s in heaven and that song sounds like heaven,” whispered Charlie to his teacher. “I miss my mom so much and she’d be so proud of me singing.” And after seeing the brass and woodwinds instruments the prior week, Charlie, along with his father, learned how to make his own woodwind instrument that he showed to his class. Now Charlie looks forward each week to the musicians coming to his classroom so he can learn about more instruments because he wants to learn how to play one.
“This program has allowed Charlie to connect to his feelings, and has reached all of the children on a very deep level,” explains Judy Christodoulides, music teacher at Liberty Park Elementary School in Greenacres. “This program enhances their learning skills, has students focused on listening, studying how music plays a
.jpg) |
role in our history, and incorporates math and reading skills. They’re even learning about the science of music with sound waves, vibrations, pitches, tube lengths, etc. Educating the complete child…this is the way things should be done.” Judy first participated in the Music & You Education Program a few years ago for just her fourth grade students. The program had such a positive impact on the students that Judy asked Bob Lappin & The The Palm Beach Pops to present the program to the entire school of 900+ students, from pre-K to fifth grade. “It’s rare for these children to have the opportunity to listen to music being played on instruments. As music is a performing art, students are now able to make the correlation between a musician, the instrument and the music they create, generating a whole new dimension of learning for them.”
Musicians with Bob Lappin & the Palm Beach Pops are visiting ten elementary schools in Palm Beach, Greenacres, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, and Lantana, introducing students to different instruments and musical genres. Once a week for four weeks, students are taught the rudiments of melody, harmony and rhythm by listening to music from Bach and Mozart to Gershwin and Duke Ellington, and even the theme from Harry Potter. The lessons also relate to daily life in getting along with people creates harmony and the teamwork of singing a song together. The students are introduced to other music choices with positive lyrics and messages. The interactive Music & You Education Program was designed to promote music in the classroom by correlating music with social studies, literature, character education, science and math and is offered in the fall and spring of each year at no cost to the student/parent, teachers or schools. Each student is provided with a 16-page color workbook and teachers are given curriculum guides to prepare students for weekly sessions which are benchmarked to Florida Sunshine State Standards. Now in its 12th year, The Palm Beach Pops have reached out to over 76,000 elementary students through the Music & You Education Program. All funds are contributed by generous benefactors of the Palm Beach Pops.
“The Palm Beach Pops place a priority on this endeavor, for this is one of the most important ways in which we can invest in the youth of our community,” explains David Quilleon, executive director of The Palm Beach Pops. “With music programs being cut from school curriculums every day, this might be the one and only meaningful music experience these children receive all year.”
The Music & You Education Program culminates on May 20 at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach with a live concert performed by Bob Lappin and the Palm Beach Pops orchestra for nearly 5,000 students, teachers and the general public. The students and music fans in attendance will get to enjoy pieces from The Pink Panther and The Flintstones as well as “It Don’t Mean A Thing,” “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “Strings on Fire” and other true American classics. In addition to the thousands of students in the audience, one student from each school will be chosen to accompany the orchestra during a musical selection, while another group of promising students will appear on stage to assist Maestro Lappin in conducting the orchestra.
The general public is warmly invited to attend the free Music & You Concert at the Cruzan Amphitheatre at the South Florida Fair Grounds in West Palm Beach on Thursday, May 20 from 11:00 a.m. to Noon. For more information or to reserve a seat, please call Sara Hebert, Outreach Program Coordinator, at (561)-832-7677.