The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

They've Got Rhythm: In Chico Dembski's music classes at Willow Glen Elementary, kindergartners through fifth-graders build up their musical ears before learning how to read and play music.

After a two-year hiatus, Glen students are tuning up again

Outreach group brings music classes to WG Elementary--at no cost to the school

By Michelle Ku

Music and leadership classes at Willow Glen Elementary School are receiving rave reviews from school personnel because of their quality--and because they're free to the school.

Since November, kindergartners through fifth-graders have been heard singing and playing recorders throughout the school. Music has piped from windows and doors--and outside play areas--with a big hand from the Silicon Valley Youth Conservatory's "Music in Elementary Schools" outreach program, part of San Jose State University's School of Music and Dance.

This is the first time in two years that Willow Glen has had a music program. "[The program] has been supported and appreciated here at our school because it is no-cost. That's the only way we can have it here because there's no budget for a music program. It's just a blessing for us," says Willow Glen Principal Lois Allen.

Besides budget constraints, Willow Glen Elementary also struggles with space issues, Allen says.

In the past, the school provided students with singing classes in which music teachers had a small classroom and piano. But since the 20-students-per-teacher law went into effect, there was no room for a music program.

"Sometimes Michael [held] lessons outside and sometimes in the classrooms. In the back of the school we have an open play area for students, and sometimes he [held] lessons back there as well," Allen says of Michael Briseno, the former director of the Willow Glen music program.

Briseno left the program in April to spend time with his son in San Diego, says SVYC director Richard Aldag. He now teaches music lessons in Cuzman, Mexico, says his partner Chico Dembski, who has taken over as program director.

"We still don't have a music room, so Chico's having to be creative in where he does his lessons," Allen says. Funding for the program comes from recorders and books sold to the students and a grant from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

"The program has been wonderful. Not only do the children have the opportunity to experience music, but they also have the chance to understand a little bit about music theory and notes. It seems that every child who has been exposed to the program has been successful," Allen says.

The program began last fall when SJSU music professor Laurel Brettell, a parent of a Willow Glen kindergartner, approached Aldag about a music program at Willow Glen.

Aldag sent Briseno to the school, and he demonstrated music classes for the kindergarten teachers. "At first the teachers were a little resistant," Aldag says. "They didn't think kindergartners and first-graders were old enough to learn how to play the recorder."

When a student begins to learn how to play an instrument, he or she traditionally begins with the instrument and learns how to produce each note. When using Dembski and Briseno's the Phonics of Music method, learning how to play comes later.

Dembski and Briseno based their method on the Suzuki method, in which a person's musical ear is built up before he or she begins to learn how to read, write or play music. The two have written a book of music instruction based on their method called Phonics of Music and have been teaching Phonics of Music at area schools for the last seven years.

The two learned that by teaching students how to play three simple notes--B, A and G--on the recorder, they can play four songs: "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "This Land Is Your Land" and "Ode to Joy."

Phonics of Music also teaches students how to sing, play the keyboard, play the drums and follow instructions, Dembski says.

Dembski gives lessons at Willow Glen for about two hours each school day. In addition to the 30- to 45-minute music lessons, he runs an after-school music leadership class on Fridays for about 30 students. These students help Dembski lead the class. There used to be a $5 fee for the after-school class when Briseno directed it, but Dembski has decided to waive the fee for now.

On May 1, the students sang and played at Willow Glen's International Day festivities. In March they performed at a meeting of the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association.

SVYC members hope to get local businesses to adopt or sponsor classrooms involved in the music program so it can continue at no cost to the school, Dembski says. He says the Glen program is being developed as a pilot program to get businesses actively involved in music at elementary schools.

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