PS 8 Music Program Director Warren Bloom is a musician, music critic and educator. His approach to teaching blends many of the core competencies of music – melody, harmony, tempo, rhythm and pitch – with the broader academic curriculum of math, science, social studies and language arts, as prescribed in New York’s Learning Standards for the Arts.
All grades approach music from a broad perspective. Students study the role it plays in books, different cultures and history; they are exposed to various musical genres; and they develop an understanding of how to make music.
Some lessons start with the music found in books. Pre-kindergartners and kindergartners may read Ian Falconer’s Olivia Forms a Band and learn about John Philip Sousa’s “The Washington Post March,” a song that Olivia imagines she’s playing for the fireworks show. Second graders may read Jake the Ballet Dog (in which Jake attends a rehearsal of The Nutcracker Suite) while listening to audio excerpts of Tchaikovsky’s score.
Other lessons expand over the course of several weeks as students delve into a piece of music. First and second graders have three- and four-week units in which they learn a song and then learn to play borduns (two-pitch rhythmic patterns) related to their song on xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels. Students also work on song lyrics and their meanings. At the conclusion of a unit, students hold performances in which they sing, dance, play instruments and “conduct” a band of students.
Third, fourth, and fifth graders often use multiple pieces of music to address topics such as musical awareness and reading music. Students may, for example, learn about quarter and eighth notes in one song, and then work on identifying those rhythmic patterns in other songs. These more technical studies prepare students for work with recorders and, according to current PS 8 plans, band instruments in the fourth and fifth grades.
By giving students a textured foundation in music, Mr. Bloom prepares them for more intensive arts study in the later grades. Thanks to the recent expansion, Mr. Bloom sees students in all grades weekly in classroom 205.
