MARCH-MAY 2020
Unfortunately, my first meeting with Bruce Elementary occurred days before the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. In the months since then, my project has shifted from in-person to online events. Additionally, I had to pause all planning with Bruce Elementary indefinitely, and their faculty had more pertinent concerns regarding the pandemic.
It’s clear that my project cannot feasibly take place during this semester. There are too many unknowns with the pandemic to host an in-person event. This was a shocking realization, and for a while I felt a growing anxiety about whether or not I could continue forth with my idea. I’m thankful now for the help I received, Charles Williams from my Scouts troop once again put me in contact with a project opportunity. Mr. Williams introduced me to the music director at his place of worship, who directed me to a local nonprofit that focuses on music education. I am currently in correspondence with Ms. Sonja Bruzauskas of Partnerschools, an organization that sponsors music education events for elementary schools around the city.
My current plan is to use Partnerschools’ connections as an audience for sharing video lessons that touch on musical ideas and concepts. I can create videos that explain music theory, to the various elementary schools Partnerschools works with, for use in the upcoming fall semester.
I’m currently developing a plan for the topics we’ll cover that is based on the state curriculums for elementary level music classes. Referencing these curriculums, I have outlined several potential videos that cover the curriculum requirements, while also providing opportunities to include my personal insights and experiences.
I think that while it is important to make some videos that are strictly informative, where I explain basic music theory concepts, there should be unique characteristics to each video that engage the students and show the wide applicability of these concepts. I also want to pull examples of these concepts from popular music that the students likely recognize.
In addition to instruction, there should be some videos that introduce and expose students to different genres of music and different ways to further develop what they learn in music class. Everything will be simplified enough to resonate with elementary/middle students, and the videos would be designed to reinforce a few ideas:
After tweaking and revising this plan, I think the next step would be to create a relatively detailed outline of the lesson plan so it can be approved. The rest of summer would be devoted to filming and editing.
It’s clear that my project cannot feasibly take place during this semester. There are too many unknowns with the pandemic to host an in-person event. This was a shocking realization, and for a while I felt a growing anxiety about whether or not I could continue forth with my idea. I’m thankful now for the help I received, Charles Williams from my Scouts troop once again put me in contact with a project opportunity. Mr. Williams introduced me to the music director at his place of worship, who directed me to a local nonprofit that focuses on music education. I am currently in correspondence with Ms. Sonja Bruzauskas of Partnerschools, an organization that sponsors music education events for elementary schools around the city.
My current plan is to use Partnerschools’ connections as an audience for sharing video lessons that touch on musical ideas and concepts. I can create videos that explain music theory, to the various elementary schools Partnerschools works with, for use in the upcoming fall semester.
I’m currently developing a plan for the topics we’ll cover that is based on the state curriculums for elementary level music classes. Referencing these curriculums, I have outlined several potential videos that cover the curriculum requirements, while also providing opportunities to include my personal insights and experiences.
I think that while it is important to make some videos that are strictly informative, where I explain basic music theory concepts, there should be unique characteristics to each video that engage the students and show the wide applicability of these concepts. I also want to pull examples of these concepts from popular music that the students likely recognize.
In addition to instruction, there should be some videos that introduce and expose students to different genres of music and different ways to further develop what they learn in music class. Everything will be simplified enough to resonate with elementary/middle students, and the videos would be designed to reinforce a few ideas:
- virtually anyone can become proficient with an instrument as long as they practice and experiment
- money is not a limiting factor for making music
- the benefits of learning music theory and technique, expressing feelings and emotions while playing etc.
After tweaking and revising this plan, I think the next step would be to create a relatively detailed outline of the lesson plan so it can be approved. The rest of summer would be devoted to filming and editing.