So the Adventure Begins!

And this adventure is going to be a fantastic one! My name is Korrin Reese, and I am recently hired as a Music Specialist through Brigham Young University's ArtsBridge program. BYU ArtsBridge is a fine arts internship that allows us to put our practices to the test as future educators in public schools. Music is what I love to do most, and teaching music comes at even a greater delight! As I am studying K-12 Choral Music Education at BYU, this opportunity is one that I greatly cherish as I begin developing my professional career...while still studying as an undergraduate student!

First, a brief background of myself. As aforementioned, I love music. This fact has been evident throughout my entire life, as I began performing at age 8 singing Disney songs with the help of my mom's piano accompaniment. Music touched me at such a young age and led me to thoroughly enjoy sharing it with others. I sang in every choir possible throughout my years in grade school, and this was my sole mode of vocal training. Something about the pluralized voice brought me such rejuvenation and great passion for expressing what could not be expressed with the simple spoken word. I developed close relationships with my choral directors each year, so close in fact that I started imagining myself in their shoes. Choir and vocal performance have been such inseparable components of my life for as long as I could remember, both to fulfill myself and to spread a positive spirit to those I reach with music...how could I ever bring myself to stop doing it? Well, I couldn't! My senior year of high school I decided to study Choral Music Education. Having now been accepted to the program and been studying its courses for just over a year, I know I made one of the best choices of my life (behind choosing my recently-officialized husband, of course ;) ).
BYU ArtsBridge provides a unique circumstance for me because I get to work in an elementary school, here in Provo. I have served as a vocal jazz director and section leader in high school and currently in BYU Concert Choir, so I have had extensive experience working with adept youth and trained colleagues. I now get to attain experience with the opposite end of the spectrum, specifically kindergarten. Never did I dream that I would be working with such a young class so soon in my life! Such a task loomed in my mind as an intimidating undertaking; I'll be working with very young brains which may or may not have had any musical exposure in their single-digited lives. My call to introduce music to them and make it meaningful humbles me to work very carefully with the material given me in my Elementary General Music Methods Class acquired last Winter semester. Returning to the most basic of the basics, I'm learning things about music I've never applied further than for my elementary music course at BYU. Now, I am being put to the test in real life!

We've had two trainings to prepare us for our visits into the schools. The first was simply introductory: how to start our blog (which I have NEVER before thought of doing ever in my life), what to consider when preparing our lesson plans, how to integrate music (in my case. There are three other arts approaches involved in ArtsBridge: theatre, dance, and visual arts) into the core subjects of our elementary classes, and a review of the State of Utah education standards to accomplish when teaching our respective arts approaches. It really prepared me to get into 100% teacher mode; I'm no longer just a college student...I am a professional teacher!



The second training served for us to meet our teachers with whom we would be interning and collaborating. I am working with Mrs. Coleen Bevan, a sweet Kindergarten teacher who exudes a deep care for her children. She enlightened me about the demographics of the children in her class and what specific concepts she'd like to teach the children through music. Together we developed an Integration Model (inserted above) where we brought our own training and experiences to the table and discovered how to intertwine them in a way that would make learning most meaningful. For example, some items we are considering include using music to teach social skills of interaction, how to read cues to respond to, learning the 5 Senses, exploring the 4 Seasons, all while integrating pitch exploration, beat patterns, and singing games. Leaving our meeting, I felt quite overwhelmed at my responsibility to successfully draw up weekly lesson plans that achieve both Mrs. Bevan's and my educative goals. Everything seemed to explode in my face and demand my attention all at once. Inadequacy dominated my mind, and I didn't know where to begin.

My mentor, Dr. Brittany May, who specializes in Elementary Music Education at BYU, came to my rescue! She set up an appointment with me on Monday (almost a week after this meeting) to talk about what my very first lesson to these children would be. I'd already visited Mrs. Bevan's class last Friday to observe the behaviors of the students and get acquainted with the space I will have to execute my plans. Dr. May and I compiled ideas of songs and games and precepts to introduce to the children, and once I had a rough outline of my first lesson plan I felt much better! I was fired up and ready to start!

Details of my first lesson will be forthcoming in my next blog post. I am ever so grateful for this opportunity I have through BYU ArtsBridge to put my educative skills to practice and hone said skills in the actual field of the classroom. I avidly look forward to what I will gain and how music will impact these kindergartners!