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Appendix
Numerous studies show that there is a close correlation between musical education and development of intelligence. Nevertheless, music studies are crowded out of school curricula, creating a situation in which the average student and teacher are exposed only to music as entertainment – the music that accompanies news, current events, and entertainment programs in the electronic media. There are some attempts to teach children to play instruments, but they are generally conducted without a method or a multi-year framework, and fail due to a lack of appreciation on the part of parents, school management, students, and because of discipline problems. In addition, most of the methods employed are conservative and offer very poor compensation for instructors.
Music teachers – usually possessing in-depth musical training – do not make the most of their professional potential because they lack the conditions to do so.
The Education Ministry's curricula stresses music appreciation. The premise of the Havrutav program is that playing an instrument is the best way to train a student to become a critical listener.
Teachers and principals feel that from year to year students' attention capacities deteriorate. Children express a desire for immediate solutions and show contempt for process.
In the field of literature and Hebrew Poetry there are few educational practices that stress creativity, the experience of creating through language, understanding texts, and dramatic and musical reading of texts.
B. The program's uniqueness
B.1 Interdisciplinary instruction of Music and Hebrew Poetry
Beyond the self-evident and natural connection between poetry and music, a connection usually manifested in the adaptation of music to text, both knowledge-areas are characterized by essential elements of the educational process:
Both music and Hebrew poetry have ties to the past, to authority and to tradition and have the ability to arouse a sense of respect and awe for humanity's cultural and spiritual accomplishments.
The fields complement each other in respect to human development:
Music develops the individual's emotions and capacities and provides her or him with tools for developing a universal cultural orientation and form of expression.
The study of Hebrew poetry develops a sense of identity and belonging and provides tools for orientation and expression in the particular idiom of Israeli and Jewish culture.
Within both areas, the ability to search and find expressive patterns are developed. Both areas can reinforce each other pedagogically: topics such as emotions, landscapes, structure, etc. contribute to learning how to play an instrument expressively and also help students connect personally to texts.
B.2 Emphases and professional musical innovations
1. Children are taught to play together from the very beginning and this principle is accorded central value.
2. The goal is the musical experience, the process, and teamwork. Emphasis is given to musicality, listening, sound and flow. The student will become acquainted with harmony through his or her fingertips and only later will learn how to observe and analyze it.
3. Teaching rhythm – language and body movements are used as pedagogical tools.
4. Teaching piano in threes – i.e. by seating three children next to each other, and dividing the keyboard among them, they all listen to each other, play together and rotate positions.
5. The mode of instruction is inspired by the qualities familiar from master classes –the use of metaphors and the emphasis on the relevance of artistic creation for everyday life.
B.3 Emphases and innovations in the instruction of poetry.
- Emphasis will be given to the musical elements of language: rhyming, alliteration, prosody, etc.
- The students will become acquainted with poetry not only as a written text, but as dramatic material that can be read in a variety of ways – vocally and visually.
- Students will write and delight in verbal creativity: rhyming games, synonyms and artistic writing.
- Students will be encouraged to connect and share feelings that arise through their exposure to poetry and the themes addressed by the poems.
- Students will experience writing poetry as a tool for self expression, which anyone at any age can use.
C. The role of the home-room teacher and the music instructor
Most music education programs that include a component of learning how to play and instrument do not significantly involve the music-appreciation teacher. This sometimes results in unhealthy competition between the different teachers, and more seriously, in conveying a fallacious educational message as if "music" and "playing music" are two different things. The music appreciation teacher can significantly contribute to children that are learning an instrument and assist the instructors who are providing practical music instruction. Indeed, learning to play an instrument contributes to music appreciation and to achieving the overall goals of general music instruction.
The home-room teacher has a significant influence on students, on the atmosphere in the classroom and on the attitude to the different topics studied at school. If the home-room teacher is a partner to the program, teaches content related to the world of sound and contributes her own pedagogical insights, everyone benefits in the end. The program can also contribute to the home-room teacher by exposing her to an additional facet of the children's abilities, and by using music to improve the atmosphere in the classroom. Music studies can beneficially affect levels of attention, concentration and mental application in the classroom.
D. Social and community implications
When music and poetry (and other artistic fields) are studied early on, in the lower grades of elementary school, and are approached seriously by heavily-invested, sensitive and skilled teachers, this creates opportunities for children from severely disadvantaged backgrounds to discover their potential. Such a discovery reduces feelings of inferiority and increases the child's capacity to trust his or her own ability and appreciate him- or herself. A child who receives reinforcement of his or her own sense of capability will be able to open him- or herself up to additional areas of knowledge and will be less discouraged by technical challenges or cultural gaps that might have a deterring effect. The program thus has the potential to contribute across the board to the child's educational experience.
Moreover, a child from a disadvantaged background's chances to receive exposure to music and poetry within his or her home environment is low, and therefore implementation of the program can provide equal opportunities to children from various social and economic backgrounds.
The unique combination of the study of music together with poetry allows students who are scholastically challenged to build up a new and alternative array of tools for comprehension, different from those previously acquired in school:
Research shows that that the prosodic elements of language assist weak readers in the comprehension and retention of verbal texts, because these elements "organize" single words into a patterned and meaningful framework. In addition, small work groups and the program facilitators' strong conviction that each child has within her the potential for creativity, and for the experience and comprehension of culture, will open up a new space for the child to discover herself and be expressive.
E. Connection with parents
The program is premised on the assumption that a child receives his or her most significant educational influences at home, from his or her parents. In an ideally implemented model the program will include three meetings with parents throughout the year:
In the beginning of the year: the meeting will be devoted to presenting the program, its aspirations and requirements and to listen to the parents' expectations.
In the middle of the year: updating the parents about progress and establishing interim goals for the children (a concert for the parents).
At the end of the year: presenting results and receiving feedback.
These meetings will include recitals by students, teachers, and any musicians among the parents.
The goal is to create a music-loving community, in which children, teachers, and parents are all members.
