“Rule number one: have fun. Rule number two: follow directions. Rule number three: be courteous.”
These are the rules to live by at the Children’s Museum of Brownsville’s “1st Note Music Camp,” which runs from June 19 through today.
The camp teaches children ages 6-10 basic rhythms and how to keep a beat through movement.
“Above all, I want them to finish the camp and say that they love music. When they find something they love, it makes them better people,” said music teacher Sandra Divnick.
Divnick is a recent graduate of the music education program at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. She focuses on elementary education.
Divnick and current UTB-TSC student Jessica Martinez created the camp’s curriculum.
“We’re really emphasizing movement that requires them to stay on beat,” said Martinez.
One exercise has the children mimicking movements a group leader suggests. The catch is the leader has to keep a steady beat to classical music blasting from a boom box in the corner of the room.
One of the leaders, Brianna Ramirez — being the oldest student at 10-years old — found it was not so easy to do this as she made the rest of the campers march around the room in circle.
Despite the difficulty, she said she likes music and has learned much already from the camp. In fact, her only complaint is that the camp is not longer.
“We would like to have the camp again next year, but seeing as the museum is a nonprofit, everything depends on how much funding we receive,” said Amanda Sanchez, executive director to the museum.
This summer, the music camp was funded by donations from attorney Eduardo Rodriguez on behalf of the late Stuart Chaney, who passed away last October. Chaney founded Omega Hospice on Central Boulevard and was a music enthusiast.
“He loved music and we thought it would be fitting to have a music camp in his honor,” wife Lecia Chaney said.
Camp graduates will showcase their talents in a self-run recital at the museum on Friday at 1 p.m. The recital is open to the public.
“(For the recital) it’s all up to them,” Martinez said.
The Brownsville Herald
No comments:
Post a Comment