Center for World Music: World Music in the Schools Program, Progress Report

Small musician, big gong

Ongoing Progress Report (1)

Spring 1999

Selection of three schools for a pilot project: Paradise Hills Elementary, a city school in south San Diego; Murdock Elementary in East County, and Richland School in North County. The areas chosen were South Asia (Odissi dance of India), Southeast Asia (Balinese Gamelan Angklung), and Africa (Ghanaian music and dance). Robert Brown volunteered as Acting Project Director, and board members Susan Bernstein (Bali) and Lewis Peterman (Africa), along with Vasanthi Shenoy (India) volunteered to be Cultural Area Representatives. Principal teachers were Manoranjan Pradhan (India), Randolph Griswold (Bali), John Flood and Emmalyne Moreno (Africa). Site liaisons were chosen from each school, and the three hands-on projects were launched with assembly programs to acquaint all students and teachers with the new study possibilities, followed by a series of approximately eight hands-on sessions, and combined with several cultural workshops for the teachers.

March 6, 1999

A workshop held at San Diego State University brought together 13 teachers and principals from 8 schools for a presentation of plans for the ongoing program, a question and answer session, and a hands on experience with Ghanaian dance and a Javanese gamelan orchestra. Robert Brown and MaryEllen O’Malley represented the Center and County Office of Education, while Lewis Peterman, Vasanthi Shenoy, Randolph Griswold, John Flood and Emmalyne Moreno represented the current program in the schools and offered the sessions in dance and music. It was decided to try and hold other such workshops in the future. An idea was also set in motion to try and provide a range of program possibilities for schools which could not be included in the small number that will receive full funding.

Summer 1999

As an important component of teacher training in the process of cross-cultural study the Center offered its biannual field workshop in Bali with special classes for teachers and limited partial subsidies for San Diego participants in the World Music in the Schools project. Political unrest in Indonesia limited teacher participation, but Bali remained calm and the summer workshop was held for advanced students of gamelan from San Diego, some of whom will be involved as teachers in the schools program. One principal (Carl Hermanns of the Museum School) ordered a gamelan angklung for use in his school, and the instruments were custom made in Bali and shipped to San Diego.

Spring 2000

A full-scale "Arts of Bali" program got underway at the The Museum School, a charter school in downtown San Diego, with participation by the Center's Year 2000 Artists in Residence from Bali, Nyoman Sumandhi and his wife, Putu Sutiati. They were assisted by musicians Kaori Okado, who is also trained in Balinese dance, and Alex Khalil. Dr. Robert E. Brown, president of the Center, gave regular presentations on culture in the classroom. The children all had gamelan angklung music classes twice a week, and for all four days of the weekly program there were short cultural presentations with videos, mask and puppetry demonstrations, textiles to handle, spices to smell, and Indonesia food to taste. (See image gallery.)

Museum School gamelan class

For the last three weeks of the program, the school--a charter school with changing cultural emphasis in its curriculum--focussed on many aspects of Balinese life and performing arts, culminating in a festival to which all parents were invited.

To share its resources with other schools, the Center devised a special Ramayana schools performance, a presentation of the Ramayana epic, with narration of the story and illustrations of the main characters and scenes in both dance and shadow theater format, the whole accompanied by live Balinese music. This assembly program was made available through Young Audiences of San Diego.

Spring and Fall 2001

Taking advantage of the momentum from previous year, in 2001 the Gamelan program in the Museum School was expanded to include Javanese gamelan as well as Balinese. Each of the school's 80 students studied gamelan and dance for 2 hours a week. A new after school gamelan club was formed in which the most enthusiastic children could continue their studies of gamelan for another 2-4 hours a week. This made it possible for them to reach a high enough level to perform on stage. They learned many pieces and participated in several performances including Asian Story Theater's "Sundance" and "3 Dragons" productions. They also performed at Bravo San Diego.

A Japanese music program was started at the Museum School. Kaori Okado and Alex Khalil taught them shakuhachi (the bamboo flute). Each child was given a length of PVC pipe which they helped make into a flute.. Finger holes were drilled one by one after the students had learned the fingering and notation symbol for the previous hole. The children caught on quickly and were soon able to read and write the Japanese character-based notation. At the end of the program children were asked to learn a test piece. Those who played it received actual bamboo shakuhachi. The top two players were given high-quality shakuhachi made by Monty Levenson, a shakuhachi maker in Northern California.

Plans and Vision

Progress Report (2)

Modified: May 30, 2009