GITC Newsletter | April-May 2008 | Volume # 1
www.guitarsintheclassroom.org

Guitars in the Classroom (GITC), founded in 1998, inspires, trains, and equips classroom teachers to integrate singing and playing guitar into students' daily experiences. By providing teachers with group classes, access to guitars, resources, and instructional materials, GITC empowers educators to transform their classrooms into musical environments. For every teacher who integrates guitar and music making into a classroom, GITC reaches, on average, sixty-seven students each week.

Dear Friend of Music Making,

Thank you so much for helping Guitars in the Classroom (GITC) bring musical opportunities to schools in 22 states this year. Because you care, teachers and students are strumming guitars and singing together as part of learning lessons in pre-kindergarden through high school classrooms. Because you give, young people are exploring their musicality in every subject area.

Even in these times of draconian budget cuts, when we are seeing an increasing emphasis placed on quantitative testing, GITC continues to feed the creative spirit of America's children because of you- our sponsors, faculty, and participants. GITC would like you to have this eNewsletter as new way to connect, to share our successes and challenges, our know-how and resources.

Do you have stories, testimonials, tips, songs, jokes, or just a special someone you'd like to brag about? We appreciate it all! You can write to us anytime with news for the community c/o [email protected] with your submissions to the newsletter.

Thank you for sharing the songs in your heart with the children in your life.

Jessica

Meet Stevie!

Never let anyone tell you that playing guitar is too hard. Not even if you have a disability.

We are all capable of making music with this instrument. When Stevie's classroom teacher integrated music with GITC this year, the students in her class worried that she would be left out. Her disabled right arm and hand cannot perform any motor tasks and her left hand has limited ability, too. But when the teacher placed a open-tuned guitar upside down in Stevie's lap and showed her how to strum with her left hand holding a flat pick, her smile flooded the room instantly, and cheers broke out among her peers she experienced and shared the joy of playing guitar for the very first time, right along with her classmates.

GITC University Programs

Did you know that University of California, Berkeley and Antioch University, Santa Barbara are leading the way to integrate music making with GITC into teacher credentialing? GITC training is now available as part of the teacher education process at several schools in California thanks to the John and Joan D'Addario Foundation! Pictured here, professors Della Peretti (UCB) and Marianne D'Emidio-Caston (Antioch-SB) collaborate on ground-breaking curriculum that infuses methods courses with music making.

Lihn Nguyen trains student teachers in the Developmental Teacher Education program at University of California, Berkeley

GITC at CABE

GITC offered its first workshop for Bilingual Educators last month in San Jose at the annual conference for CABE, the California Association for Bilingual Education. Teachers from around the state joined together for two hours of intensive music integration training led by Michele Harris Padron, a bilingual classroom teacher and GITC faculty member and Jessica Baron, GITC's Executive Director.



We expect many new programs to start in California as a result of this special day. Thanks to GITC's sponsors American Sejung, American Music, D'Addario, Dunlop, Godin, and Samick for making this training a great success!

Songwriting in the Classroom

The following song was written by a wonderful group of teachers from GITC's second pilot program in Taft, California, in 2000. The melody is original, and the lyrics show how writing a song can teach students their town's history while describing and celebrating local achievements and values.

Oil from Out of the Ground

Get To Know Us!

Meet Ingrid Noyes
Program Coordinator & Instructor


GITC - Sonoma County, California
Teaching with GITC since 2004

What she loves about GITC: "After a lifetime of teaching, I really like training other teachers. Instead of working with one kid or one class at a time, the work I do has a much larger ripple effect, benefiting thousands of children for years to come."

Where Ingrid teaches: Cotati, Rhonert Park, Miwok Valley, Petaluma, Sebastopol, Sonoma

What she teaches: GITC Strum & Sing, GITC Early Childhood Education, GITC University Programs (UP!)

Who she teaches: Early childhood educators, K-8 teachers, bilingual educators

Personal Musical Expression: Her band, The Railroad Girls

Favorite Teaching Songs:
I Love To Count by Steven Zelin
Funky ABCs by Andy Morse
In My Family's House by Bruce O'Brien
Four Hands by Ruth Pelham
Rosa Parks by Uncle Ruthie Buell

Wish List: Volunteers to help with fundraising!

Website/Links: www.railroadmusic.net

Children's Music Network

A Round of Applause for the Manufacturers Who Make GITC Possible...

Since GITC's inception, the Godin Guitar Company and it's owners, Janet and Robert Godin, have generously supplied new programs with the beautiful and dependable instruments their company is so well known for. Godin staffers Norm Aduini and Fred de Santo have faithfully responded, time and again, to the call for more guitars such as the ever popular Art & Lutherie, Ami, and Norman models, for GITC's programs. GITC classroom teachers from coast to coast send their thanks to the Godins in Canada.

Guitars in the classroom extends its most sincere thanks to NAMM, the trade association that represents the global music products industry, for supporting our program and assisting our organization. NAMM's superb staff and its longstanding dedication to music making have been helping GITC grow since 2004.

Are you preparing to advocate for music education in your local schools? You can get all the resources and research you need at www.supportmusic.com

Meet Our Newest Sponsor ~ eConsciousMarket.com
!! YOU CAN HELP GITC BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPECIAL OFFER !!

Find beautiful, ecologically friendly gifts and necessities at this remarkable site where half of the proceeds from your purchase are donated to the charity of your choice!

- VISIT ECONSCIOUS MARKET.COM ON APRIL 3^RD AND 4^TH WHEN GITC IS THE CHARITY OF THE DAY!

- AND, GET A FREE MEMBERSHIP TO eCONSCIOUS MARKET, VALUED AT $30, BY REGISTERING AT THE SITE DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL!

As a faculty member, friend, sponsor, or participant in GITC programs, you can make the world a better place whenever you shop at eConscious Market.com, where "Giving is the New Getting" ™

Please visit today!

Meet GITC's 1st

Artist Advisor

Laurence Juber!

    When GITC was just a twinkle in it's founder’s eyes, Laurence Juber gave Jessica the encouragement to explore its potential and volunteered to help her make the earliest decisions. Always a good friend and counselor who has shared the road of musical service, Laurence continues to actively serve on the artist advisory council for GITC. In November, 2007, he performed a stunning benefit house concert at the home of Rick and Lorrin Boyer in Del Mar, California to fund San Diego programs. His genuine altruism coupled with his breathtaking talent and determination to further his artform is an inspiration and blessing to Guitars in the Classroom.

Hear samples of Laurence's beautiful music and learn about his fascinating career at his website, LaurenceJuber.com

Would you like to receive information on GITC’s Artists Registry? Please click here…

Theresa Shoup is using guitars in her classroom in Versailles, KY

"I trained with GITC in Tucson, AZ, and my instructor was Doug Bowers. This is my 11th year teaching. Before I came to GITC, I had written hundreds of poems to help my students learn every subject. Doug taught me the joys of playing guitar with students. Now I've set many of my poems to music. In my special education classes, K-5, I share my poetry and songs with students and other teachers every day."


Blood - ( To the tune of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round The Mountain" )
By Theresa Shoup

Every second of every single day,
Blood saves your life in all kinds of ways!
Bringing nutrients, it delivers,
Through your heart, down to your liver,
Oh, oh blood saves your life every day!

It brings oxygen and chemicals too,
It can keep you cool or can warm up you,
Your body’s waste, it carts away,
Fighting germs when they invade,
Oh, oh blood saves your life every day!


To study blood; hematology,
Helps us to know what we can not see,
Blood cells, both red and white,
Antibodies to fight,
Oh, oh blood saves your life every day!


Protecting you against disease,
So thank your blood, put your mind at ease.
Cause every second of every day,
Let’s you walk, or talk, or play,
Oh, oh blood saves your life every day!

Why Music Matters

As part of the Why Music Matters campaign, sponsored by American Music and Sound, we asked 900 children why music matters.



I love music,
Yes I do,
I love music,
How about you?
Music may just
Be music to you
But to me it's so much more
To you music may be a bore
But to me it's so much more.
I love it so much,
It's part of me,
Can't you see?
It's connected to me.
Don't be the person to rip it away,
Be the person to give me more

by Shelby Hawks

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