Blue Hen String Quartet: Project MUSIC
- The Blue Hen Quartet
Project MUSIC is a service-learning project that involves University of Delaware Music Majors, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. It is coordinated by University of Delaware Department of Music Service-Learning Scholar, Britney Snyder. For its pilot year, second grade students from Thurgood Marshall Elementary School had Instrument Ensemble visits from the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Throughout the course of the academic year, the Blue Hen String Quartet, a quartet made up of UD students, also worked with the children. As a capstone event, the second grade children attended the Delaware Symphony Orchestra's Explorer Concert.
Throughout the school year, The Blue Hen Quartet focused on developing skills and concepts taken from the school's general music curriculum. They also taught the children about their instruments, special bowing techniques, form, expressive elements, and exposed the children to their chamber music repertoire. Most of their teaching repertoire was music that is traditionally used in elementary general music classes but was specially arranged for the Blue Hen Quartet.
For 2007-2008, Valerie Schlanger (Senior, Instrumental Music Education Major) will be the Service-Learning Scholar in charge of coordinating Project MUSIC. After great success in its first year this program will expand to include grades 2-5 of Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. Each grade will receive teaching-artist visits from UD student ensembles:
Grade 2=Strings
Grade 3=Woodwinds
Grade 4=Brass
Grade 5=Percussion
The students will also continue to attend Delaware Symphony Orchestra Explorer Concerts. This partnership between the Department of Music, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and Thurgood Marshall Elementary School has proven to be a wonderful way to expand public school music offerings.