The Melody Project
A Project Funded by Alliance of Chinese Americans San Diego
Flora Yuan
Project Leaders
Flora Yuan, Kylie Huang
Flora Yuan, Kylie Huang
Music Teachers
Kylie Huang, Flora Yuan, Andrew Ma, Wilson Wen, Courtney Wong, Jamie Yue, Tom Wong, Jeffrey Sheng, Daniel Tran, Nina Zhu, Tiffany Soe, Shudi Wang, Kelly Hwang, Sunny Fan, Elena Betancort, Esther Kang, Hannah Lee, Eric Park
https://www.music4kidssd.org/lessons/meet-our-teachers
Kylie Huang, Flora Yuan, Andrew Ma, Wilson Wen, Courtney Wong, Jamie Yue, Tom Wong, Jeffrey Sheng, Daniel Tran, Nina Zhu, Tiffany Soe, Shudi Wang, Kelly Hwang, Sunny Fan, Elena Betancort, Esther Kang, Hannah Lee, Eric Park
https://www.music4kidssd.org/lessons/meet-our-teachers
Background
According to “Music Interventions and Child Development: A Critical Review and Further Directions,” music has a plethora of impacts on the motor, cognitive, and academic development of a child. Children with a background in music were found to have increased motor perception, short-term memory, language-based reasoning, and academic performance with active interaction with music. Despite the many positive effects of music exposure, not all students are provided with music programs in their schools or communities, especially in underserved areas; not all families can afford music classes, even in the flourishing United States economy. A study by the Grammy Music Education Coalition showed that 3.8 million PreK-12 students do not have access to music education; the number of people who don’t have music education in other underserved countries is even higher. In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, schools have shut down, increasing the number of students deprived of music education. Little change is being made towards the adaptation of music education during these times.
According to “Music Interventions and Child Development: A Critical Review and Further Directions,” music has a plethora of impacts on the motor, cognitive, and academic development of a child. Children with a background in music were found to have increased motor perception, short-term memory, language-based reasoning, and academic performance with active interaction with music. Despite the many positive effects of music exposure, not all students are provided with music programs in their schools or communities, especially in underserved areas; not all families can afford music classes, even in the flourishing United States economy. A study by the Grammy Music Education Coalition showed that 3.8 million PreK-12 students do not have access to music education; the number of people who don’t have music education in other underserved countries is even higher. In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, schools have shut down, increasing the number of students deprived of music education. Little change is being made towards the adaptation of music education during these times.
Goal
We are privileged to live in a world where resources for learning any instrument is at our fingertips. Our goal is to create a global online music system that connects high school volunteer teachers with beginner lower-income students. This gives both high schoolers a chance to channel their passion for music into something positive, as well as gives beginners the chance to study music; both the high-school volunteers and the students could be from different cities and different countries.
We are privileged to live in a world where resources for learning any instrument is at our fingertips. Our goal is to create a global online music system that connects high school volunteer teachers with beginner lower-income students. This gives both high schoolers a chance to channel their passion for music into something positive, as well as gives beginners the chance to study music; both the high-school volunteers and the students could be from different cities and different countries.
Method
1. Advertise lessons. We’ve already created a video to advertise the lessons on our YouTube page; we plan on creating more advertisements on different platforms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gz1ZSAKgh8
2. Create both teacher and student applications on our website. Also, create an area regarding sales for second-hand instruments, as well as requests for second-hand instruments. Website: https://www.music4kidssd.org/
3. Recruit and review high schooler volunteer and student applications, prioritizing lower-income students.
4. Match each volunteer to a student.
5. Assign specific lesson time and day for each student.
6. Administer lessons.
7. Interview students to assess the quality of music lessons.
8. Hold online music lessons through a plethora of communication platforms (Zoom, Google Meet, Facetime, etc.)
1. Advertise lessons. We’ve already created a video to advertise the lessons on our YouTube page; we plan on creating more advertisements on different platforms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gz1ZSAKgh8
2. Create both teacher and student applications on our website. Also, create an area regarding sales for second-hand instruments, as well as requests for second-hand instruments. Website: https://www.music4kidssd.org/
3. Recruit and review high schooler volunteer and student applications, prioritizing lower-income students.
4. Match each volunteer to a student.
5. Assign specific lesson time and day for each student.
6. Administer lessons.
7. Interview students to assess the quality of music lessons.
8. Hold online music lessons through a plethora of communication platforms (Zoom, Google Meet, Facetime, etc.)
Updates
(September 17, 2020)
Experience Summary
Through our free online lesson program, our team has learned many things. The vast majority of the teachers that joined our program had little or no prior teaching experience, so many teachers were learning alongside their students. Teachers learned essential skills like how to write formal emails, how to maintain a calm class setting, how to overcome teaching difficulties, and much more. Not only has our free music lesson program taught our teachers how to teach, but it has also given them even greater respect and love for music. In the future, we hope to do all of our classes strictly on Zoom so that all lessons are done on one platform. In addition to being on one platform, we also want to create a joint Zoom account for all of our teachers to use and pay for premium so our lessons can increase in time as well. This would create a strong sense of a team for our teachers since there are some teachers using platforms like FaceTime and Google meets to teach their music lessons.
Experience Summary
Through our free online lesson program, our team has learned many things. The vast majority of the teachers that joined our program had little or no prior teaching experience, so many teachers were learning alongside their students. Teachers learned essential skills like how to write formal emails, how to maintain a calm class setting, how to overcome teaching difficulties, and much more. Not only has our free music lesson program taught our teachers how to teach, but it has also given them even greater respect and love for music. In the future, we hope to do all of our classes strictly on Zoom so that all lessons are done on one platform. In addition to being on one platform, we also want to create a joint Zoom account for all of our teachers to use and pay for premium so our lessons can increase in time as well. This would create a strong sense of a team for our teachers since there are some teachers using platforms like FaceTime and Google meets to teach their music lessons.
(September 17, 2020)
2020 Music4Kids Online Concert is on YouTube!
2020 Music4Kids Online Concert is on YouTube!
Our YouTube channel mainly serves as a way for us to create basic online music theory videos, and we have recently released our 2020 Music4Kids Online Concert video! Our music theory videos, although having gone on hiatus for a few months, are now up and running again. We have covered various topics, including scales, notes, key signatures, the musical alphabet, dynamic terms, etc. We try to teach the instruments as well as music theory in the class. Two ways we teach music theory are through a) sending music theory worksheets through email or b) having the students watch the videos to gage the concept. As for our recent concert, we’ve reached out to dozens of senior centers to ask if they would be interested in receiving our concert link; six have replied that they are interested. Of those six, some of the senior centers have agreed to put our concert on their website as well as send our concert as part of their weekly e-mail newsletters. Poway Senior Center has put our concert under the activities tab of their website and mentioned that they would put us on the front page this coming October: https://www.powayseniorcenter.org/activities. The Ed Brown Center’s and Poway Senior Center’s response is attached below. Our recent concert link can be found here: https://youtu.be/xnZYMuDXEJw
(July 2, 2020)
We are currently preparing for our 2020 Music4Kids Online Concert, and we are planning to post it on YouTube in the middle of August. With the video, we plan are distributing it to various senior centers as well as linking a GoFundMe to help raise funds for our cause.
To reach this goal, we are currently reaching out for senior centers (trying to expand past just San Diego) and contact them through phone/emails to see if they would be interested in playing our concert.
We are currently designing and practicing for the program, and we are planning on creating team programs through 2-splits, 3 splits, etc.
We are currently preparing for our 2020 Music4Kids Online Concert, and we are planning to post it on YouTube in the middle of August. With the video, we plan are distributing it to various senior centers as well as linking a GoFundMe to help raise funds for our cause.
To reach this goal, we are currently reaching out for senior centers (trying to expand past just San Diego) and contact them through phone/emails to see if they would be interested in playing our concert.
We are currently designing and practicing for the program, and we are planning on creating team programs through 2-splits, 3 splits, etc.
(July 21, 2020)
Participants: everyone in our club
We now have 56 responses on our Google Form to sign up for lessons, as well as as 17 teachers. We are currently scheduling new lessons as well as looking for more high school volunteers. New Club Promotion Video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlKPN2o3mcg)
Participants: everyone in our club
We now have 56 responses on our Google Form to sign up for lessons, as well as as 17 teachers. We are currently scheduling new lessons as well as looking for more high school volunteers. New Club Promotion Video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlKPN2o3mcg)
For our 2020 Music4Kids Online Concert, we’ve already mocked up a general list of all the programs we have. We have also reached out to a few senior centers to ask them if they are interested in our YouTube link to play at their centers.
Finally, we are continuing our fundraiser for 3D Print Shields by now selling face shields to people in the community, having all the funds/proceeds go to the GoFundMe we created.
Finally, we are continuing our fundraiser for 3D Print Shields by now selling face shields to people in the community, having all the funds/proceeds go to the GoFundMe we created.
