"The whole point of our program is that they're active musicians after one lesson," O'Flynn says. "Hopefully, they can sing the song, accompany themselves and move to the music."

The difference is that O'Flynn isn't preparing her charges for a career on the stage. Her job is to integrate music into the core curriculum of the district's fourth through sixth-grade classes, so students learn music history and theory within the context of their social studies or language arts coursework. This means that if O'Flynn were to teach the words and music to "Edelweiss," she'd also let her class know why the Nazis got so upset whenever the von Trapp family sang it.

O'Flynn is well-known in the school district, where she's been teaching for 14 years and now serves as the performing arts coordinator. In this capacity she's developed curriculum for a new cultural arts program and trained eight other music resource instructors, who teach the program at the district's 20 elementary schools.

Just now the fourth-graders in Maria Bennett's class at De Vargas Elementary School are focused on the Gold Rush, and O'Flynn is helping them create a rondo on the topic. For the theme, the students spell out "California" to the beat of snaps, claps and stomps. The variations include "Diggin' for Gold" and the "Frisco Cha-cha-cha."

"This is a math lesson," O'Flynn says as the children repeat the 1-2, 1-2-3 pattern of the cha-cha. "Just kidding!"

But Bennett says these weekly 45-minute sessions with O'Flynn do help her students in math as well as language arts. When her fourth-graders studied poetry, their newfound knowledge of rhythm helped them discern the beats in the verse. The children are also learning songs from the Gold Rush era to help them connect better to that moment in history. "As soon as we get going on this curriculum in class, they sing these songs every day," Bennett adds.

For some children, the songs also provide a means of expression they might not otherwise have. About half of O'Flynn's students at De Vargas are enrolled in the district's English Language Development Program, and many speak a different language when they're at home with their families. O'Flynn's curriculum takes this into account, exposing students to music from different countries.

"Music is cross-cultural and cross-generational," O'Flynn says. "We have songs from all over the world, so students are used to singing in different languages."

O'Flynn has had some personal experience with musical multiculturalism. As a performer in her native Ireland, she toured Europe extensively with a choral group and has recorded with the BBC and RTE, Irish national television. Now she uses her singing talents primarily in her teaching but also to communicate with her father, who suffers from dementia. "I'll call him back in Ireland and sing him old Glenn Miller songs over the phone," she says. "He'll sing along. That's how he knows who I am."

She is as energetic behind the scenes as she is in front of her classroom, bringing her musical message to school assemblies and community gatherings to keep support for the cultural arts program strong. "I'm very visible," she says. "You can't hide in your classroom when you're not a regular classroom teacher."

So far, O'Flynn says, both the school district's administration and the individual schools have been very supportive of the program, which is financed in part by the district and by the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation, an independent, nonprofit funding organization. While the program's curriculum was developed in accordance with state standards, the district receives no state funding to keep it up and running.

Faculty and families at De Vargas Elementary School took it upon themselves to help raise the money for the instruments O'Flynn uses in her music classes, including an array of xylophones, African drums and other percussion instruments. O'Flynn says she and Principal Steven Woo work together to budget for the maintenance of these instruments. "We have the principal's support for the arts and a staff that goes above and beyond," she adds.

O'Flynn is relying on this level of support to maintain the cultural arts program, which was fully implemented just last year. She sees music as an integral part of a well-rounded education. "The more you expose students to different experiences, the better off you'll be," she says. "Music brings you joy."