Arts Learning Grant
Arts Learning Grant
Peer Gynt in the Classroom! How Music and Stories Make Us Who We Are.
Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist, Cultural Programming Coordinator at American Indian Community Housing Organization; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, and former Children's Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artists, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Kayla Aubid: Native American craft artist, writer, employee at MacRostie Art Center; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; Ron Piercy: jeweler, gallery owner; Emily Swanson: arts administrator at Oldenburg Arts and Cultural Community; Christina Nohre: writer and arts advocate.
Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Tammy Mattonen: visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Ariana Daniel: mixed media artist, arts instructor; Kathy Neff: musician, Director, Fine Arts Academy at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Amy Varsek: Education Director, Duluth Art Institute; Kendra Carlson: writing and theater instructor, University of Minnesota Duluth; David Marty: former director of the Reif Performing Arts Center, Grand Rapids.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
The goal of this project is to introduce elementary school students to the concept of oral history through classical music and storytelling, by way of an exciting lesson plan developed by a retired teacher. Students will come away from the lesson with the understanding of music and language as tools for cultural preservation, and how stories and music contribute to who they are. They will take away an appreciation that their pasts and the pasts of their families can and have shaped the history of the world around them. They will learn to identify the transition an oral story makes, and the power of the shared spoken word when accompanied by music. Students will interact with teacher and musicians to understand that oral histories are everywhere in their lives, and that many are very musical. Each student will write a paragraph long personal history which they will be encouraged to share with their class. Each student who wishes to share will stage their story with the help of improvised sounds from the MSO musicians. This activity will clearly expose the powerful relationship between spoken words and musical sounds. The project director will collect each class' stories to be displayed at the April 27, 2019 "Fables and Folklore" concert, so as to further the sharing of local history and stories with others in their geographic region.
The goal of this project was to introduce students to the concept of oral history through classical music and storytelling, by way of an exciting lesson plan developed by a retired teacher. We wanted students to: ? understand music and language as tools for cultural preservation, and how stories and music contribute to who they are. ? appreciate that their pasts and the pasts of their families can and have shaped the history of the world around them. ? identify the transition an oral story makes, and the power of the shared spoken word when accompanied by music. Achievement of these outcomes was determined by drawings or brief personal stories written by the students, and by their interactions with the teacher and musicians. We also collected verbal feedback from the classroom teachers. We believe these short range objectives were achieved.