For a number of years, I’ve been developing a program of active music education for students between the ages of 5 and 12. I am grateful to the arts organization, Fivesparks, which began letting me use its Movement Room last year to teach classes to kindergartners and first-graders, and recorder, guitar, and keyboard lessons for students between the ages of 8 and 12. Fivesparks helped me keep down the cost of these classes and lessons, which have often become too expensive for some families. I am also grateful to the Harvard Public Schools, which have helped Fivesparks promote this instruction, as well as their other arts programs for young people.
This fall I am continuing the same classes and lessons while adding a second level of music instruction to first-graders on Tuesday afternoon, and a chorus for ages 8 to 12 that introduces vocal and musicianship training through songs that are perfect for this age group.
These classes and lessons are meant for young Harvard students with a keen interest in music, and they teach musical skills and awareness that are the birthright of all human beings: “Can you sing in tune with other singers? Can you move in time with music? Do you understand why some songs are undeniably sad while others are undeniably happy?” For many students, these skills seem innate; for others, this development takes careful assessment and instruction, exactly like the development of reading and mathematical skills.
Once these foundational skills have been mastered, young music students will progress more rapidly as instrumentalists and singers. Fifth-graders who can play (and sing!) songs in four different scales and can already read music will become leaders in their sixth-grade bands. Young violinists and cellists won’t need pieces of tape on their instruments’ fingerboards because they will be able to hear when they are in tune. The young musicians with whom I work will be able to use the keyboard as a reference for learning music.
Many thanks to Fivesparks and to the Harvard Public Schools for helping me offer this music instruction to our youngest students.
Steve Peisch
Still River Depot Road
