Past projects 1
Color-Ful Stories of Musicians
Funded Feb 14, 2020This classroom project was brought to life by Stahl Family Fund and 11 other donors.
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Books aren't just for library or English class. They can be a great tool to access the stories of those who have gone before us. They can help us create music and learn about the lives of great musicians. Books are a way to envision how a song would look and provide inspiration for what our lives could look like. Books in the music classroom provide many pathways of learning for students: response, creation, performance, and connection. Students can respond musically to the stories they hear. They can have conversations about how the music made them feel or what it reminded them of. They can respond with words and with movement. Students can create based on stories they hear. They are inspired by a musician who came before them and they begin to experiment with how that artist created music. They write a song inspired by the story or the person in the book. As a class they create a soundscape that tells the story with no words. Students perform stories constantly. Each song they sing, whether it is on the playground, in the lunchroom, on the school bus, or in music class they are telling stories. Their stories are important and they need to see people who look like them starring in the books we read. Students connect to the stories they hear. They quickly say, "that happened to my brother," or "my grandaddy told me about when he went to a jazz concert." Children listen and are eager to connect their lives with the people and stories that surround them.