The University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Lincoln Public Schools are tuning up young new musicians through the UNL/LPS String Project.
The project provides introductory music education to elementary school students in Lincoln. The group will hold its spring performance April 17. Karen Becker, professor of cello and the program’s director, said the program helps its undergraduate instructors learn to teach as part of a team while teaching kids about working as an ensemble.
“Everybody’s participating all together, as opposed to somebody sitting on the bench waiting their turn,” Becker said. “That’s one of the many great things about music.”
Students in the program meet twice a week for classes taught by six Husker undergraduate students. Students can enroll a year before they start orchestra in their school. LPS starts string students in fourth grade, so the majority of first-year String Project students are third-graders. There are also some participants from private and home schools.
In the fall, students work mostly on basics such as posture and instrument position, and they start learning music by rote, or by watching or repeating a teacher. This semester, they’re beginning to learn to read music.
The program also includes a second-year class of primarily fourth-graders. Dameer Gustafson, a junior music education major, teaches the second-year students, and said he is able to work with the more experienced students on musicality, such as balancing melody and harmony.
These students are required to participate in their school’s orchestra. Lincoln is a tight-knit music community, Becker said, so the collaboration can contribute to a more robust community in the city.
“We’re not here to compete and take away students from the LPS programs,” she said. “We want to help them be even better … We want to contribute as much as we can and support what the schools are doing.”
Gustafson said working on teamwork is key because the students must learn to collaborate with the whole group so everyone is doing the same thing at the same time.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Gustafson said. “It’s a lot of reminders we’re working together. It’s not just individuals doing the same thing, but it’s all coming together and it’s about all of us.”
Besides teaching students teamwork, the experience shows the teachers-in-training how they can work together with other teachers. The hands-on experience is a tool the future music educators can use to prepare for their careers, Becker said. They can learn skills such as classroom management from lead teacher Sarah Baker, orchestra teacher in LPS.
“They’re that much more prepared to get a teaching job and be more successful than most first-year teachers would be because of this experience, in addition to what they’re doing as part of their music education degree,” Becker said.
Kiersten Goertzen, a sophomore music education major and String Project teacher, said the opportunity to get additional teaching practice has been beneficial to her as she prepares to start her career, and she enjoys seeing her students learn as the year progresses.
“It’s so fun to watch the children’s curiosity grow and their enjoyment of learning these instruments,” Goertzen said. “It brings me a lot of joy that I’m able to teach that to them. It really inspires me to keep teaching.”
The UNL/LPS String Project will hold its spring performance at 5:30 p.m. April 17 at Park Middle School.
