The music program here is funded by donations received from the parents and supporters of The Gillen Brewer School. Over the years, those funds have helped purchase enough drums so that every student can have their own individual instrument to play at the same time with their peers. Here you see the Dragons participating in a drumming activity in which each student gets a turn to play every drum in the room and to be the leader of the group. The leader is in charge of alternating between tapping rhythms and drum rolls - or a"rumble" that may suddenly stop - as signified by the leader placing hands on their head. This helps build and evaluate musical skills that you may read about in your child's mid-year report, such as: following a conductor, awareness of dynamics, volume, timbre, rhythm duplication, sense of beat, and eye hand coordination. Also, activities like these support the basic tenets of our program: "Be ready, responsible, respectful, and safe." Thanks everybody for your continued support. (Please excuse the quality of some of the photos, as they reflect the fast movement when attempting to capture the moment). This week we sang and acted out an old song that relates to this time of year when everybody is getting sick. I had them walk a mile in a caregiver's shoes by seeing what it was like when your child is sick (as mine was all last week). Wash your hands everybody and stay well. Here are the lyrics in case you want to pretend at home:
Lyrics: Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick. So she called for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick. The doctor came with his bag and his hat And he knocked on the door with a rat-a-tat-tat. He looked at the dolly and he shook his head And he said “Miss Polly, put her straight to bed!” He wrote on a paper for some pills, pills, pills “I’ll be back in the morning with my bill, bill, bill.” Today, the Butterflies and Ladybugs took a field trip to Daniel's Music Foundation. It was a complimentary trip sponsored by The Scott Hazelton Foundation (See below). We danced, played drums, guitar, piano, conducted, and some of us even sang on the microphone. It's a great neighborhood resource (15 minute bus ride away for us) if you are ever looking for some indoor fun on the weekends or for a place to have a birthday party.
About Scott Hazelcorn Children’s Foundation: The Scott Hazelcorn Children’s Foundation has generously provided a grant to Daniel’s Music Foundation to support one complimentary field trip to 28 different special education schools in NYC serving children with developmental and physical disabilities. The Foundation was created in memory of Scott Hazelcorn, who was tragically killed in the events of 9/11. His unique spirit for life and laughter was infectious, and touched everyone with whom he came in contact. Scott had a special love for children and talked about ultimately living a life where he could help to both educate and bring joy into their lives. The Foundation is dedicated to sponsoring programs that benefit all children in need and his legacy lives on in the joy he continues to bring to children, through the Foundation that now bears his name. Daniel’s Music Foundation (DMF) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 that provides music programs for individuals with developmental and physical disabilities ages 3 to adult in the NYC area. Our mission is to provide a comfortable, educational and social environment in which our members can enjoy, learn, and practice the joy of music together. But we are much more than that - we are a community that opens doors to acceptance, respect, confidence, well-being and joy. Our new, state-of-the-art music center in East Harlem is where we call home, allowing us to serve more people and change even more lives through music. Exciting Features:
Most importantly, at DMF we use the transformative power of music as the instrument to unite individuals with disabilities, regardless of their challenges - by doing so we have created a community like no other. For more information about our organization and programs please contact us at 212.289.8912 or visit us online at www.danielsmusic.org. Sometimes, therapists "push in" to music classes - since we are probably working on something related to their field everyday here in the music room - speech, social, or fine/gross motor skills. I can choose songs or activities to help isolate a skill that needs to be worked on either with the individual or group. Here you can see some Bumblebees and Ducklings work on finger isolation with one of our Occupational Therapists, Sarah Leventhal, while playing the piano. Finger isolation is the ability to move each finger one at a time and is important for the development of fine motor skills. Thanks Sarah. |
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September 2018
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