The Arts Are Alive!

The arts are for all children. BYU faculty from the music, dance, visual arts, and theatre and media arts programs work closely with the McKay School of Education and the BYU-—Public School Partnership to provide teachers and prospective teachers with opportunities to improve arts education for all children in public schools. This section describes several creative programs.

Music

Side-by-Side Teaching

BYU music student Valerie Witt wanted more hands-on classroom teaching experiences with music. Classroom teacher Sharee Burton wanted to learn more about teaching music in her first grade class. They have found a productive partnership in which Witt is sharing music strategies with the children and Burton is helping Witt learn classroom management skills.

The children are developing singing skills and learning concepts about rhythm and pitch. They are also learning to read symbols for music, create their own songs, and write their own musical scores. Together the student musician and classroom teacher are exploring ways in which music can contribute to language development. They have decided to create and produce an opera this spring. Susan Kenney, a BYU music education professor, serves as a mentor to Valerie Witt, meeting with her once a week to guide her in the teaching experience and to provide lesson plans with additional music experiences. Kenney continues participating in the public schools to stay current with the reality of the classroom. Sharee Burton observes and participates as Witt teaches, helps with any management issues that may arise, and models ways to support the children’s development as they learn appropriate ways to work together in music activities.

This team approach has been effective for a number of teams of BYU music education students and classroom teachers. The children are getting in-depth sequential music instruction, the classroom teacher is receiving in-service music training in her classroom, and the music student is gaining valuable classroom practice.

Consistent Professional Music Instruction for All

When Jerry Jaccard joined the BYU music education faculty in 1993, he brought with him a vision of making consistent professional music instruction available to all children. He soon discovered that several Provo School District administrators shared a similar vision and were willing to work toward fulfilling it. As volunteers, Jaccard and his students helped Provo hire specialists who were able to integrate full-time music instruction into the schools. They also provided curriculum, supervision, and staff in-service. Jaccard himself co-conducted two choirs and band classes. His work continues, and today he has several specialists working with him to coordinate the program, orient specialists who are new to the district, and supervise practicing teachers. He also arranges for peer observation and coaching opportunities to be provided throughout the year.

Provo K–5 elementary children now receive lessons in singing and musicianship taught by a music specialist twice a week. The district is in the process of standardizing the schedule and curriculum through grade 6. Each school has an elective choir for the upper grades with curriculum and pedagogy correlated to and coordinated with the Jaccard musicianship curriculum. Each spring the district holds an elementary band and choir festival. A pilot program has recently been completed, adding a string program.

Theatre

The Young Company

The Young Company is a BYU theatre outreach program that takes a production to the public schools each semester. In the summer, BYU students audition for and rehearse a Shakespeare play so they can be ready for public school presentations during the fall semester. Auditions and rehearsal begin for the winter semester play during the fall. Each troupe of about 10 BYU students typically performs for 35 to 40 schools, bringing the play to a total of 15,000 to 25,000 students a semester.

Shakespeare Play

The Young Company Shakespeare Program began as a student club. Although members were apprehensive about the ability of young elementary children to understand and connect with the Shakespearean language and plots, they found that students as young as second and third grade have an innate ability to appreciate the sounds and cadences of the poetic language. “Children have loved engaging in the plots, complex characters, and comedy and tragedy of the work of the Bard,” said Christopher Clark, director of last semester’s play.

After each performance and interactive talk-back session, selected members of the troupe return within the week for an acting session or interesting lecture on Shakespeare. The play also has a week’s run open to the public at the BYU Nelke Theatre.

Teaching Artists

During the 2008 winter semester the Young Company Teaching Artists (TAs) spent two full days a week traveling up and down the Wasatch Front visiting elementary schools and performing the company’s touring show, Jungle Book, which deals with the social issue of bullying. After the main presentation, the TAs worked with small groups of 25 students, using theatre activities to identify bullying within the play and within students’ lives. Jungle Book was also presented in the BYU Nelke Theatre. This year’s play was directed by Allison Belnap.

Media Arts

Hands-on-a-Camera Project

BYU media arts students gain valuable teaching experience as they work with faculty to help local students in elementary and secondary schools learn basic media literacy and critiquing skills. They also provide these students with a hands-on experience of creating their own documentaries. After hours of preparation, BYU students spend two hours a day for 14 weeks working with public school students to create a 1 to 3–minute digitally realized documentary project that demonstrates what they all have learned. Parents, teachers, and students are invited to view the final project.

Media Education Database

The Media Education Database Web site is an initiative to improve media education in schools and in families by providing quality lesson materials designed to teach K–12 students about the media. It is located at http://medb.byu.edu.

The curriculum is committed to forming significant bridges between the academic world and its surrounding community. Within the database, the curriculum is designed with the following goals:

• Develop tools to critically analyze films and enjoy them on a more complex level
• Gain a deeper understanding of the cultural and historical roots of the movie industry
• Learn how film is simultaneously a reflection of and influence on societal values
• Gain exposure to a variety of films from different time periods, countries, and genres that students wouldn’t normally see

Theatre Education Database

The Theatre Education Database provides curriculum ideas for theatre education students as well as theatre educators in secondary schools. It can be found at http://tedb.byu.edu.

Dance

Connecting with Kinnect

BYU students who love to dance and to teach enjoy working with Kinnect, an outreach performance dance company that gives them opportunities to develop skills in creating, performing, and teaching as they interact with elementary and middle school students. Founded in 2002, Kinnect has performed for and taught more than 10,000 children. Its goal is to enhance the school’s core curriculum-based dance education by providing instructive dance experiences for students and faculty.

Through this outreach program, which is under the direction of Marilyn Berrett, undergraduates have an opportunity for teaching experiences under the supervision of a master teacher before they begin teaching professionally. Each year they work around a theme, such as Dance Is Diverse or Dreams. Kinnect’s members not only want to share their love of dance but also want to teach students how to move and to provide them with an outlet to express their ideas, creativity, and individuality. Each school is a unique experience for the BYU students because of the variety in the classrooms and the individuality of the children in each class.

Kinnect members have learned the value of preparation and classroom management.

Visual Arts