Music
Memory is an extraordinary FREE music education program for grades
3, 4, 5 and 6, administered by the Orchestra Nova San Diego, under
the leadership of artistic director, Jung-Ho Pak. It teaches children
how to listen and respond to music critically and intelligently.
With clear goals, creative presentation, positive motivation, and
built-in process of team selection, preparation and participation,
it contributes significantly to the development of students' social
skills, self-esteem and intellectual capacity.
Orchestra Nova's "Music Bee" A Smashing Success
Name That Tune” – NBC 7/39
Click here for a list of participating Schools
This nationally recognized program that has become a phenomenon across the country made it debut locally as the Hunter Family Music Memory Program in the San Diego Unified School District and in several county schools, including Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas and Escondido. Acclaimed in dozens of cities around the country, Music Memory
gives children the opportunity to learn 16 pieces of masterpieces
of classical music each year. This means when a student completes
four years of this program, they will be able to identify and appreciate
64 pieces of classical music! They will also all have the chance
to come to a live FREE concert given by the orchestra where they will
be tested on their knowledge and receive awards for their hard work.
Goals Aligned With the California and National Standards for Arts Education
Music Memory is designed to help children:
- Listen and respond actively to music
- Acquire knowledge of music terms and definitions
- Learn about composers, the periods they live in and the cultural
significance of their music
- Make connections from the music to other disciplines
- Enjoy a meaningful cultural experience with their peers
The acquisition of focused listening skills in the course of
exposure to a carefully selected, diverse repertoire is key to
the learning process. Students, guided by their music teachers,
engage in a wide range of artistic activities including creative
and structured movement, singing, and performing on rhythm and
melody instruments. As the children become aware of the structure
of each piece, its melodic, harmonic and rhythmic patterns, and
the instrumentation or voices used, they delight in their newly
acquired ability to identify works and composers upon hearing
only a few bars.
Music Memory Training for Music Teachers
Orchestra Nova San Diego provides specialized training
sessions, AT NO COST, for all music teachers who participate
in the Music Memory program. These professional development workshops
are led by a master-teacher who has worked extensively with the
program. Each teacher then works with pre-packaged education
packet that includes Music Maps, recordings, lesson plans, and
more. Music Maps are guides for the first time listeners to help
them understand how music is constructed in an easy to understand
way. Anyone can learn to hear and remember classical music with
this proven and effective system. The skills that are developed
in the program include critical thinking, pattern recognition,
emotional involvement, and creative expression.
Music Memory Countywide Finals
Schools participating in the Music Memory Program are invited,
AT NO CHARGE, to send five-member teams (along with classmate
cheering sections) to participate in the Countywide Finals Competition
to be held
at the end of each school year. The Finals is a "name-that-tune/musical spelling bee" event
where students display their extraordinary knowledge of the 16
musical works they have studied throughout the school year by
identifying those works and composers on the basis of excerpts
and fragments performed onstage by Orchestra Nova and guest vocal and instrumental soloists.
Funding of Orchestra Nova San Diego Music Memory Program
is made possible by a generous gift by Frances Hunter and Hunter Industries.
Additional funding is gratefully acknowledged from the Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund and from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Community Projects Grant Program – Supervisor Bill Horn.
