NEWS FROM BSO ORCHKIDS !
CONCERT NAME
Starting Early
OrchKids emphasizes the importance of starting students at a young age to immerse them in music as one would a language , developing their ears and ensemble skills , and ensuring that the instrument becomes an extension of their personality , body , and life . As such , students can get involved in OrchKids as early as Pre-K . Students in Pre-K through 2nd grade participate in our Musicianship program , which includes Musicianship and Exploratory classes , to build a solid foundation of musical knowledge that is critical to setting them up for success when they begin learning how to play an instrument .
Musicianship and Exploratory classes focus on active music making . Rarely will you see these students sitting quietly listening to a lecture . Instead , they are singing , playing different rhythms on percussion instruments like bells and egg shakers , practicing matching pitch or pitch direction , and participating in musical mirroring , a technique developed by Dr . Veronika Cohen where hand motions reflect musical events . Contagious smiles and laughter fill these classrooms as students immerse themselves in the joy of music making .
OrchKids has also been active in building stronger pathways from our in-school musicianship program to our after-school program . This pathway from in-school musicianship starts with students participating in bridge programming at their musicianship site . An example of this bridge programming is at the Belair-Edison School where we created an after-school violin program for students that participate in
2nd grader Ava Smith gets fitted for a violin
( Above ) OrchKids Teaching Artist , Liam Cunningham , and Musicianship Assistant , Jay DeVaughn , introduce guiros to a 2nd grade class before passing the instruments around for students to play .
musicianship programming during the day to continue their musical journey . This pathway will continue on to integrate students into our larger after-school sites and ensure that their access to instrumental music education continues long after 2nd grade .
Watch an example of musical mirroring by one of our musicianship classes here
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