Hello! My name is Elizabeth Schorr and I am the music teacher here at Elm Street School. I am looking forward to working with each of your children and helping to develop their musical skills. Throughout their years at Elm Street, students will be exposed to a variety of folk, classical and contemporary music to help promote music literacy and understanding of musical concepts and ideas. In kindergarten, and first grade this includes a variety of hands on activities to help students become more “tuneful, beatful, and artful”. In the older grades, students will build on this foundation to develop a deeper understanding of melody and rhythm first by ear through solfege and rhythm syllables and later through musical notation. In fifth grade, students will also have the opportunity to use these skills as a member of the Elm Street Singers. The ultimate goal is for each child to become a fully engaged, independent musicians who can hear, understand, read, write, compose, and improvise by the time they move on to middle school.

In each music class, regardless of grade level, students will…

• Create. Students will be displaying their own musical ideas, whether that be by writing their own music, improvising their own melodies and harmonies, or creating ostinato patterns to go under a given song selection.
• Perform. Performing is a critical piece of ones music education. This does not mean that your child is singing in front of the school at an assembly, but rather is actively engaging in the musical process both by themselves in with peers singing songs, doing dances, and playing instruments.
• Respond. What instruments are in this given selection? What is this song about? What emotions does this composition evoke? These are the questions that each student will be able to answer about a piece of performance art.
• Connect. Music relates to so many different facets of our lives. It is full of math, language, history, and culture. Students listen to music every single day and it is my job to ensure that the music that they listen to at home connects to the music of the classroom, and also connects to their other studies.

These artistic processes: creating, performing, responding, and connecting are the four pillars of the National Core Arts Standards. The standards emphasize conceptual understanding in areas that reflect the actual processes in which musicians engage.

I believe in a 30-year plan for every Elm Street student: "It should not be unreasonable to expect all adults to be able to clap their hands in time to the cheering at a sporting event. Dad should be able to sing "Happy Birthday" to his son or daughter without hearing, "Don't sing, Dad." A couple should be able to dance in time to the music at their wedding. A person should be able to sing at a worship service without persons in the row in front turning around. An audience member should possess sufficient sensitivities to be moved by a nuance in an orchestral performance. A mother or father should be able to soothe their infant with a lullaby and rock to the beat of that lullaby."

This is a philosophy I've adopted from Dr. John Feierabend, click here to learn more about him and his teaching method and philosophy!

I believe music is an essential part of education in our schools. Learn more about how music makes our Elm Street Musicians Broader Minded.