OCR Text |
Show Volume II , Issue IV The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 19 January 2000 Learning to the Sound of Music By Jennifer Toomer-Cook First, fifth- and sixth-graders, and soon the whole school, are receiving piano lessons during the school day in an attempt to help boost academic success. While the program, created by parent and piano teacher Tami Creamer, officially began just this school year, anecdotal evidence of improvement is trickling in. Consider one sixth-grader with dyslexia and behavioral problems. After the first couple of times in the piano lab this fall, the boy’s attitude about school went from frustration to a thirst for success, said teacher Michelle Evans. The child’s reading test scores have raised two full grade levels in a few months. “There are so many students who wouldn’t perform well or see the joy in academia if they didn’t have some contact with the arts. There are some students who don’t get inspired in any other way,” said Evans, also the school’s reading facilitator. “In my opinion, if we were to incorporate every aspect of thinking into our program, then we’ve tried to reach every student on every possible level.” For years, teachers have believed music helps kids academically, instilling confidence to tackle difficult tasks and because transferring squiggles and dots on a page into physical and artistic movement helped bridge the gap between the brain’s hemispheres. But now, research conducted through viewing brain activity while the person plays a musical instrument proves it is a key to unlocking the mind’s full potential, says Carol Ann Goodson, state fine arts specialist. “These activities help develop all those neural pathways,” she said. “We always thought of (playing music in schools) as a frill. But there’s finally becoming more recognition that this is a huge part of our brains. To not develop it is really squandering our children’s potential.” A 1997 study found piano lessons, even more than computer instruction, enhances reasoning and spatial skills needed for math and science. Preschoolers receiving private piano instruction in the two-year study performed 34 percent higher on spacial skills tests than the computer group and a control group receiving no additional instruction. Psychologist Frances Rauscher of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and physicist Gordon Shaw of the University of California at Irvine published the study’s results in the February 1997 issue of Neurological Research. Results also were featured in the July 1997 issue of Piano Technicians Journal. The researchers are the same team who discovered the “Mozart Effect,” in which college students enhanced spatial temporal abilities by listening to the Austrian composer’s sonatas. Despite such findings, fine arts programs often are the first to go when funding gets tight. “Things like that are really kind of frightening to me,” said Carol Storrs, who helps teach violin lessons to students at Jackson Elementary in the Salt Lake City School District. “Some districts say we’ve got to get test scores up so let’s spend more time reading and take away visual arts and music and dance. But they’re just shooting themselves in the foot. Those are things that aid students to learn and to want to learn. If you take away the joy of learning, then there’s a problem.” Funding for the Jackson program, one of several using musical instruments in Utah elementary schools, dropped off this year, so music teachers are coming in two or three times a week instead of every day. Students, who practice on 100 violins provided with grant money, groaned when they heard the news, Storrs said. “They love the performing. It’s a real self-esteem builder, and gives them confidence in all areas to try.” Music instruction was found especially important for students learning to speak English. Some utter their first English words in music class, where the language is international, Storrs said. Valley Elementary’s Evans obtained about $4,000 in grants to purchase 34 electric keyboards and headsets to allow for silent practice after reading about brain research on the subject. Any teacher, musician or not, can teach the piano lessons. That’s through the efforts of Creamer, who spent eight months wracking her brain to create the “Musical Minds” program. Her instructional packet includes lesson plans mapping out which notes are where and detailing how to teach students to read and play music. Creamer also separated familiar tunes, such as Old MacDonald, into different parts as if an orchestra were to play them. Older students dial their synthesizers to the desired instrument — violin, grand piano, flute, bass — and play in unison. Kids also complete worksheets, identifying keys on a drawn-up keyboard so they can show parents what they are learning in school. “It’s user-friendly. You don’t have to be a professional piano teacher to go ahead and do it,” said Creamer, who is looking into how to make her program available to schools that want it. Indeed, first-graders appear fascinated that their tiny hands can make an instrument sing, so much that it’s not easy to keep hands in laps during instruction time. Sixth-graders play as if an orchestra, and steal time during the class to finger out the melody of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” that the class learned last year. Student Jordan Rhodes really likes the break from the routine, which he understands comes with other perks, too. “I’ve heard that it makes you smarter.” Note: This article was printed by permission from Deseret News. Copyright 1999, Deseret News Publishing Co. Utah Students Receive Free Invitation To Sporting Events The Salt Lake Organizing Committee is inviting thousands of Utah students to attend national and international sporting events at no charge this winter. There are 14 events at the Olympic and Paralympic venues, beginning with the U.S. Sliding Championships on January 7-8 at the Utah Winter Sports Park, for students to attend as part of SLOC’s classroom to events educational program. SLOC has notified more than 900 school Olympic liaisons, teachers, department chairs and grade level coordinators throughout the State of Utah. An order form has been distributed for schools to select events, dates and requested tickets. Orders will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade, teachers and required chaperones are eligible for free admission. Transportation and meal costs are the responsibilities of the school. Eight of the ten Olympic venues will host events, including locations in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, Park City and nearby Heber City. “The Organizing Committee’s classroom to events program is a unique field trip for teachers to take their students to Olympic and Paralympic-related sporting events,” said Judy Stanfield, SLOC Director of Education. “The program provides an excellent experience for schoolchildren that can be incorporated into curricula on winter sports, the Olympic and Paralympic movements, and international studies.” Students can learn more about winter sports through the youth section of SLOC’s website at www.slc2002.org/kids/ youth_frame.html. The events in early 2000 include: -U.S. Sliding Championships, Jan. 7-8, Utah Winter Sports Park -Freestyle Aerials World Cup, Jan. 8-9, Deer Valley Resort -U.S. Cross Country Championships, Jan. 8-15, Soldier Hollow -Short Track Speed Skating American Cup, Jan. 15-16, Seven Peaks Ice Arena -Bobsleigh AmericaÆs Cup, Jan. 22, 27, Utah Winter Sports Park Women’s Downhill/Super G Super Series, Jan. 29-31, Snowbasin Ski Area -U.S. Biathlon Championships, Feb. 1-6, Soldier Hollow -Women’s Slalom World Cup, Feb. 6, Deer Valley Resort -Women’s Downhill/Super G World Cup, Feb. 10-12, Snowbasin Ski Area -Men’s Downhill/Super G Super Series, Feb. 25-27, Snowbasin Ski Area -Snowboarding World Cup, March 3-5, Park City Mountain Resort -U.S. Curling Championships, March 5-10, The Ice Sheet at Ogden -NCAA Cross Country Championships, March 9, 11, Soldier Hollow -Ice Sled Hockey World Championships, March 20-25, E-Center For more information, contact Caroline Shaw or Frank Zang in SLOC Communications and Media Relations at (801) 212-2002. Equipment Stolen from area Resorts By Shanna Francis Weber County Sheriff Sargent Ryon Hadley is warning skiers and snowboarders to keep a closer watch on their skis and boards when they take to the slopes this season. On Saturday, January 8, eight snowboards and sets of skis were reported stolen from Powder Mountain alone. A common problem, equipment is reported stolen almost daily from area resorts. One gentleman had gone into the restaurant to get something to eat, but placed his board where he could carefully keep his eye on it through the window as he ate. Between one checking glance and the next, it was gone. “It couldn’t have been more than 14 seconds between one look and another.” Sargent Hadley asks that owners make sure that they keep record of the serial number and brand name of their equipment. Serial numbers are the only way to legally track the stolen property. If a suspect is approached, there is no other way to prove that the equipment in hand is not the thief’s. |