Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom (GITC) may be based out of Southern California, but GITC programs are growing in schools and communities across the country. With fall classes in full swing, we took a moment to peek in on Franklin County, Tennessee, where GITC teacher Jonanne Hammer is leading the charge towards greater access to music for all students. Keep reading for more on her GITC “aha moment” and her goal to have at least one GITC teacher in every school in her district. GITC: How did you get started with GITC? What made you take the leap? JH: I came across GITC during a Google search looking for grants for my music classroom. It looked interesting and I sent a very generic email to the address given asking for more information, really not knowing what the organization was all about. This was a case of asking the right thing at the right time. Jess Baron was going to be close by in Nashville for the weekend and we were able to meet. She told me all about GITC and the methods used to teach guitar and ukulele. I left our meeting with two guitars, a ukulele, a bag of teaching materials, and a commitment to provide ukuleles for our summer music program! I also left with my head spinning with so many ideas of how to use this in our district's music programs, regular classrooms, and special education classes. GITC: What experience did you have with music prior to GITC? How has GITC changed your relationship to music? JH: I have been a middle school band director for going on 17 years. I play all brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments, but have never learned the guitar or ukulele -- though it has always been a goal of mine. GITC has broadened the availability of music for our school and district. Music happens outside the music room now. I now have a tool to reach non band students with music and can share that tool with other teachers in our district. GITC: Can you share an "aha moment" or successful experience incorporating music into the classroom? JH: GITC is still very new to me and our district. Our sixth grade science class was learning about energy earlier this school year. I used our ukuleles generously donated through GITC to lead the students in writing a song about the different types of energy. They learned and performed the song, then made a video. The science teacher said the experience was the most fun she has ever had teaching, and the students performed well on their assessment. The classroom environment remained very positive and the students stayed engaged throughout the entire process. We are a Title 1 school and some of our students do not have a lot of joy at home. To see them finding joy in learning through music is very satisfying as a teacher. GITC: What results are you seeing with students and/or other teachers? JH: Other teachers are becoming more interested in what we are doing. We are just now doing our first Beginner Course for teachers. Some of them are already stepping outside of their comfort zone and incorporating music into their classrooms! The students think they are rock stars! GITC: What's on the horizon for you? Any upcoming music education goals? JH: I am hoping to offer the Intermediate Course next and to enroll more classroom teachers into another Beginner Course. My goal is to have at least one teacher from each school in our district using GITC in their classroom and to empower them to lead other teachers in their school to become involved. As a trained music educator, I know the benefits playing music has on a student’s brain, as well as the transforming power of music. Now, for the first time in our school district, classroom teachers can experience this as well. GITC: If you had to capture GITC in one word, what would that word be? JH: Accessible. GITC is making music accessible for students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in the music making process. GTIC is providing access for teachers who may not otherwise be involved in music, especially in their classroom. GITC: Anything else you'd like to add? JH: Sometimes things happen around us and we know that it is just meant to be. That describes my experience becoming involved with Jess and GITC. This has very much been about being in the right place at the right time. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of GITC and their supporters and the difference it is making in our school district.
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Happy October, Music Friends! As the scary holidays are upon us, we have a great chance right now to boost student social emotional learning and emotional IQ by helping them give a creative voice to feelings that come up when they think about monsters, ghosts and ghouls! Fun classroom songwriting with students gives them this opportunity to articulate, share and laugh together about it all. It also give teachers a chance to encourage students to write expressively, expand their vocabularies, and memorize new lyrics to build auditory memory. Great stuff! Studies show that when children can articulate their feelings with strong simple words like scary or scared, they can get a handle on them. They can even learn to laugh about them together. To accomplish this, we worked with teachers in San Diego Unified to rewrite the old camp song, "The Ants Go Marching" into something little ones can sing- and add lyrics to- while getting ready for Halloween. I recommend you sing it yourself right now, then add a monster or character of your own choosing in place of ours. Next, substitute a verb that describes the way that monster moves. Now you have the secret of "Substitution Songwriting." Word substitution is a skill that children are learning in the early grades to build word sense as pre-readers so this song does double duty for social emotional growth and literacy learning! This week in GITC classrooms, children will have fun naming their fears and singing about how to make the monsters go away- with candy! Congrats to the creative teachers who have added more verses about witches, dragons, bad guys and so much more! And thank you so very much for your ongoing support of this project! Here are our two best songs for getting rid of mosters with a laugh. Wishing you a happy and funny Halloween! The Monsters Are Shuffling to the tune of "The Ants Go Marching One by One" © 2018 GITC Teachers at Hearst Elementary GITC CHORUS: Am C The monsters are shuffling to the door, Oh no! Oh no! Am C The monsters are shuffling to the door, Oh no! Oh no! Am G7 The monsters are shuffling to the door Am G7 We don’t want to see them anymore Am So we give them candy and tell them to go away! Yay! 1. The zombies are dragging to the door, oh no! Oh no! The zombies are dragging to the door, oh no! Oh no! The zombies are dragging to the door We don’t want to see them anymore So we give them candy and tell them to go away! Yay! 2. The ghosts are drifting to the door, oh no! Oh no! The ghosts are drifting to the door, oh no! Oh no! The ghosts are drifting to the door We don’t want to see them anymore So we give them candy and tell them to go away! What Can We Do with a Hundred Monsters" to the tune of "What Do We Do With a Drunken Sailor?" Composed by the Foussat Strumming Amigas for GITC Michelle Dominguez, Felicia Ayala, and Kristin Albright and Jess Baron Strum: Down Strum First singing note: 1st string fingered in the 2nd fret Ask your students what THEY would do with 100 monsters and make a verse for each good idea! Extend the activity by illustrating the verses. CHORUS: Am What can we do with a hundred monsters? G What can we do with a hundred monsters? Am What can we do with a hundred monsters? G Am Happy Hallo-ween! Am 1. Tie them all together with a licorice whip! Am Tie them all together with a licorice whip! G Tie them all together with a licorice whip! Am Tie them all together with a licorice whip! G Am Happy Hallo-ween! Am 2. Stick them together with Laffy Taffy G Stick them together with Laffy Taffy Am Stick them together with Laffy Taffy G Am Happy Hallo-ween! 3. Am Fill their shoes with melting chocolate G Fill their shoes with melting chocolate Am Fill their shoes with melting chocolate G Am Happy Hallo-ween! 4. Wrap them up in Foot-long Fruit Rolls, etc. 5. Stick them to the sidewalk with Double Bubble, etc. 6. Help your students make the next 5 verses up about the monsters they want to overcome! Happy Halloween, GITC Friends! Felicia Fis is a beacon of kindness, compassion and creativity in her work with Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom and as a school psychologist in San Diego Unified. This summer, Felicia presented a deeply moving and effective workshop to participants in our teacher retreat in Julian, called "Taking in the Good." Wherever she is- with children, colleagues or GITC community members- her knowledge, her beautiful spirit, her voice and her comfort on guitar are pure inspiration! Felicia is now helping other GITC teachers and specialists understand how music can become a force for teaching calm and self-regulation in all classrooms. Specific behavioral strategies were once primarily in the domain of special education, but now all classrooms are embracing students with a variety of educational and social emotional challenges as part of a more inclusive approach. That means general classroom teachers want to learn exactly what Felicia teaches. “There are so many opportunities for students to feel overwhelmed in an inclusive classroom,” remarks Jess Baron, GITC Executive Director. “Waiting, going through transitions between activities, coping with overwhelming sound and visual stimuli, mediating conflicts with peers- any of these experiences can trigger students to become overwhelmed, frustrated, or even angry. Learning to work through those feelings in a classroom setting is a big job. And making music with students provides a very positive, natural medium for developing a wide range of self-regulation self-soothing strategies." Felicia agrees. She believes that every student has the potential to participate successfully in music. “One misconception about children with disabilities and social-emotional issues is that they don’t like sensory experiences -- when the truth is, they seek them out,” she explains. “If they are playing instruments and making the sounds, it is not dis-regulating. Instead, it regulates them because it’s tactile, visual, and auditory all at the same time.” As a school psychologist at Valencia Park and Paradise Hills elementary schools, Felicia works with many kids with physical challenges, social-emotional issues, and behavioral issues. Her room is full of instruments, and she has seen first-hand the incredible impact that playing them has on her students. “One student had significant behavioral challenges but he wanted to play guitar. Being able to come to my room and play guitar became a huge incentive for good behavior, and it had a ripple effect. Other kids started asking to play,” explains Felicia. In June, she attended GITC’s 2-day conference in AMAISE (Adapted Music for Achievement in Inclusion and Special Education), an experience she found to be both empowering and inspiring. The conference included hands-on adapted instrument training on drums, ukulele, guitar, and Beamz interactive music system, as well as instruction on how to write lyrics for learning and social-emotional development. “The songwriting piece is amazing,” Felicia explains. “Students with special needs feel SO proud when they write a song. They have utilized their strengths, their creativity and their expressive language to create something valuable. You can see immediately that their confidence has been boosted.” Felicia describes her work with GITC as “satisfying and fulfilling.” She hopes that more teachers will join the movement and they are -- because she’s recruiting them in droves! She is also witnessing students who didn’t want to go to school now feeling excited to attend because music is a part of their day. “Music and art are important. They open parts of people’s brains that other things don’t,” she says. “I’m always trying to figure out new ways to bridge music and learning.” BETTER LEARNING THROUGH MUSIC:
Guitars in the Classroom Receives Grant from The NAMM Foundation San Diego, CA – September 17, 2019 — Do you hear the sound of happy strummers and singers in schools around the U.S.? Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom (GITC) has once again been named a grant recipient of The NAMM Foundation. “It is because of this special foundation, their support and guidance of grantees, that we got our lift off and have been able to improve and grow our work so steadily over the past 13 years,” says GITC founder and Executive Director, Jess Baron. GITC is a19 year-old educational non-profit that trains, equips and empowers teachers and school staff to integrate academic and social learning with hands on music and student songwriting across the curriculum. The organization was selected as one of 28 music-making organizations to receive a grant to fund vital programs that provide access to music-making opportunities across a variety of different communities and demographics. “Through the transformative work of these organizations, thousands of people will discover or advance their love and desires for making music,” said Mary Luehrsen, Executive Director of The NAMM Foundation. “And these projects also advance new music learning experiences and capacity – all essential for creating more music makers.” The grants serve to underscore the Foundation’s mission to advance participation in music making and offer quality access to all people. As one of 28 recipients, Guitars and Ukes in the Classroom will utilize The NAMM Foundation’s support to fund Adaptive Music for Achievement in Inclusion and Special Education (AMAISE) training, after school professional development courses for teachers, classroom teaching artist residencies, and music educator workshops in integrating ukulele and guitar instruction in general music programs. Jess Baron explains the significance of this grant with long-term perspective: “When we started our work in 2000, the idea of teaching academic subjects through the power of music was considered a revolutionary concept. There was no research to support the assertion that students could make significant linguistic, cognitive, emotional or academic gains through the integration of hands-on music with standards-based instruction across the curriculum. Now studies connecting music education with these positive outcomes are pouring in! But in the beginning, the idea of training teachers with scant musical experience to lead this integration in their own classrooms raised many eyebrows. Despite this, NAMM saw the potential to create more musical access for children during their most formative years. They believed in our mission and offered to help. Fast forward to 2019 and 14,000 GITC-trained teachers later, strategic songs and student songwriting with guitars and ukuleles are playing a significant role in learning across the curriculum. The NAMM Foundation has helped GITC design and build a complementary, mutually beneficial relationship between Music Integration and Music Education in our GITC-participating schools. We are so grateful for this grant to support more GITC professional development and teaching artists residencies, which will bring hands-on musical learning to Literacy and Learning for 120,000 elementary students in 2019-2020.” Since its inception in 1994, The NAMM Foundation’s annual grant program has donated more than $18 million in support to domestic and international music education programs, scientific research, advocacy and public service programs related to music-making. The grants are funded in part by donations from the National Association of Music Merchants and its 10,400 member companies worldwide. About Guitars in the Classroom Guitars in the Classroom is a 19 year-old educational non-profit organization dedicated to creating access to musical learning for all students. Our work strives to improve the quality of teaching and learning through the power of song education through the provision of ongoing musical training, coaching and resources for educators. We train, supply and empower teachers who wish to lead and integrate hands-on music with lessons in English language arts, math, science, social studies and more. Our work promotes student engagement and achievement, teacher effectiveness, and it nurtures 21st Century Learning Skills through collaborative music making and student songwriting for learning. About The NAMM Foundation The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit organization funded in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its 10,400 members. The Foundation’s mission is to advance active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs. For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org. Here is a good start to sharing some magic moments from our recent experiences making music and deepening friendships up at camp this month! More to come... thanks to our photographers Abby Dorsey, Gingerlily Lowe and various friends! Please check back soon more more pictures.
It's Sunday afternoon and we just completed our first AMASE Conference that was supported by three incredible foundation sponsors, including the Nordson Foundation, Qualcomm Charity and the National Endowment for the Arts! AMASE stands for Adaptive Music for Achievement in Special Education. Special educators, staff members, therapeutic specialists and teachers in mainstreamed general ed joined together for two days to learn to play, share and adapt music making for their students. They learned to play drums and percussion, led adaptive drum circles, and incorporated movement with hand percussion. They learned to play ukelele and guitar, sing, teach and lead songs for learning. They composed and co-wrote original lyrics for teaching Social Emotional Learning, classroom rules and academic content, and well, so much more! We will be sharing a whole blog and telling you more about the people in these photos very soon. But for now, we are SHOUTING OUT CONGRATULATIONS to these phenomenal educators and therapists!
We are immensely grateful to the San Diego County Office of Education Special Services team as well as the San Diego Unified Special Education leadership for being open to our unusual approach to making music accessible in special education. Thanks, Cara Schukoske, and Andrea Vinson (right) for taking creative steps to supporting special educators and encouraging your faculties and staff members to bring music into their classrooms so EVERY student can benefit from learning to make music! #nationalendowmentforthearts, #SDUSD, #SDCOE
Through GITC sponsor, Saga Musical Instruments, Judy ordered 24 soprano ukuleles for her classroom. Our Tuning Archangel, Rodney Howard got them ready and we personally delivered them to the school to make sure everything arrived timely. Judy wrote to GITC from her hospital bed, explaining what was going on. She worried that because of her health crisis, her kiddos had not learned to play despite the ukes being in a big box in their classroom. "I'm not sure who will be taking over my room, but I think they will begin on Monday, " she explained. " I made a promise to those kids to learn the ukulele and if you can help me out, well wonderful. Marissa Ramirez is the other first grade teacher who is my partner in crime. I have my own little uke and guitar here that cheer me up. I am so grateful for everyone's kindness." We promised Judy that we would find a way to fund two weekly first grade teaching artist residencies in order that her promise to the children be fulfilled and her dream realized. Thankfully, this came to pass when international online ukulele teacher Terry Carter, CEO of Uke Like the Pros contacted GITC and offered to raise money at the winter holidays by challenging his students to match him dollar for dollar in supporting music for children in Title 1 schools. Everyone chipped in raising just enough to send GITC Teaching Artist. Jefferson Jay to bring joy and learning to Judy's and Melissa's kids. Jefferson is one of the most convivial people you'd ever want to meet and he was up for the assignment. GITC is grateful to the VAPA Foundation for their generous, ongoing support of teachers who voluntarily take our music integration courses. We are thankful for Saga Musical Instruments for making ukes so affordable for GITC teachers! Thanks those organizations and to Judy Johnson, Terry Carter, Terry's students, and Jefferson Jay, between January and April, teachers and students in both first grades learned how to strum, sing, and write their own songs for learning! Now Judy's love will live on every time a new first grader comes into their classroom at the beginning of the year and finds out that going to school at Johnson means learning through the power of song and the joy of making music. GITC's Summer Teacher Retreat Teachers, Paras, Specialists and Friends! We are planning our 4th Annual GITC Teacher Retreat and wonder if you'd like to join us!? We'll be heading up to Julian, CA at Camp Cedar Glen once again. This spacious spot in the woods and mountain air is easily accessible, disability friendly, and so comfortable. Coming to the retreat gives educators time to unwind, bond with friends, deepen your musical knowledge, expand your skills and double your confidence as a song leader! This three-day GITC experience will help them accomplish their musical goals while they renew their spirits and rest their bodies among friends in a beautiful place and all for a tiny price! Located only two miles away from Julian Town Hall, Camp Cedar Glen offers a relaxed and social atmosphere where families and visitors all find welcome and a variety of affordable accommodations and amenities. HERE IS OUR PRE-RETREAT SURVEY for anyone planning to join us. It will help you request special sleeping arrangements (as much as we can manage in cabins :-) and give us dietary restrictions, too. Official Registration is OPEN! This link let's you pay for camp. Retreat Dates: August 1 – 4, 2019 Arrival August 1st - Thursday - dinner (arrival at 4 PM or after) August 2nd - breakfast, lunch and dinner August 3rd - breakfast, lunch and dinner Departure August 4th - Sunday - breakfast & lunch (departure at 2 PM) REGISTER by CLICKING HERE! Holy ukulele! The students and teachers from Jefferson Elementary really rocked their GITC culminating performance at the Observatory North Park! The lights were bright, but the smiles were brighter! Special thanks to Teaching Artist Jefferson Jay for coordinating a wonderful year of learning and a dynamic end-of-the-year showcase. We are most grateful to San Diego Unified School District's VAPA Department and our Superintendent, Cindy Marten for supporting Arts Integration in our Title 1 schools. Jefferson Elementary received their teaching artist residencies through VAPA's Learning through the Arts program. We have had an incredible four years serving in this advanced initiative! Please enjoy some photos from the Jefferson Elementary final performance here! Please enjoy photos from our students' final performances at Paradise Hills Elementary here!
What is Adaptive Music all about and what makes it so "AMASE-ing?" For most of us, learning to make music is a complex process that involves putting a myriad of motor skills, small and large to work. Our arms, hands and fingers, our legs, feet and toes, our ears, eyes and mouths, our hearts, our lungs, our heads, necks and torsos, and all that gray matter that connects the musical and physical dots for us are involved. We are all born with musical potential, no matter what our bodies and brains can or cannot do with ease. But what happens to children if some part of their anatomical tool box doesn't exist or doesn't work very well? Can a person with limiting conditions develop alternate ways to approach making music? The answer, of course, is "Yes, they can, and they must be given that chance." Not only can all students learn to enjoy making music, but those who face major challenges physically, cognitively or emotionally stand to gain a great deal by having this opportunity. Think of superstars like the irreducible Django Reinhardt, Stevie Wonder, Evelyn Glennie or Rick Allen of Def Lepard to get a glimpse of what is possible. There are so many musicians who have not let impairments stand in their way. So what can we do for our students who spend every day isolated from regular music instruction opportunities? We can break down the barrier to making music by training the adults who teach and assist students with special needs to lead the way. This approach is still new and the teachers and paras who are already participating are already successfully leading music every single day! AMASE Conferences last two days. During this time, special education professionals gather together to learn and to improvise exciting ways to create inclusive, effective music instruction. We share adaptive practices and techniques for making instruments more accessible for students. Trainers in innovative technologies participate as do local music therapists who teach specialized interventions such as the artful de-escalation of aggressive behavior and refocusing students away from stressful triggers and toward productive participation. GITC is able to offer these trainings to 45 participants each time and to do this at no charge thanks to very important grants from the Nordson Foundation, the Qualcomm Foundation, the NAMM Foundation, and with charitable participation from generous music products sponsors and amase-ing individual donors! We are deeply thankful to each and all for this compassionate support. At GITC, we know AMASE has to offer a broad array of musical opportunities so that we can include students regardless of what kind of mountain they might be climbing. Ukuleles are fantastic but so are drums! We are crazy about REMO's Comfort Sound Technology drums created for students with special needs and hypersensitive hearing. So is the Beamz Interactive Unit!
Paralysis might look like a barrier but it need not be. With eye gaze technology, eye movements are enough to trigger musical instruments that work with computers. Spastic muscles might make it hard for students with Cerebral Palsy to strum strings or strike drums, but adaptive grips. picks and mallets solve that. The variety of approaches to making music accessible is pretty good now and will only grow with time and exploration. We want to make sure these approaches reach the kids who can benefit from them the most. This is why, through AMASE, we are "gathering the tribe" - calling all sorts of innovators together to join us in training special educators and paraprofessional staffers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, counselors and others to bring music making to students with special needs. Are you hearing the call? Please reach out to us. Let us know. It takes quite a large village to make this endeavor possible! To discuss ways to get involved, please drop us a line! And to see when our next AMASE Conference is taking place, please visit our PROGRAMS PAGE. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for learning about AMASE. |
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