The Chorale Music Program
Longfellow Elementary prides itself on its dedication to arts education and the Chorale Music Program is central to Longfellow’s art instruction. Mr. Jim Petri, who is also Long Beach Unified School District’s Music Director, currently teaches two full days a week at Longfellow.
The Chorale Music Program is aimed at developing student’s vocal and musical abilities. Along with the classroom curriculum, the students take part in musical productions once a year. In addition, fourth and fifth graders may participate in Longfellow’s Chorus, which performs twice a year, also under Mr. Petri’s direction. While students may be nervous to perform in front of an audience, once they have done so, they are filled with pride in their accomplishment. Through all of his instructions, not only is love of music instilled, but self-discipline, self respect, and self-confidence which these students will carry a life time.
The Chorale Music Program at Longfellow is unique in its scope. On average in the Long Beach Unified School District, elementary students receive only six to ten music lessons a year. At Longfellow, kindergarten students meet with Mr. Petri every week of the school year and older students meet with him as often as every other week and no less than eight to ten times a year. Rehearsals and preparation for the musical performance are in addition to the classroom sessions; as a result all Longfellow students receive far above the bare-minimum amount of music education.
The value of music education with a skilled and dedicated instructor such as Mr. Petri cannot be overstated. Studies consistently show that students involved in music education are more confident and self-disciplined and are more prepared to succeed in school than those students who do not receive music instruction. For example, studies have found a consistent correlation between reading ability and music instruction, that music instruction increases self-esteem, special temporal reasoning critical to success in math and science, and even IQ results, and that music instruction leads to higher standardized test scores such as the SAT. [For detailed study results see: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, Deasy, Richard J., Editor (2002);
Music Lessons Enhance IQ, E. Gleen Schellenberg, in Psychological Science
(2004).] One need to look no further than the joyous faces of the students as they perform their musicals, however, to see the tangible results from the Longfellow’s Chorale Music Program.
Unfortunately, recent severe budget cuts and a District spending freeze threaten Longfellow’s Chorale Music Program. Longfellow Lions have benefitted greatly from this wonderful program. Please help Longfellow Legacy Foundation as we work to ensure the future of the invaluable Chorale Music Program.