Reaching Heights and The Music Settlement Announce The American String Experience

Reaching Heights and The Music Settlement announce a new music program for sixth and seventh grade string students in the CH-UH school district: The American String Experience. Students enrolled in this program will receive two lessons per week – a small group, master-class style lesson during the school day, and an orchestra class on Saturday morning. The structure of this program recognizes that many students learn faster and better when there is a social component to their education. The basis of this program, being coordinated by string instructor Cara Tweed, is the newly released O’Connor method, a carefully constructed collection of American music that prepares students for the technical and musical challenges they may find in any genre of music. The American folk, jazz, rock and classical tunes that comprise the method’s repertoire are uniquely appealing to middle school aged students.  In addition to preparing the student for the technical challenges of playing a string instrument, the method fosters musical creativity and teaches improvisation. This program will be offered at Monticello, Roxboro, and Wiley Middle Schools. For more information, contact your student’s middle school music teacher, email krista@reachingheights.org or call 216-932-5110.

October 2011- Grant Cycle on Hold

We are currently not accepting requests for funding for the October 2011 grant cycle. We will take this opportunity to assess how our grant programs can best serve the needs of students and teachers in the CH-UH schools. We want to be sure that our grants promote our students’ ability to apply critical thinking to solve real-world problems, to work collaboratively, and to be able to succeed on a global stage.

As we re-imagine this piece of our programming, we will solicit feedback from past grant recipients, other teachers and administrators, and others in the community. We welcome your feedback, by phone at 216-932-5110, or by email to Patrick Mullen or Lisa Hunt.