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Introduction |
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Hello and welcome. My name is Sally Oswald and I am the music educator at Lincoln Elementary School. I have been at Lincoln since 1994 and before that, I taught K-12 music for nine years in Cotopaxi, Co. I received most of my undergraduate education from Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana and finished my teaching degree at what is now Colorado State University of Pueblo. In 1997, I completed my Master of Arts degree in Creative Arts from Leslie College. I have two children, a daughter, Elizabeth, who is a nurse in Denver, and a son, Jesse, who is completing his teaching degree at Colorado State University. I love to read, make music with friends, and spend time with my three delightful grandchildren. Music has been part of my life since I was a very young child, and I am honored to share my musical gifts with Lincoln School Students. I truly love my job, and feel so fortunate to be able to earn my living in a career that is so much fun. I invite you to explore this site further to find out more about the music program at Lincoln Elementary School. |
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Why I Teach Music MUSIC IS A SCIENCE: It is exact, specific; and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at one with the most exact control of time. MUSIC IS MATHEMATICAL: It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper. MUSIC IS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English-but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complex and universal language. MUSIC IS HISTORY: Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feeling. MUSIC IS PHYSICAL EDUCATION: it requires fantastic co-ordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets. MUSIC IS ALL THESE THINGS, BUT MOST OF ALL, MUSIC IS ART THAT IS WHY I TEACH MUSIC: Not because I expect you to major in music...not because I expect you to play or sing all your life...not so you can relax or have fun... BUT: so you will be human-so you will recognize beauty-so you will be sensitive-so you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world-so you will have something to cling to-so you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good...in short, more life. OF WHAT VALUE WILL IT BE TO MAKE A PROSPEROUS LIVING UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO LIVE?
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