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Outcome: Parents recognize the Catholic Christian dimension of all programs in the district.
- Edmonton Catholic Schools music educators nurture and foster their students' spirituality
through the discovery and pursuit of self-expression.
- Music teaching and learning from a Catholic perspective permeates throughout the school day
and year. Religious celebrations take place regularly with students, staff, and parents gathered in
prayer and raising their voices in song to praise God and reflect on the beauty of God's works.
- Music teachers and students prepare celebrations for the liturgical year for school, parish and
community. Through liturgical music we celebrate the seasons Advent, Christmas, Ash
Wednesday, Lent, Easter, School Opening, Graduations, End of Year celebrations and other
special calendar days.
- Catholic Schools value and celebrate the child's spiritual growth as a learner. Through "religious imagination", in experiencing and coming to know one's humanity, in allowing individuals to encounter himself or herself doing what human beings do uniquely, and in using aesthetic symbols to give experience to form, our music students are given the necessary tools to make and find meaning in the human condition. Students prepare and create musical performances to share within their school community and the community at large. They visit and entertain shut-ins in nursing homes and at senior residences.
- As goodwill ambassadors of their schools, our music teachers and students in school choirs and bands perform in hospitals, for charitable organizations like the "Festival of Trees" at the Shaw Conference Center, at various shopping malls, and "Christmas Magic" at City Hall.
- Each year Edmonton Catholic schools present a district wide Celebration of the Arts. This district event promotes the arts as one of the most powerful means for forging bonds between parents, schools, and communities. The Edmonton Catholic Schools Celebration of the Arts Showcase is one opportunity where performer and audience come together to celebrate artistic achievement. Students, teachers, administrators and parents participate in celebrating and appreciating achievement in music, art, drama and dance. All partners in teaching and learning take this opportunity to come together to recognize and celebrate children reaching in and beyond themselves.
- Band Share Day, another district wide musical event, provides an opportunity for Junior and Senior High School band teachers and their students to highlight music teaching and learning. In the spirit of collaboration and collegiality, student musical performances are shared and appreciated. This event is held at the Winspear Centre.
- ECS music students participate in Spring Concerts, Festivals, Recitals, and major events like the Kiwanis Music Festival, Choralfest North, Northern Alberta Band Festival and the Festival of Bands in Red Deer. There are tours near and far and jam sessions with community music groups.
- The study of music and other fine arts enhances other intelligences and fosters creativity, organization and social skills in students. "Music is a discipline with aesthetic, creative and intellectual dimensions. It fosters students' abilities to create, experience, analyze and reorganize, thereby encouraging motivation, contributing to a positive self-image, providing an acceptable outlet for emotions, and helping to develop creative and intuitive thinking processes not always inherent in other academic disciplines."
- A music education is for life, empowering our students to be musically literate consumers. "Finding an authentic response in a live performance is among the greatest gifts the older can give the younger". The created product of children's learning is the performance. It shows what we know and how we know it.
- Music programs and activities engage the entire body and brain in developing creative and intuitive thinking processes. Through a sequential study of musical concepts and development of musical skills, teachers deliver instruction in music learning. Since much education emphasizes true/false tests and other "objective" measures; students need experiences in which there are opportunities for several interpretations to any given problem. By providing exercises in creative problem solving through performance, listening and composition, music brings a balance to the school curriculum.
- Edmonton Catholic Schools music educators strive to provide learning for the brain in fostering creativity and critical thinking, for the heart in enhancing cultural identity and sensitivity and for the soul in nourishing and celebrating spirituality.
- Edmonton Catholic Schools music programs provide a sequential study of musical concepts and development of musical skills. Currently there are approximately 2,600 junior high school students in various school music programs and approximately 800 at the senior high school level. We provide instruction in band, choral and general music. Alberta Education mandates at least 75 hours of instruction per year at the junior high level and 150 hours per year at the senior level.
- All elementary students receive music instruction. General music instruction includes choral singing, instruments for children, music listening and appreciation, singing games and movement. These music programs provide instruction in choral, recorder, handbells, band instruments, music theory and history. Many of our specialist music teachers incorporate the teaching methods of Zoltan Kodaly and Carl Orff.
- Edmonton Catholic Schools band teachers support two enrichment programs, the ECS Senior and Junior All City Concert Bands. School music teachers recommend senior and junior high school students who demonstrate excellent participation and appreciation.
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