What will be new at Eunice Elementary this school term?
Eunice Elementary students will have a new interest and opportunity at school, music. As part of the school schedule, a music instruction class will be offered.
Arien Harper was on hand as a guest speaker during a recent Rotary meeting and gave members an update on the music program offered at the elementary school.
Harper, a music lover at an early age, always wanted to teach music. “From an early age my mom helped establish a passion and love for music in my heart. My husband and I sing together not only at church, but venues spanning the entire state of Louisiana.
In college, as a music major, Harper’s dream was to teach music to young people. She added, “Unfortunately, the trend in public education is to sometimes put music aside when budget gets tight. I’ve spent the past 10 years teaching core subjects to first and second graders.
Harper was approached in the spring by her principal Mary Dupre about possibly teaching music in the afternoons to third and fourth graders.
Mary Dupre, principal at Eunice Elementary, added, “The idea began when I was looking through teachers’ certifications at the end of the school year. I noticed that Arien Harper was certified in music. From research, I know music is very beneficial for children so I approached Mrs. Harper to ask if she would be willing to incorporate music as part of her instructional day. She was very excited about this idea.
Dupre, added, “The most up to date schedule has her teaching third and fourth graders each afternoon. A rotating schedule will be created for other students to receive music instruction from an itinerant teacher provided by our district. We are all very excited to be able to provide this great opportunity for our students.”
Harper gave information about the benefits of music in a student’s life; music helps kids develop emotionally and intellectually, music helps students master memorization, music helps increase coordination in kids, music helps students stay engaged in school, music gives kids a sense of achievement as they learn to play and sing.
Harper’s plans for her music classroom and students are to teach students the basic music theory, how to read notes, how to follow rhythm, through the use of a small instrument called a recorder.
She added, “I also plan to teach the students good vocal techniques through learning proper vocal warm ups and songs that provide a variety of genre, difficulty that are just plain fun.”
Harper will use a K-6 music curriculum called Music Express magazine. Music Express provides exciting and relevant songs from modern music that students love, theory-based lessons that correlate with National Standards, as well as cross-curricular lessons in English Language Arts, math, science and social studies.
Harper and friends of the music program had a fund raiser this summer to raise money for student’s musical recorders. However, the music program at the elementary school will accept monetary donations for students’ recorders. “Some of the need we still have are sound amplification, and we are looking for a portable speaker system that we can easily move around for performances around the school and outside of the school. We are also looking to purchase a keyboard to use to accompany our choir,” said Harper.
Any one wishing to make a donation, can do so by contacting Arien Harper or Mary Dupre, principal at Eunice Elementary.