Bob Schulman Bequest
Research has shown music and music making promote brain development, language, emotional well-being, motor and social skills. Similarly, the fine arts benefit child development by providing opportunities for creativity and building self- esteem. In acknowledgment of the importance of these disciplines to the development of the whole child and to their approach to the sciences, ‘art’ was added to the STEM programs, hence STEAM was born. In light of this research, and what many of us knew to be true all along, we determined we needed to provide our children with more purposeful music and art programs.
We looked into a several music programs and decided the Musikgarten curriculum would best serve the needs of our children. The philosophy of Musikgarten states: Music is for all children and that all children are musical. The creators of the curriculum believe all children are born with an inner sense of rhythm and pitch. Through singing, movement, poetry, story and rhythm instruments children develop a love of music, an outlet for energy and emotion and opportunities for creativity. As children grow in the program they are introduced to a musical vocabulary and develop a lifelong relationship with the music.
Over the last several weeks, Sarah Gilmore, who has been singing with the children for a couple of years already, and I have taken the courses required for licensing as Musikgarten teachers. The training is thorough and the materials are well thought-out and organized. Sarah has already begun to try out some of the songs and rhythm patterns, and the children are loving it. The Musikgarten classes are designed for parent and child, but we are adapting them for our situation at VICCC. The classroom teachers will fill in for the parent and caregiver, and our parents will be given recordings of the music to play and enjoy with their children.
In addition to the music program, I have also been designing a more purposeful art program. The goal of the art program is to provide experiences with a wide variety of media, introduce language to talk about art, develop their observational skills, building self-esteem and confidence to express themselves. With that in mind
we will be emphasizing process and play over product. By restoring the rightful place of art and music to children’s lives, students are given opportunities to be creative, become more confident, to think critically and provides a foundation on which children can build academically. Obviously, we would like this program to continue into the future.
Bob’s generous gift is enabling us to train and purchase materials for the parents as well as the school. If you would like to contribute to sustaining these programs, we would be most grateful.
