CHAPTERS SPEAK VOLUMES
Forum Chapters Deliver Educational Programs at the Grassroots Level

By Renita Kalhorn, New York City Chapter Director

Flight of the Wallabies

(Sounding Board, April 2002) Twenty-five sets of eyes are glued to the conductor. The black-and-white-clad figures attached to those eyes stand at attention, as the audience waits in heightened anticipation. With a motion from the conductor, they break into song, but instead of sopranos, altos, baritones, and basses, this chorus features "wallabies" and "caterpillars" - and the average age is four. It's a performance by pre-schoolers from the Boston City Hall Childcare Center.

In the spring of 2001, the Boston Chapter collaborated with Boston ParkArts, a division of the City of Boston Park and Recreation Department, to create an arts education program for children at the childcare center. Composer Michael McLaughlin's task was to write "action" songs - "up, up, up, we all jump together," sang the group of jumping children - to help the toddlers develop motor coordination.

During his four-month residency, McLaughlin faced a group of typical three- to five- year olds - enthusiastic, but easily distracted and constantly in motion. When their moment on stage arrived, however, it was as though they had been transformed into a professional ensemble. "I was amazed," says McLaughlin. "They were really singing to the audience, as if they had realized that the audience was there to listen, and they were there to perform."

Transformative results such as this are not uncommon in the world of chapter educational programming. In fact, they occur with great regularity, though not because the programs adhere to a cookie-cutter formula for success. A composer and a group of young people are the basic common elements. From there, the programming - developed and administered by the Forum's 10 regional chapters with assistance from its national office - diverges to display great breadth and diversity.

Building Self-Esteem, Confidence, and Creativity

Responding to local appetites and needs, the Forum and its chapters develop programs ranging from general music education to advanced composition and theory classes. These programs take place in homeless shelters, urban community centers, public schools, and arts magnet schools, serving students from pre-school through high school.

Taken as a whole, chapter educational programs reach students regardless of their past musical experience. Some projects target communities that have been traditionally underserved by music education, reaching students who have never seen, much less held or played, a musical instrument. Others reach more advanced students who have already demonstrated musical talent and interest. These programs do, however, share a common result - students emerge with greater self-esteem, confidence, and awareness of their creative abilities.

There's a Composer in My School

"Music provides a way of expressing what [students] can't put into words," says Gary Motley, a resident composer in the Atlanta Chapter's Composer in the Schools (CITS) program.

Four chapters currently offer the CITS program. Through it, high school students not only study with working composers over the course of a school year but also get to hear their own compositions performed by top professional ensembles. Motley, whose background is in jazz, works with 12 students at North Springs High School, helping each compose an original work. Most of his students have considerable experience playing an instrument but little training in music theory. "Composition," he says, "takes them to a deeper level, where they're not only experiencing music on a sensory level, they're learning the language, the 'rules,' and how to use them to express themselves."

Indeed, the ability of Forum programs to provide tools for self-discovery and expression is a recurring theme voiced by student and composer participants alike. "[CITS] has helped me to open up," says Ché Holts, a student at Berkeley (Calif.) High School. "It has given me an opportunity to converse with other composers, and I have learned how to communicate my thoughts through music."

By engaging in the actively creative processes of improvisation and composition - rather than simply learning music as a re-creative art - participants enjoy a much richer experience. "I was, frankly, amazed by how quickly [the students] not only absorbed the new materials but how quickly they passed from imitation in their assignments to integration into their musical personalities," says Ronald Bruce Smith, CITS composer-in-residence at School for the Arts in San Francisco.

Composer in the Schools was first launched in San Francisco, where it is now in its fourth full year. Each year, the San Francisco Chapter places four to five composers in area high schools. Composer Katrina Wreede, who has taught in the program since 1998, notes that the program creates an environment of support and camaraderie that allows and encourages students to make personal connections with other creative people.

"What continually amazes me about this class," says Berkeley High School student Thandiwe Satterwhite, "is how I am able to take my thoughts and ideas and successfully transform them into creative works of art. There is nothing else out there that allows young people to develop their composing skills while getting ideas, feedback, and support from peers."

What follows naturally is increased comfort in taking artistic risks. "I have felt open to grow as a composer," says Berkeley High School student Maianna Voge, "to advance and feel sure of myself, because I'm not afraid to make a mistake in this class."

Not only does participation in the creative process help develop musical personalities, but teachers have even noticed marked changes in students' general behavior as well. One boy in the Atlanta CITS program, who had been previously suspended, was particularly quiet and withdrawn. As he progressed through the program, one of the teachers, Ginny Oliver, noted that he began to develop a more positive outlook, was noticeably more relaxed and outgoing, and became more open to discussing his disciplinary issues.

Pack Your Bags

Likewise, the effects of chapter educational programs spill over into other areas of academic performance. Composers Suitcase - a Forum national elementary-music-education program, which was piloted this year by the Los Angeles Chapter (see Sounding Board, December 2001) - was specifically designed with a focus on developing musical creativity through and interdisciplinary learning experience. Though the program is still undergoing the Forum's formal assessment process, Forum Director of Education Krystal Banfield says anecdotal evidence suggests that the children are demonstrating an understanding of musical elements and concepts to express themselves, as well as marked improvement in their listening, reading, and communications skills.

Rebecca Piña, a Phelan School teacher participating in the Suitcase pilot in Whittier City, Calif., enthuses about the positive change in one child who was previously performing below his grade level. "Since we've started the Composers Suitcase, he has taken such an interest in music! Music is something that he is good at, and feels good doing. Now, that enthusiasm is spilling over into other academic areas, like math and reading."

Students are not the only ones affected. Parents, teachers and administrators - though often skeptical at first - inevitably realize the value of such a program. "I always see a 'turning about,'" says Banfield. "In the beginning, they're doubtful about how much difference a music class could make - until they witness the effects of the program and how it helps students to think critically about their lives."

Meeting Local Needs

Chapter educational programs are developed with a basic assumption - that students possess remarkable creative potential. Rather than lecturing students, Forum programming engages them. Programs also go beyond the mere teaching of music fundamentals, driven by practical goals (both musical and non-musical), local needs, and local resources.

Composers Suitcase, for example, gives classroom teachers the tools necessary to teach music to elementary school students. This is particularly important, as many school districts have no elementary music programs at all.

The Atlanta Chapter's REMIX program with the Boys and Girls Club takes a unique spin, introducing teen-aged participants to a variety of careers in the music industry. Over the course of the program, students do hands-on work with professional composers, technicians, arts administrators and a music educator. Students learn not only about music but also about recording, manufacturing, and marketing CDs.

CITS participants have brainstormed a number of original projects. The advanced class at Berkeley High School wrote works to be performed with silent films in the Pacific Film Archives. Those compositions were performed live at a public screening of the films. Another class is composing for the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and, as part of that, is learning to use Finale music notation software to generate the scores and parts.

CODA

Through the communication and exchange of ideas among the national office and its network of regional chapters, successful program models can be transplanted and implemented across the country. At the same time, the education committee of the Forum's board is elaborating a unified strategy for the organization's educational programming. That strategy will include the development of assessment and other tools to provide structural support for program design, administration, and execution. Banfield, for example, is currently writing a K-12 method guide intended to prepare teaching composers with a better understanding of the developmental skills, psychological development, learning styles, and disabilities of learners.

With programs now being developed and administered throughout the 10 chapters, the Forum is poised to produce even greater impact with the breadth, diversity, and innovation of its arts education programming.

Funding for chapter educational programs is provided by (listed alphabetically) Arthur M. Blank Foundation; Boston Foundation Arts Fund; California Arts Council, a state agency; Cherbec Advancement Foundation; Chicago Community Trust; Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, City Arts Program; Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation; F.R. Bigelow Foundation; Helen F. Whitaker Fund; Illinois Arts Council; International Humanities, Inc.; James Irvine Foundation; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; The Katherine B. Andersen Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation; Mardag Foundation; Marshall Field's Project Imagine; Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Polk Bros. Foundation; Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council; The Saint Paul Foundation; San Francisco Foundation; William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; and WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation. (This information is current as of the story date, April 2002