Children's Music Foundation

The Children’s Music Foundation was created exclusively to promote the study of music as an educational tool in our elementary schools, to support school music programs and to promote music in education throughout the United States.

The First Note music curriculum is currently in development with the help of several music and education professionals. The program will incorporate proven methods of music instruction developed by Carl Orff (Orff Schulwerk), Emile Jacques Dalcroze, Zoltan Kodaly and others. A 4-lesson national beta test has been conducted (2009-2010 school year) with a complete 30-lesson program pilot planned for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year.

The program is a standards-based music curriculum for use in kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. Best of all, it will be designed to be facilitated by all K-1 school teachers, as an aid to all music instructors.

Mission: “Our mission is to enrich young students’ lives by creating and supporting a standards-based, easy-to-use, music program that is easy to use and affordable enough for all schools to make music a central part of the elementary school curriculum”

Vision: “To inspire in all children a deep love of learning, a passion for our rich cultural heritage, more powerful connections to diverse communities through the study and practice of music.”

Program Specifics

The program is titled First Note, and will be comprised of three essential parts: The curriculum, training, and ongoing support. The program will be taught in the classroom during the school day, once per week for 15-20 minutes, and will consist of 30 lessons over the course of the school year. The cost of the program is shared between the schools and CMF. Central to the success of the program is preparing and training teachers to incorporate First Note into their classrooms. A collaborative training program, personally assigned mentors, and ‘Teach the Teacher’ workshops’ will help connect the program to core subjects and learning concepts already being taught.

There are three primary components that will make up the First Note program; Curriculum and materials, teacher training, and on-going support.

Curriculum and Materials: All teachers will receive a Teacher Manual complete with lessons, handout and worksheets, theDVD users guide, tools for assessment, and (optional) cross-curricular activities. A music book including CD’s and suggested songs, along with a music workbook will also be part of the curriculum. To complement the curriculum, CMF will provide each classroom with an interactiveDVD with the curriculum on it, aDVD player, and (rhythm) instruments. Each student also receives their own music kit for home use.

Teacher Training: Many of our teachers have not taught music prior to starting First Note. In workshops and through our training DVD, we explain why music is such a powerful learning tool, is so important to student development, and how it relates to most other subjects being taught. The training, along with the tools we offer, makes it so any teacher can implement the First Note program.

On-going Support: Each First Note teacher will be assigned a personal Music E-Mentor. This mentor will aid the teacher in implementing the First Note program. Mentors are available to answer questions by email and will send out regular tip and hint sheets. This support continues throughout the school year.