In Harmony with Education
Imagine a standards-based curriculum so interesting, so engaging, so entertaining that it reaches out and grabs the imagination. Imagine a curriculum that merges the teaching of math, science and music so powerfully that each discipline comes alive with new meaning. A curriculum so compelling that it reaches students of diverse interests and backgrounds. A curriculum that brings music to life, and brings life to music.
That's what we at Bose imagined, and together with MENC: The National Association for Music Education, we created the Bose In Harmony With Education® program to demonstrate our commitment to helping turn the students of today into the innovators of tomorrow.
The Bose In Harmony With Education program has been a great success with students, teachers and administrators in schools throughout the country.
A sound education
The Bose In Harmony With Education program was created by a team of music, science, and math educators led by MENC: The National Association for Music Education. Our goal was as simple as it was ambitious. We sought to create an interdisciplinary music curriculum that would take students beyond mere understanding. We wanted students to see, hear and feel the power and beauty of music as it demonstrates the nature and science of the sounds that surround them in their daily lives.
Students in the Bose In Harmony With Education program learn through hands-on experience, by creating and playing their own instruments.
The Bose In Harmony With Education program helps students achieve all nine of the curricular goals of the National Standards for Music, as well as the standards for math and science, adopted by national consensus in 1994. Interdisciplinary by nature, the Bose In Harmony With Education program particularly emphasizes Standard 8, "Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts."
Exploring the connections between music, science and math also helps students reach many of the standards adopted by professional educators in those related fields. And while the seven lessons, or "parts," of the In Harmony With Education program curriculum are designed primarily for students in grades five through eight, they have been and can be successfully adapted for use with both younger and older students as well.
The Bose In Harmony with Education program consists of:
- An in-class curriculum packet including a Teacher's Guide, Black Line Masters, downloadable music and sound samples.
To download the Teacher's Guide, click here.
To download the Black Line Masters, click here.
To download the music and sound samples, click here.
Your feedback on the in-class curriculum is important to us. We invite you to email us at InHarmonyWithEducation@bose.com with your comments. Your email information will not be used for marketing or sales purposes.
- A field trip featuring "Musically Speaking," a multi-image show exploring the emotional power of sound. Students will also investigate the physics of sound using an oscilloscope, and play instruments (available in select areas and at no charge).
A sound experience
What are the two most popular words in any student's vocabulary? "Field trip." And the Bose In Harmony With Education program includes a field trip experience like no other. Bose produced a show specifically for the program entitled, "Musically Speaking" a show that brings the classroom experience to life on a movie theater-like screen with a Bose flagship home theater system. The show immerses the students in startlingly realistic natural sounds, from the soft flutter of a bird's wings, to a lightning strike TOO close for comfort. And it concludes, of course, with 4th of July fireworks.
Students see multicultural singers, musicians and dancers, and hear music from a wide variety of musical idioms—barbershop, gospel, zydeco, Native American and classical symphony, and music from the Andes, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Ten different record labels are represented on the "Musically Speaking" soundtrack, and photos and music were contributed by many friends of music education, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The New York City Ballet, Steinway & Sons and The Zydeco Cha-Chas.
The field trip also exposes students to the science of sound. Through group discussions and the use of tools such as tuning forks and oscilloscopes, students learn about the physical creation and behavior of sound. Students also become familiar with pitch, timbre, frequency and many other acoustic terms and concepts. For the finale, they have the opportunity to use homemade folk instruments to create an in-class orchestra.
The field trip experience fits flexibly into any stage of your program. When used to introduce the program, it whets the appetite; when shown during the program, it keeps interest high; and when shown at the end, it serves as a wonderful payoff, tying all course material together.
Lessons in harmony
Good teachers understand that when imaginations are engaged, minds are opened, and that when their minds are opened, students can't help but learn. They also know that the most powerful and lasting learning experiences come from an active, collaborative interaction between teacher and student. In the Bose In Harmony With Education program, this vital interaction takes place across several disciplines, as concepts from one class are reinforced in another. Working on the same concept in all three classes, students come to understand how the nature, forms, and structure of music intersect with the subjects of science and math.
The Bose In Harmony With Education program helps teachers by bringing real-world meaning to complicated subjects, and cohesion to an often-fragmented curriculum.
Teachers become inspired and empowered by the collaboration with teachers from other disciplines. Actively sharing and strengthening each other's work brings new motivation and pleasure to their work. Everyone benefits. Everyone has fun. And most importantly, everyone learns.
For more information, contact: InHarmonyWithEducation@bose.com
