Blake campus Lower School music teacher Jay Broeker also appreciates his young students' enthusiasm. "I get them while they're fresh," he says. "By the time they reach fourth or fifth grade, I know them and what they're capable of well."
Broeker, who's been at Blake since 1999 and has taught at both elementary school and college levels, is trained in Orff Schulwerk, or Music for Children, an approach to music education conceived by German composer Carl Orff. It's based on the belief that the easiest way to teach music is to draw out students' inherent affinities for rhythm and melody and allow these to develop in natural ways. Adult pressure and mechanical drill are discouraged. "We begin with simple rhymes or games," says Broeker, "then take the rhythm of speech and transfer that to drums or xylophones rather than teaching a pre-composed speech. As the rhythm changes, it changes how the body moves."
In fifth grade, another significant step takes place: the students start choir, the first time all 42 of them are put together. "It's a prelude to the fifth grade play," says Broeker, referring to the annual production through which students participate in the entire process of putting together a play. "They start learning that we all sink or float together. They come to understand that some people are in leadership roles, others are in supportive roles, and that everyone has something to contribute. They can drop lines or forget notes, but to see them recover and support one another is amazing."
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The affect of the individual on the group is reinforced in Middle and Upper School instrumental music classes. "Kids go through a whole school day in and out of classes as an individual," says Brian Olson, who teaches band at both the Middle and Upper Schools. "When they do math, their performance on any given lesson probably doesn't affect anyone but them. But in performing arts classes, how they're feeling on any given day and what they're willing to put into the lesson affects the outcome of the group as a whole."
Jazz Express is a prime example. "It's for Upper School students who are serious about playing jazz; they have to audition," he says. "And because the group meets at 7:30 on Friday morning, they have to like it. Jazz Express offers the chance to play in professional situations — for events, parties, things like that. We travel out of state and do one jazz festival a year. And we've recorded CDs."
Olson composes when the muse strikes him. "Every year I find an excuse to write something for the kids at school," he says. "This fall, I composed a piece for band. As I was writing it, I used it as a workshop piece with the Upper School band. I could tweak it and find out what the kids liked. They played the whole piece, which we recorded and sent to the publisher. It's another insight for students into what a composer does."
 Dan LeJeune, a choral teacher in the Middle School since 1999, is known for his work with adolescent voices. He does guest conducting for various choirs around the country, leads workshops on emerging voice, and teaches summer graduate courses at St. Thomas University. "I love taking kids from a child's voice through the stages that bring them to an emerging adult voice," he says. "The change can be dramatic. I'll have sixth grade boys leave in May as altos and return in September as baritones."
One of the notable aspects of the Middle School choirs is their structure. The sixth grade choir is limited to students in that grade. "They're acclimating to Middle School and to one another," LeJeune says. "This gives us a chance to eliminate an overwhelming piece."
That shifts in seventh and eighth grades, when choirs are combined. "Musical maturity isn't based on age," explains LeJeune. "Some seventh graders are better than eighth graders and vice versa. Combining them reduces differences, enhances abilities, and teaches them to work with people who are younger and older." That being said, single-gender choirs are available in both seventh and eighth grades. "It's becoming known that single-gender choirs are helpful in these grades," says LeJeune. "Blake has been ahead of other schools in that we've long offered this. Many schools are forced to have single-gender choirs in one grade only. Our schedule allows for both."
Regardless of grade, LeJeune takes full advantage of technology. For example, he's in his third year of recording students digitally to get samples of their singing, a tremendous asset when working with 160 voices. "I can archive samples on the computer or send them to students via e-mail," he says. "It's a way for me and them to track growth."
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More>>
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•Bulletin, February 2007
•Also in Blake Today
•From the Head of School
•From the Board of Trustees
•From Admissions
•Director's Corner
•From Advancement
•Highcroft Community Give Thanks at Celebration of Gratitude
•Profiles in Giving: The Annual Fund
•Honoring Our Past, Preparing For The Future:
The Jack Edie World Citizen Endowment Fund
•Grandparent and Special Friend Day
•Feature: Teaching The Language of Art at Blake
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