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Reprinted from The Pocahontas Times
March 22, 2007
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Drew Tanner Staff Writer
Walking down the halls of the county’s elementary schools, Lucinda Tyler found herself struck by the silence.
Tyler, an Americorps VISTA volunteer with the Pocahontas County Free Libraries, realized one day that she never heard music in the schools where she coordinated an adult reading partners program to help young readers.
This past fall, Tyler consulted friends in the music field and the school district’s curriculum director as she set about to create a program to teach children the fundamentals of music.
The program, which started in February, is piloted by the third grade class of Pam McCurdy at Hillsboro Elementary School. Tyler hopes the program will eventually spread to other schools and grades in coming years.
"We’re trying to create a path of music for these students and, on that path, nurture them along until they’re in sixth grade," said Tyler.
At that point, students can take advantage of the middle schools’ music programs.
To teach the class, Tyler teamed up with Lois Airgood, who has volunteered in the reading partners program and an adult literacy program also coordinated by Tyler.
"She mentioned the music program and my ears perked up right away," said Airgood. "I grew up with music at school, at church and at home."
Airgood, whose fourth-grade daughter, Corinne, attends Hillsboro Elementary, said she was troubled by students’ lack of exposure to music in school.
Corinne now helps Tyler and Airgood with the class. Having learned piano from her mother, Corinne floats through the classroom, giving students pointers on playing.
Tyler and Airgood said the class is modeled on their own experiences as third grade students, playing along with their classmates on a cardboard keyboard while a teacher played the piano or students took a turn at the front of the classroom.
Three days a week, Tyler and Airgood spend 20 minutes with the class. Early on, classes began with the basics of reading music and making sense of measures, tempos, and musical notation.
At the end of every week, the class has a "music appreciation" day, during which local musicians bring their instruments, play for students and answer questions.
Aware of the budget challenges facing the school district, Tyler is actively seeking grants and private donations to fund the program independently.
A mini-grant from Wal-Mart provided roll-up electronic keyboards on which the students are now learning "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
The class has begun playing the song in unison. Students also take turns playing a digital piano to get the experience of performing in front of each other and to experience the physical feel of the keys.
"What we’re planning on is that the third graders will take their keyboards to fourth grade, and we’ll continue music instruction with them," Tyler said. "At the same time we’ll introduce the keyboards to the incoming third-graders, so what happens is the music program grows incrementally every year."
At the end of this year, Tyler and Airgood plan to hold a group recital for the class to show off its newly learned song.
While the students clearly have fun during the class, Tyler and Airgood said the music is also teaching valuable skills. "The kids are learning cooperation, playing in unison, and it’s reinforcing math skills and fractions through learning the notes."
The students have already memorized the song since initially learning from printed music.
Tyler also plans to partner with the Pocahontas County Opera House on educational programming to expose students to a variety of musical instruments and styles.
While she is still juggling the challenge of getting the program established, Tyler is already excited about the long-term impact of the program on students and the community.
"What if this music program keeps just five kids from dropping out when they get to high school?" she asked.
The program also has the potential to build students’ confidence and add some variety to their academic routine, said Airgood.
"It gives kids another opportunity to succeed at something," said Airgood. "Not everybody is good in sports. Not everybody is that good academically. But music gives them a whole other opportunity to succeed."
For more information about the budding music program, visit pocahontasmusic.org.
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