International Music

1) Gajah Mina from Tyler Yamin on Vimeo.


I'm not sure if you've heard, but our World Music Program has been stellar this trimester, with Brazilian rhythm, dance, and song teacher Stefanie Schmitz and Balinese Gamelan musician Tyler Yamin welcoming our young musicians to encounter unique instruments and traditions.

Our PTA, through the Center for World Music, has arranged for a complete Gamelan orchestra to be hosted on our campus for our students' use. As students enter they remove their shoes and take their positions. Within minutes they are creating fascinating, mesmerizing music. Examples of two Gamelan pieces are found above.



 

In the news...

Our fine school has an enormous amount of programs to offer to our students. Among these is the World Music Program, which connects our students to music practice and tradition from around the world.

Recently, The Del Mar Times printed a story about the program. It's always great to see our students in the paper!

Persian Rhythms

See here a quick glimpse into the work our Sixth-grade students have been undertaking with our guest musician of our World Music Program, Kourosh Taghavi. His non-western rhythms have challenged the kids to grow and hear the world in a different way. Lovely stuff!

World Music Begins!

     

     After a successful first year, the Del Mar Heights World Music Program will once again be bringing hands-on experience and exploration of a variety of musical traditions to our students this year. We are thrilled to offer unique opportunities to understand musical traditions while developing an awareness of musical practice and theory with our guest musicians. 

     We begin our Fall session with weekly visits from a student favorite, Señora Reyes Barrios, who will be working with traditional Spanish music and Flamenco dance. She is excited to further develop her work from last year with our young musicians. Baila! 

     With our upper grade students, we are pleased to offer a chance to work with Mr. Kourosh Taghavi, a masterful string-musician with instruments from the middle-east. His experience with children is extensive and his unique perspective will allow our students to engage with a tradition that is quite foreign to the western ear. He will be working on both hands-on experience and music fundamentals with our students. 

     As always, thanks to the PTA for providing these wonderful experiences to our students

World Music Update

There is so much happening in the art room right now. Kindergarteners are writing and illustrating a book together. First Graders just finished up Ceramic Koalas. Second Grade created amazing self-portraits using three-tone shading. Third Grade is in the middle of a realistic drawing lesson to accompany poetry, Fourth graders are exploring symbolism in their self-portrait boxes while fifth graders are putting their finishing touches on a landscape painting and printing project connected to the settlement of the American Colonies. Sixth grade has begun work on a special mural project.

But today I am most excited to see the musical sensibilities of the children grow as I visit our PTA-funded World Music Program Instructors. the exposure and experience gained in these sessions are inspiring. Students are growing awareness of culture and music concurrently.

I am pleased to announce the confirmation of our next set of instructors. Garit Imhoff will work with our young students while Mark Lamson will teach our older kids. Please read on to learn more about the musicians who will be spending time with our students in the Spring.

MARK LAMSON Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian Percussion

Mark Lamson has 7 recordings and countless performances to his credit and is highly sought after for his professionalism, experience, and expertise in playing a broad range of musical styles and assembling top-notch talent. While Mark’s repertoire includes R&B, rock, latin jazz, New Orleans brass band, funk, and hip hop, his true passion lies in fusing the popular and traditional music of Brazil and Cuba with modern American and Latin American styles. Based in San Diego, CA, Mark is the Director and lead percussionist for Sol e Mar, a dynamic Brazilian/Latin music collective which he co- founded in 1985. Sole e Mar features anywhere from 3 to 50 performers, ranging from a bossa nova jazz trio to a full drum bateria replete with Brazilian samba dancers in full Carnaval regalia. In 1994, Sol e Mar won “Best Latin Band” at the Second Annual San Diego Music Awards.

GARIT IMHOFF Zimbabwean Mbira Music

Garit Imhoff is a graduate of The California Institute of the Arts and has played in world music ensembles for the last forty-five years. He is a professional mbira performer and an all around entertainer, specializing in storytelling and movement. He is also a teacher of special theatre arts and music programs supported by The California Arts Council, National Endowment of the Arts, and local community grants. He works with special-needs students in his local school system, provides entertainment programs for seniors in skilled nursing and alzheimer facilities, and is part of a program that raises funds for arts education in developing countries. He has been a member of Zimbeat, a professional San-Diego-based Zimbabwean music ensemble, since its inception. He has studied and performed Zimbabwean music extensively both in the United States and in Zimbabwe.

World Music Winter Session

 

 

 

Our Winter session of the PTA supported World Music Program began this week with guest musicians Claudia Lyra and Nomsa Burkhardt guiding all of our students through their native music traditions as they lead classes for the next seven weeks. 

Our kindergarten through third grade students will be sharing in percussion, song, and story from South Africa with Nomsa, while our fourth through sixth grade students will be participating in rhythm and movement work with Claudia Lyra. Both instructors are experienced with children and proficient and passionate about their art. Please ask your young musician to tell you a little about their experience with our World Music Program.

Music Memory Program

 

Students in grades 4-6 engage in study of seminal compositions of music from Western tradition on a weekly basis. Using visual mapping along with music theory discussion and kinesthetic responses, students gain exposure and familiarity with great works from the last several centuries. This work with classical music serves as a balance to the Del Mar Heights World Music program in which students participate. Both programs serve to broaden young minds to understand music of different origins and take part in musical practice. 

From the Music Memory Website:


MUSIC MEMORY is a nationally-recognized curriculum designed to give the life-long gift of love for music of the Western tradition through an in-depth study of 16 selections per year. Music that you will hear the rest of your lives is carefully chosen for appropriateness from four major historical periods—Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary. Prominent composers of orchestral, vocal, choral, keyboard pieces are featured. The curriculum is presented in an aural-visual format that enhances success in recognizing the major themes and remembering the names and composers of the selections. Building on this initial learning, there are many opportunities for deepening knowledge through extension activities.

Del Mar Heights' World Music Program Begins!

Our first visiting musician, Reyes Barrios

We at Del Mar Heights embrace the things that make us unique and celebrate the diversity of our community. We appreciate that technology has made the world is an increasingly small place and that our students need to grow in awareness of global ideas and international concepts. We also seek to give children the inspiration and instruction to become expressive, creative members of their communities: classroom, school, family, city, country, and global. With this in mind we are pleased to introduce The Del Mar Heights' World Music Program.

Over the last six months members of our brave and brilliant PTA have been working with our Arts Teacher, Mr. Smith, to create an instructional structure to increase exposure, understanding, and ability with various musical traditions. Each grade level will have multiple instructional sessions with visiting musicians and dancers from various continents. Students will participate in creating and understanding music using a wide range of instruments. These instructional sessions will culminate in performances that demonstrate growth.

We begin our World Music Program with a session for Kindergarten through Third-Grade students taught by native Spanish Flamenco dancer and musician, Reyes Barrios. Flamenco dance, rhythm, and musicianship will be the instructional focus. Flamenco will be immediately appealing to our students as Reyes teaches about music and dance as she shares about Spain and its culture.

Future visiting musicians in the World Music Program will range from Indian percussionists to Peruvian Pan flutists. Teaching musicians are being selected on an ongoing basis with an effort to build both musical skill and foster global awareness.

This is an exciting time for our school! Please feel free to contact Mr. Smith if you have any questions regarding this program.