According to the New York State Education Department (NYSED), the students from the Bronx and Washington Heights have the lowest admission rate to specialized high schools for instrumental instruction, in relation to other boroughs in New York City. In addition, this report informs about the low number of classes in this area for instrumental music instruction compared with the other boroughs in the city and other counties in the state. This report reflects the current conditions of several schools in the Bronx and Washington Heights. This program provides the opportunity to prepare students to be admitted into specialized music schools. Moreover, according to the course descriptions and syllabies of a variety of teacher training institutions, music departments are not addressing multicultural issues in their instrumental music curricula. The MMG instrumental music component provides in-service training in multicultural music and the management of inner city instrumental programs to music teachers, professional musicians and music education students. This in-service training not only benefits the program faculty, but also provides the schools without music instruction the opportunity to obtain the services of a full time music teacher in the future. Furthermore, based on studies conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, parental & community involvement in the schools' music education and their understanding of multicultural issues and arts related careers is almost non-existent. The MMG instrumental music component provides an arts awareness aspect in which teachers, parents, community members, administrators and students share the experience of artistic presentations with a multicultural focus, field trips to different arts locations and career education fairs as a medium to develop parental involvement, aesthetic sensitivity and artistic understanding. Moreover, in addition to the need of direct music instruction and professional development, racial tension among ethnic groups is another problem that we face in pluralistic societies. We have let what divides us capture the headlines, polarizing us rather than bringing us together. The implementation of cross-cultural music programs can support cultural understanding and consequently prevent this racial situation.

 

Population to be Served
Students with musical interest and commitment to the program are selected by their homeroom teachers at the fifth grade level. Special education classes are encouraged to apply. An average of 40 to 50 children are selected to participate in the school music program. The parents of these students are required to fill out a commitment form, in which they will state their support to the program and their consent for the music instruction. The parents and family members of the participant students are encourage to participate in the arts awareness activities and the public presentations of this component. The instructors of the program receiving in-service professional development are required to posses a minimum of a bachelor's degree. College students and senior high school students applying for assistant instructors must be in specialized music programs and have their parents and their school consents.

Structure of the Performance Program
The program begins during the last two weeks of September with an intensive training for the faculty. The faculty receives training in classroom management in urban settings, instrumental music instruction, special education, instrument methods, time management, instrument repairs, multicultural music instruction and lesson planning. In addition, the program faculty from all the schools meets once per week (usually Fridays from 4:30 to 6:30 PM) to discuss music education issues, classroom problems, accomplishments and to rehearse advanced student & professional repertoire as a faculty ensemble. This component provides team teaching support, the opportunity to learn different teaching strategies, and professional development in a variety of music topics (composing, arranging, music finance, publishing, music resources, etc.). In addition, professionals in the areas of finance, fund raising and technology are invited to talk to the faculty in order to provide valuable information for their daily lessons.

The program begins in September for a period of forty two weeks (including four weeks during the summer). The program is structured by levels of achievement: basic, competent, proficient, and distinguished. Each level represent one year of study. During each level the students will learn a selection of musical genres from each region of the world: North America, South America, Europe, Africa (sub-Sahara), the Middle East and the Oriental Regions of Northeast and Southeast Asia. This program of instruction is focused on the teaching of multicultural music for instrumental instruction (symphonic orchestra).

Outline of the Program:

• Basic level
  This section will study simple arrangements of different musical styles.
  Performance techniques, history, theory, aesthetic awareness, use of available materials and activities in different types of music
  
• Competent level
  Includes arrangements within a 2nd grade of difficulty.
  Performance techniques, history, theory, aesthetic awareness, improvisation, use of available materials and activities in different
  types of music.
  
• Proficient level
  Includes arrangements within a 3rd grade of difficulty.
  Performance techniques, history, aesthetic awareness, improvisation, arranging/composing, community involvement, use of available materials and activities in different types of music.
  
• Distinguished level
  Includes arrangements within a 4th & 5th grade of difficulty.
  Performance techniques, history, aesthetic awareness, improvisation,
  arranging/ composing, community involvement, use of available materials,
  activities and career opportunities in different types of music.

The grades of difficulty are based on the classifications presented by the New York State School Music Association's Manual and the classification of levels presented by several music publishers.
Furthermore, the program provides a community support component in which the program instructors, assistant instructors and participant students provide concert presentations in a variety of community activities. During these presentations the students and instructors provide information about their music studies, their careers and accomplishments in the music field (many students who studied this multicultural curriculum with Dr. Mojica are currently professional musicians, teachers with the New York City Board of Education or instructors with the MMG). These presentations provide exposure to the students, maintain a commitment by all the members of the orchestra with the community, and serve as a power of example to the younger generations.
Moreover, the Arts Awareness aspect provides the opportunity to students, teachers, parents, administrators and community members to experience career fairs and different arts presentations at the school or at a variety of arts locations. This component is offered once a month during the after school schedule and is intended to develop aesthetic sensitivity, parental involvement and multicultural understanding in the school community.

Instrumentation
The program will provide group music instruction in the following areas:
Woodwinds - flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophones & bassoon
Brass - trumpet, trombone, French horn, baritone horn & tuba
Strings - violin, viola, cello & double bass
Percussion - drum set, ethnic percussion, timpani & piano

Class Schedule