Education
In the public school system of Baltimore city, music education is a part of each grade level to high school, at which point it becomes optional. Beginning in first grade, or approximately six years old, Baltimore students begin to learn about melody, harmony and rhythm, and are taught to echo short melodic and rhythmic patterns. They also begin to learn about different musical instruments and distinguish between different kinds of sounds and types of songs. As students progress through the grades, teachers go into more detail and require more proficiency in elementary musical techniques. Students perform rounds in second grade, for example, while movement (i.e. dance) enters the curriculum in third grade. Beginning in middle school in the sixth grade, students are taught to make mature aesthetic judgements, and to understand and respond to a variety of forms of music. In high school, students may choose to take courses in instrumentation or singing, and may be exposed to music in other areas of the curriculum, such as in theater or drama classes.
Public school instruction in music in Baltimore began in 1843. Prior to that, itinerant and professional singing masters were the dominant form of formal music education in the state. Music institutions like the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra sometimes have programs aimed at youth education, and other organizations have a similar focus. The Eubie Blake Center exists to promote African American culture, and music, to both youth and adults, through dance classes for all age groups, workshops, clinics, seminars and other programs.
Read more about this topic: Music Of Baltimore
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“A woman might claim to retain some of the childs faculties, although very limited and defused, simply because she has not been encouraged to learn methods of thought and develop a disciplined mind. As long as education remains largely induction ignorance will retain these advantages over learning and it is time that women impudently put them to work.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“With a generous endowment of motherhood provided by legislation, with all laws against voluntary motherhood and education in its methods repealed, with the feminist ideal of education accepted in home and school, and with all special barriers removed in every field of human activity, there is no reason why woman should not become almost a human thing. It will be time enough then to consider whether she has a soul.”
—Crystal Eastman (18811928)
“Institutions of higher education in the United States are products of Western society in which masculine values like an orientation toward achievement and objectivity are valued over cooperation, connectedness and subjectivity.”
—Yolanda Moses (b. 1946)