{"id":206862,"date":"2019-06-17T16:42:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T20:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/?p=206862"},"modified":"2019-09-04T10:53:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T14:53:05","slug":"john-j-cali-school-of-music-strikes-the-right-chord-with-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/2019\/06\/17\/john-j-cali-school-of-music-strikes-the-right-chord-with-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cali School of Music Strikes the Right Chord with Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Singing and dancing to the beat of West African drumming, third graders at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey, are exploring world music in a partnership with Montclair State University.<\/p>\n<p>The classes are part of the grant-funded Arts Institute that partners the University\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/\">John J. Cali School of Music<\/a>\u00a0with the South Orange-Maplewood School District. The program is supported by the Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation, which connects students in grades K-12 to quality music education.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the spring, Monika Szumski \u201916, a graduate of the Cali School, and Cesar Mejia, a current student, led the drumming experience. The elementary children play on traditional West African instruments, learning the music by ear and repetition, call and response, body percussion and movement. They groove. They move. They layer rhythms. The beat \u2013 and the fun \u2013 goes on and on.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Video: And the Beat Goes On: Montclair State Brings African Drumming to Elementary School\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OqajY5OR5Co?feature=oembed\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen style=\"width: 500px; height: 281px; border: 0px solid #000;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was magical to be able to teach that to the students at a younger age and to see them come together as a community in drumming, dancing and singing,\u201d Szumski says. \u201cOne of the biggest lessons they picked up is that everyone absorbs information differently and adds their own creative flair to the dance moves, to how they say the drum language, and how they sing along.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The artists in residence hit all the right notes in providing meaningful musical experiences. \u201cThanks to the support from the grant and our partnership with Montclair State University\u2019s John J. Cali School of Music, the residencies enriched the lives of our students and the school community,\u201d says James Manno, Supervisor of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n<p>The grant provided for clinics conducted by Cali School musicians and faculty for the orchestras and bands at the district\u2019s middle schools and Columbia High School. Those included the Arctic 5 Woodwind Quintet, the graduate quintet-in-residence at Montclair State, which performed for the high school band classes, an experience that Bands Director Peter Bauer says was especially meaningful as the teens grow in their own musical lives.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Video: Cali School of Music Strikes the Right Chord with Local High School\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AZ_K-ZQWfWs?feature=oembed\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen style=\"width: 500px; height: 281px; border: 0px solid #000;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Artic 5\u2019s energetic and engaging repertoire of classical and popular music moved students to see beyond their own struggles as they learn and practice to the rewards in the joy of playing and sharing music, Bauer says.<\/p>\n<p>At the elementary school, Szumski spent 10 weeks in the African drumming artist-in-residency. \u201cThe beautiful thing about this music is that nothing is written down \u2013 you learn everything by ear and through repetition,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, when people tell me they\u2019re \u2018not musical\u2019 or \u2018have no rhythm,\u2019 I remind them that you don\u2019t need any of those \u2018things\u2019 to be a musician, to love music, to feel music. Especially West African drumming!\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_6681_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Three third grade students playing West African drums in classroom\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_5644_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Elementary school students listening to teacher in classroom\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_5782_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Monika Szumski leads West African music circle with third graders at Seth Boyden Elementary School\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_5872_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up of elementary school student with hand on large, wood, West African instrument\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_6097_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Monika Szumski leads West African music class with third graders at Seth Boyden Elementary School\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_6157_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Classroom of third grade students dancing to the rhythm of West African instrument playing\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_6611_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up of elementary school students hands hitting West African drums\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_6927_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Third grade students dancing and playing West African drums in classroom\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"responsive-image-holder wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/responsive-media\/cache\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/053019_6401_s.jpg.4.1x.generic.jpg\" alt=\"Four third grade students smiling and dancing to West African music\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arts Institute partners Montclair State and community for music education<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":206863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206862"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207080,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206862\/revisions\/207080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}