Link Up - Arts Idaho

Those involved included music educators from 21 public and private schools in and around Pocatello; students attending 4th grade in private and public schools from Pocatello, American Falls, Grace, Preston, and Weston, Idaho; 38 musicians from the Idaho State-Civic Symphony; 22 volunteer choir students from Century High School, and board members and staff of the Idaho State-Civic Symphony Association. The project took place primarily in 21 participating school music rooms and the Stephens Performing Arts Center for the two culminating concerts. The goal of the project was to engage 4th grade students and elementary school music educators in a seven-month long project that involved learning music curriculum and rehearsing and ultimately performing in an interactive concert with the ISCS musicians. This project was selected because of prior successes with Link Up and the in-depth and diverse exposure to music-related experiences for students and teachers.

The Essential Question that guided our projects’ focus was:

How do we engage students and educators to inspire a love of creating and performing music and also further Core Standards?

Link Up was selected as the program by which to inspire a love of creating and performing music for fourth grade elementary school students and their music educators for many reasons. Link Up is the curriculum used in schools by music educators from the beginning of the school year and offers a wide-ranging repertoire of age-appropriate music that is engaging and fun. Repertoire includes both vocal pieces and recorder pieces and the culminating concerts include two listening pieces. Dance and movement is incorporated in the final piece, ?Oye!?. Students and educators have a goal they are working towards from September until the mid-March culminating concerts when they perform with ISCS musicians. Arts Core Standards are furthered as follows. Creating (anchors 1 – 3) begin at the start of the school year with students and teachers using the Link Up curriculum to learn vocal and recorder pieces and continue to improve abilities through the school year until the culminating concerts. Performing anchors are furthered at the culminating concerts when students perform the repertoire together with the ISCS musicians. Responding (7-9) occurs both in music classrooms at school and at the culminating concerts as does Connecting (10-11).

At the conclusion of the project, students responded to questions related to the identified Standards:

Creating (anchors 1-3). Singing makes me happy. My teacher is very patient in teaching us music. We get better every time we meet. We are working towards a big concert in March and we want to be prepared.

Performing (anchors 4-6). I wish it were longer and I could do it again! The musicians onstage are really good, and we sound good singing along with them and playing our recorders. We’ve been practicing our songs and are ready to perform with the Symphony. What a fun concert! The concert with the ISCS in Jensen Hall was amazing and so much fun.

Responding (anchors 7-9). My teacher helps us with melody and rhythm so we improve and sound better. We have learned about the instruments in the orchestra that we’ll be playing with. We’ve learned about the composers that wrote the songs we’re singing and playing on recorder. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Connecting (anchors 10-11). I learned to sing in Spanish for my favorite song “Oye!” I loved playing with the professional musicians with my classmates. The music we learned and performed was fun and not boring because the pieces were all very different.

Impact

One of the most compelling lessons that was reinforced during the culminating concerts was how passionate and resilient musicians are, from the music students to the music educators to the volunteers. Despite challenges and other commitments, all involved did everything within their power to make ensure the overall program and culminating concerts went off without a hitch in an effort to expose a generation of young students to the beauty and power of music. The moment that embodied this lesson happened as I was focused on logistics during the concerts and had turned to taking some photographs. The students and musicians had just started singing and performing the song, Oye! Despite having other things to check on, I was unable to walk away. Every single person in that concert hall was singing, dancing, and filling the air with this palpable electricity. It was so pure and magnetic that I had no choice but to be there in the moment and just enjoy the magic of this shared music. In receiving feedback from music educators and volunteers and seeing the joy on the children’s faces, I know that others felt the same way and that the power of music is truly indescribable, leading to the passion and commitment to keep this program going.

Reflection

I took the opportunity to assign tasks and train the ISCS operations manager, Kyle Peck, in how to run the Link Up program smoothly by preparing ahead and planning every detail and communicating it clearly to all involved. Having another admin staff member to help with Link Up this year was great. Putting on Link Up, from working with school music educators to offering professional development to planning for the culminating concerts and ensuring that the Link Up conductor and musicians and high school students are prepared is a huge endeavor. Having successfully put on Link Up 2021-22 and receiving resounding feedback from local music educators as well as the ISCS musicians and board members that Link Up should continue, I was thrilled with how smoothly Link Up 2022-23 went, that I was able to pass on details about producing the event to another another administrative staff member, and that Link Up seems to be here to stay. The local elementary music educators enjoy having such a high-quality program and curriculum to use and the culminating concerts create an unforgettable experience for participating fourth graders. Music educators have stated that they want to continue to use the Link Up curriculum as it has so many supports and offers quality and diversity.