Introducing: Our Preparatory Chamber Music Course for 2nd and 3rd Graders!
In our sixth year, we are tweaking our approach to after-school programming at the Chittick School in Mattapan. Our weekly Music Circle (our large-group time) and upper-grade chamber music coachings are happening as usual, but our 2nd and 3rd graders are getting a new, special treatment. We are taking them on a newly-designed (but long-time-in-coming!) educational journey aimed at preparing them for the complex task of chamber music rehearsal and performance. This journey, designed by Marji Gere, is a fifteen-week course composed of three units:
The Musical Body
Music begins and ends in the sensory, intellectual, emotional body. This course gives our students a chance to focus on feeling, listening, and watching their way into contact with their string instruments, musical concepts, songs, and social, creative interaction with their artistic community. |
Our Musical Language
If someone wants to play the music you have invented, how do you help them? Not always, but very often, the best way to share music is via some sort of written or drawn map or set of instructions. During this unit students will spend time learning how to navigate and create musical maps and instructions, with special energy and attention given toward the symbology we will use most often in our work together as chamber musicians: Western classical notation. |
Musical Communication
Playing an instrument by oneself is tricky--performing as a group comes with a whole other set of challenges! During this unit, students will explore group music-making techniques such as cuing, conducting, choral singing; concepts such as monophony, polyphony, and canons; and the four attitudes the BPQ holds up as essential to fruitful, long-term ensemble work: empathy, flexibility, positivity, and shared purpose. |
This course is taught in small, instrument-specific groups by violinists Josh Addison and Betsy Hinkle, violists Elizabeth Stefan and Jason Amos, and cellists Michael Dahlberg and Alyssa Van Thoen. Meanwhile, Marji Gere is preparing two 4th/5th grade string quintets for a years’-worth of exciting performances, field trips, and mentorship opportunities. Watch the blog for updates about all of this After School excitement!
Back to Lessons, Chamber Music, Music Circle
Back to Lessons, Chamber Music, Music Circle
