SES music teacher Candice Stout believes that music is a shared experience and should be enjoyed by all. That’s the premise behind Music Sharing Day.
The Annual Music Sharing Day is an informal opportunity for guests to join their kids in the music room and actually experience what Raiders are learning in elementary music class.
“With a small setting of sharing what they have learned one class at a time, the enthusiasm of the performers can fully and personally reach their audience,” Stout said. “The audience can come up onto the stage and see exactly what their children are doing and experiencing. I want the kids to teach and play with their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. I want them all to touch and play the instruments! I want them all to touch and play with the props!”
Inspired by Stout’s own personal experience growing up where her mom attended her performances with her brothers and sisters in tow often for over an hour, Stout wanted to create an interactive musical education experience for parents, siblings and other guests that enabled them to participate and not tie them a chair where they might have to also entertain younger siblings during a long performances.
“No concert or presentation should ever feel like a "sit and get," one-sided experience,” Stout said. “Music Sharing Days are a balance of music-making, enjoyment, and participation for all who attend.”
Stout creates the experience herself from start to finish. She starts with a basic concept she needs to teach (examples: form, rhythm, tempo, beat, pitch, dynamics) and then writes a simple song that will best help reinforce that concept. Once she has the basic melody, she looks for a picture book to pull repeated phrases or major plot points to finish writing the words for the song. Then, she writes instrument parts, dances, or additional activities and makes sure the concept is touched on at least three different times or three different ways.
But what makes it special is how the teacher layers in the connections to the students' lives and experiences.
“I take great care in choosing the books I use and the songs I use or write,” Stout said. “If it doesn’t have a deeper connection or meaning to our students lives or their current learning with me, in their classroom, or lives, I won’t use it. Music can and should touch everything.”
Stout feels that music is important to children's lives as it affords them opportunity to learn across multiple disciplines - Math with fractions, addition or subtraction (rhythms and beat); Science with vibration and sound production; Reading with lyrics and solfege (Do, Re, Mi), and tracking rhythms across a page; Writing with composing songs and History to look at where the songs came from before us. Studying Music at any age is a chance to develop important life skills.
“Parents, just show up,” Stout said. “Help your students practice their music at home, even if all you can do is clap along to the beat and give encouragement. Remind them that ‘All great achievements take time; and ‘No one gets it perfect on the first try.’”