Fine Arts Department
Elementary Music
General music instruction begins in kindergarten as all elementary children work with certified music specialists. Participation in an honor choir is offered on most campuses to fourth and fifth graders as vocal training. Fourth graders have the opportunity to audition for either the All-City Girls Choir or the All-City Boys Choir with performance opportunities as fifth graders.
Our Elementary Music Staff consists of 65 certified music specialists serving 45 elementary campuses and one PreK campus. This program is supported by 867 years of experience, 83 college degrees, 24 levels of orff certifications 16 levels of Kodaly certifications and 2 Wiekert certifications. Our department presents approximately 300 performances during the school year. Of our 45 elementary schools we have 39 elementary choirs. Garland is known for the strong choral programs which have their beginning at the elementary level.
Garland Symphony Youth Concerts
The Garland Symphony has partnered with GISD to provide concerts for our students for many years. This partnership provides a quality music experience for our students. Students who need financial assistance are provided scholarships by the GSYC and the Fine Arts Department.
For many years these concerts were held at our high schools. During the 05-06 school year we moved these concerts to the Special Event Center. This venue provides a great concert atmosphere. 100% of our elementary schools participated in this event this school year.
Our concert this year featured the famous music selection, "The Young Person's Guide to the Symphony" by Benjamin Brittain. This piece allowed students to hear individual instruments as well as the families of instruments they had studied about in class. Students also enjoyed a favorite piece they had heard from the movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean".
Elementary Music Staff Development
Our theme this year as been "It's just like heaven.....making music together in 2006-2007". We meet once a month to share teaching strategies and ideas. Sometimes we will bring in presenters from outside our district. Other times our teachers present. Our sessions this year are: Ipod 101, Creating Really Interactive Simple Power Points, Kinesthetics to Concepts and Back Again, Garland Does Schulwerk, One for All and All for All-City, The Art of Discipline, Mallet Mania, A la Carte.
Intranet Sharing
Our Elementary Music Department was the first department in the district to have it's own intranet folder. This was an idea birthed by Susan Elliott, our elementary music specialist at Beaver Technology Center. This intranet folder allows our teachers to share lesson plans and media files, and access important documents that come from our Fine Arts administrative offices. The history of hits in this folder tells us this is a well used tool as our teachers become more knowledgeable about using technology in the instructional process.
Newcomers Club
Our Newcomers Club consists of all the new elementary music teachers to our district headed up by an experienced master teacher that is savvy to district ins and outs. Debi Finklea, elementary music specialist at Rowlett Elementary, hosts our newcomers this year. This group shares challenges and successes throughout the year as new teachers get acclimated to our school district. Making connections with other professionals is a great need for young teachers and this provides an avenue for our young teachers to learn what strength we receive from one another.
The Garland ISD Children's Chorus
The Garland Independent School District has had two honor choir organizations for musically gifted fifth grade students. These Garland All-City Choirs, one for boys and another for girls, have been entertaining the Metroplex and earning statewide honors for over twenty-five years.
The All-City Boys Choir was established in 1972. The All-City Girls Choir, sister organization to the Boys Choir, quickly took its place of prominence alongside the boys in 1975.
These choirs have performed for the Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio both separately and together in 1990, 1996 and 2003. They have performed for the Governor of Texas and Texas School Administrators Association. These students have gained recognition at the Sandy Lake Choir Festival by winning the title of "Most Outstanding All-City Choir" and "Super Choir of the Day" many times, both separately and together as a combined choir. Several students from these groups have been selected to perform with the Texas Choral Directors Association Children’s Chorus in San Antonio.
In their presentations for school, civic and church functions, these choral groups perform a wide range of secular, sacred, seasonal, folk and patriotic music. These choirs have performed at the Texas State Capitol Rotunda in Austin and have toured in neighboring school districts. Included in their most memorable performances are the children’s chorus sections of "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff, "Coronation Te Deum" by William Walton and "The Hymn to Jesus" by Gustav Holst with the Richland College Choir and Orchestra at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. Both choirs have appeared at the Meyerson with the Ukraine Boys Choir, the Houston Children’s Chorus and the Mesquite All-City Choirs. The All-City Boys Choir represented Texas in 1991, by performing at the DeKalb Music Festival in Georgia.
This past spring we made a few changes to better meet the needs of our students and our community. We now have two choirs in the Garland ISD Children's Chorus: a Fifth Grade Choir and a Fourth Grade Choir. These groups of boys and girls rehearse weekly to prepare for community performances.
Auditions for these vocal groups are handled through each local elementary school in late spring. Interested children try out for their school music teacher and the finest talents are sent on to citywide auditions, involving over three hundred students. Final selections are then made, based on a rubric assessment including vocal technique, pitch matching, tone quality and degree of preparation. The choirs begin their year with a weeklong summer workshop when new music is learned, giving students a chance to get acquainted.
Being a part of the Garland ISD Children's Chorus organization is a unique experience for talented young musicians and as a training vehicle for future involvement. The aesthetic value of performing with these select ensembles reaps benefits as ground-work for careers or avocations in the field of music.
Children's Chorus Leadership FOR 2007-2008
Fifth Grade Choir: Director - Brenda Hass, Assistant Director - Jennifer Knudsen, Accompanist - Eri Goldstein
Fourth Grade Choir: Director - Patricia Burham, Assistant Director - Fidel Lozano