Music is essential to education at the Russell Byers Charter School. It is not an addition or a supplement to the critical goals of reading, writing, and math skills. Rather, it is integral to the attainment of these skills -- and to the ultimate development of confident, well-rounded young people.

Children are musical beings. They can naturally learn about language and counting through rhythm, movement, and singing. The RBSC Music Program, under the direction of Krista Yutzy-Burkey, takes advantage of this predisposition to incorporate the school’s larger curriculum into music class.

Consider, for instance, the benefits of rhythm to reading acquisition. A crucial aspect of learning to read is developing the fluidity to connect entire phrases and passages -- instead of moving haltingly from one word to the next. Activities that teach rhythm and beat, like moving to music or putting words to music, directly affect children’s ability to master reading.

Ms. Yutzy-Burkey has taken specific training to bring language and math skills into her lessons and activities. And throughout all of the activities, the RBSC Music Program is informed by the 10 National Standards for Music Education. These emphasize the importance of improvisation, composition, reading and notating music, and understanding the relationships between music and other arts and disciplines.

Examples of how this integration works are offered below.

Music and Movement
Every class starts with a Music and Movement -- or M&M -- activity in which the students follow a leaders’ rhythmic movements to the beat of a song. This activity challenges students to express themselves non-verbally, build motor skills, and develop that all-important sense of rhythm.

Song Writing
Each class writes its own song -- to the tune of "Ebeneezer Sneezer." The students begin by throwing out words and phrases they like and then voting on the final selection. The project involves many of the same components as writing compositions or keeping journals: the students are presenting a story, which they must then organize to flow and make sense. They are also gaining the experience of writing down words -- and connecting written words to speech. They will later add rhyming words and a steady beat to turn their story into a song.

Games, Songs, and Lessons
The activities of a given class can combine music with any of several disciplines to reinforce the concept being taught that week. During percussion week, for example, the students see and play several types of instruments -- from triangles and tambourines to marimbas, djembe drum, and castanets (many representing different cultures). They then play the Memory Game, which involves picture cards of each instrument. The students turn the cards over to match two pictures of the same instrument -- naming it at the same time. Older students must match the picture with the word. The game not only teaches the names of the instruments, but connects music with language.

Other cross-disciplinary opportunities include songs such as "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." The students count through the Old Lady’s many meals (eight in all -- from a fly to a horse), while using class-created drawings to identify each animal. Singing a time-honored favorite becomes part of learning art, math, and science.

Young Audiences
The Russell Byers Charter School’s music program serves not only our students but the future of the performing arts as well. Exposing children to music, theater and dance -- as both participants and audience members -- at an early age and continuously throughout their school experience stimulates a lifelong interest in the arts.

As our students develop their audience participation skills in class and on trips to the orchestra, opera, ballet, and theater, they become increasingly comfortable with the theater experience and are less likely to be intimidated by it as adults. Each of these factors works to build an appreciation for arts and culture that will ensure future audiences for all of the performing arts.