Category: Music in Schools

Spanish dance troupe, Oleaje Flamenco presented at Licton Springs in January and will dance again at Sand Point on May 5 at 1 p.m.

Step Afrika, a Meany Center presentation of a percussive stepping, was presented to tumultuous response on February 14th to three schools:

John Muir, Sand Point and Lowell. Students enjoyed the interactive audience participation. Step Afrika was formed by steppers in sororities and fraternities.  Their members put a strong emphasis on continued education.

The Radost Folk Ensemble, which includes music of Eastern Europe, gave an assembly at Lowell in February after students had worked with the troupe leader, Sidney Deering for three days that week. They had studied the dances of Croatia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Bosnia, Ukraine, and Russia, and were able to join the troupe for dancing.

Shub Chitain Gill, leader of Rhythms of India, gave a participatory assembly on February 8th at Lowell and will instruct Licton Springs and Sanislo students in May.

Meany Center artists, Philobolus @ Play, innovative creative movement program worked with 5th through 8th grade students at Licton Springs February 27th and February 28th and with Lowell 5th graders on March first.

NOISE (Northwest Opera in Schools, etc.) presented the Doll Scene from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann to two schools in March, Sandpoint and Sanislo. More opera is coming with Seattle Opera’s Cinderella en España at John Muir on May 12th.

Gansango African Dance instructor Etienne Capko drummed and taught dancing to Lowell kindergarten, first and third grade classes for three days in February. He will work with Licton Springs students May 9th and 16th.

Eduardo Mendonça will present and teach the rhythms of Brazil at Licton Springs on May 5th with the exciting Show Brazil presentation.

The Music in Schools (MIS) Outreach Program is in its 26th year of providing widely varied musical enrichment to underserved students in Seattle Public schools. MIS coordinates programming provided by LMC members, other local professional musicians and a long-established partnership with the University of Washington’s Meany Center for the Performing Arts which arranges for school residencies featuring the internationally acclaimed and culturally diverse performers who appear on the Meany stage.

During the 2016-17  school year MIS is providing support to:

• John Muir Elementary, a culturally diverse school in the Ranier Valley/Mount Baker neighborhood
• Licton Springs K-8, in Seattle’s North End which combines a Native-centered curriculum with the former Pinehurst school’s experience-based, multicultural, social justice education
• Lowell Elementary, on Capitol Hill, which focuses on each individual student’s learning needs, and encourages them to reach his or her potential intellectually, physically, and emotionally
• Sand Point Elementary, in Northeast Seattle, has 282 students who speak 22 different home languages, and a robust English Language Learning program among its other academic offerings. Additionally, in response to a funding emergency at Sandpoint Elementary, LMC provided full time music instruction for K/1/2 classes
• Sanislo Elementary, a part of the South Delridge neighborhood for more than 40 years, is now enrolling second-generation students and prides itself on family involvement, while its open plan architecture fosters a dedication to collective, community based learning.

In addition to working with these schools, MIS is an ongoing sponsor of the student chorus at BF Day Elementary School in the Fremont neighborhood, and not only funded the chorus director’s salary and ancillary expenses, but also provided transportation for the students to attend the her pipe organ/music history presentation of the History of Western Music at Plymouth Congregational Church.

MIS also sponsored 2015 LMC Award Tour artists, Cameron O’Connor, guitar, and Erik Steighner, saxophone, in performance at the Boys and Girls Club associated with BF Day.

At Washington Middle School, MIS provided liaison for a creative Master Class with Orchestra and Band Ensembles featuring the DeCoda Ensemble with Saeunn Thorsteindottir, of the University of Washington’s School of Music.

MIS’s partnership with  Sanislo Elementary’s enabled students to participate in the Link-Up program for recorder instruction and performance provided by the Seattle Symphony

Programming offered at our partner schools includes:

• Seattle Historical Arts for Kids – Colonial-era music with participatory dance for 4th and 5th graders
• African/American Heritage Duo
• Northwest Opera in Schools, Etc. (aka NOISE) — Performance of The Telephone
• Show Brazil (Eduardo Mendonça) – Brazilian Rhythms workshop
• Gansango (Etienne Capko) – Drumming and Dancing Instruction with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades
• Hilary Field, LMC Guitarist, with 3rd, 4th and 5th grades
• Radost Slavic Folk Ensemble
• Philharmonic Wind Quintet — Assembly performance Peter and the Wolf with student narrators —
• Dina Blade and Canote Brothers — 2 sessions of folk dance for 2nd and 3rd grades
• Toucans Steel Drum Band — Assembly Performance

  

In partnership with the UW Meany Center for the Performing Arts:

• SO Percussion Group (in partnership with UW World Series) – Student attendance at Meany Matinee, plus one-on-one workshop afterwards
• Martha Redbone (in partnership with UW World Series)
• Native American/Blues fusion performances in the school
• Daedalus String Quartet — workshop sessions with K, 1, and 2 students

In all, during the past school year, more than 7,000 student contacts were made in five schools, through performances, interactive student participation, the student choir, collaboration with Meany Center,  and other programming opportunities.