SUBITO

COMPOSERS SUITCASE

The American Composers Forum with its Los Angeles Chapter has developed and is testing a groundbreaking new music curriculum called Composers Suitcase™ in second-grade classes at selected Whittier, Calif., public schools.

Packaged in an actual suitcase, the Composers Suitcase curriculum allows elementary classroom teachers to meet federal and state music education standards, with particular emphasis on music creation and improvisation. The materials are highly portable, and designed for easy replication and adaptation in a variety of settings. Composers Suitcase will be taught in two elementary schools, Phelan and Longfellow, each of which have three second-grade classes (six classes and teachers in total). Two of the three classrooms in each school will receive the Suitcase materials. A third classroom in each school will have a composer-in-residence instead of the Suitcase curriculum, which will provide a pedagogical control in the assessment of the Suitcase curriculum. Three second-grade classes at Sorensen Elementary School, where no music is formally taught in that grade, will be used as a control group for results comparison.

This pilot project is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a State Agency.

 

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