Musical Awakening Concert

Last Saturday, April 6, 2024, the educational programs of the Musical Arts Corporation and the Musical Awakening Program presented the fourth and final concert of the family series, Symphonic Musical Awakening.

All those present enjoyed the repertoire of the educational program with symphonic arrangements made by the composers, Armando Ramírez, Enrique B. Ríos Escribano and Carlos M. Lamby, accompanied by a booklet that highlighted the importance of being connected with our environment and nature. by Yussef Soto from the company Y No Hay Luz.

For this wonderful presentation we have the participation of the resources of the program Camila I. Otero personifying 'Melodía', Enrique B. Ríos as 'Niño Musical', Xaymara Guzmán as “Elefantito” and “Caculito” and the professionals of the theatrical environment Miguel Diffoot as 'Abuelo Geño' and Yussef Soto impersonating 'Allegretto'. Also joining the orchestra were the theater company 'Y No Hay Luz' and the bomb group 'Paracumbé', all under the direction of Yabetza Vivas, guest director.

Through the booklet, the songs and rhymes presented, the families who attended were able to dance, sing and enjoy the unique style of the Musical Awakening Program.

The concert was a complete success!

What is Musical Awakening?

It is a musical education program created by the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music in order to stimulate the development of musical skills at an early age (from birth to 5 years old), with an innovative, interdisciplinary, practical and attractive approach. It arises from the need for educational materials in Spanish that stimulate the development of skills and concepts related to musical learning. It has been implemented for more than 15 years.

Mission and vision

The mission of the Musical Awakening Project is to ensure that all boys and girls receive an education of excellence that facilitates the integral development of the human being. We are dedicated to promoting the creation of educational materials that stimulate the development of skills and concepts specifically related to musical learning to help rescue the tradition of singing in the family and at school.

Our desire is to implement the project in all educational centers in Puerto Rico from an early age onwards. Continue to provide the necessary support to early childhood teachers to develop musical activities in their classrooms through professional development workshops and a successful participant support model that includes mentoring visits and reinforcement workshops. As part of our vision is being able to expand our project in and outside of Puerto Rico.

History

Despertar Musical is a musical education program created by the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. It arose in response to the great need to have quality educational material in the area of musical education for early ages, in Spanish, and that at the same time could be made available for implementation in educational centers in the country. .

The first activity guide was the product of the investigative and creative work started in 2001 by teachers Gisela I. García Casillas, Marta Hernández Candelas and Soraya Lugo Andújar. After being implemented as a pilot project in kindergarten classrooms and Head Start centers in San Juan and Cataño, the guide was published by the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music in 2004. The massive implementation of the project began in 2006 after the launch of this first curricular work. The purpose was to be used by preschool educators (3 to 5 years old) in order to stimulate the development of musical skills in their children. This initial guide was accompanied by a compact disc with 33 songs and rhymes and a songbook.

From June 2008 to May 2010, a new curricular development was piloted, this time aimed at the infant and maternal population. During the period, the Early Head Start Program centers of the Autonomous Municipality of Carolina and some Child Care and Development Centers (known as Criollo Centers) of the Municipality of Caguas participated in the pilot project. Finally, in June 2012, the Musical Activities Guide for Infants and Mothers was published, a manual for early childhood teachers, along with a compact disc that includes 28 additional musical selections, including lullabies, instrumental music and songs to play. This work was the collaborative product of professors Haydeé Benjamín Figueroa, Nelie Lebron Robles and Sandra T. Rodríguez Guzmán. In addition, it includes an introduction by Prof. Annette López de Méndez, director of the Educational Research Center of the University of Puerto Rico.

In 2012, the review of the preschool curriculum material began. Once completed, the new material was piloted in approximately one hundred and forty-five preschool classrooms across the island. Finally, in May 2015, the 2nd edition of the Guide to Musical Activities for Preschoolers, a manual for teachers, was published. This new curricular material is the product of the collaborative work of teachers Haydeé Benjamín Figueroa, Tania J. González Colón, Marta Hernández Candelas, Carlos E. Rivera Aponte and Sandra T. Rodríguez Guzmán together with the authors of the 1st edition Gisela I. García Casillas and Soraya Lugo Andujar. This guide also contains a songbook and a new compact disc with a total of 38 songs and rhymes; the 33 originals and 5 additional ones to reinforce the already attractive offer of topics, this time with an emphasis on health, values and family.

This last group of teachers, together with Ángel Falú, Amy Cedeño, Kirine Báez, Kutasha Silva and Eugenio Figueroa, worked on the curricular development of Despertar Musical in the Preparatory School (Pequemúsicos and Niño Musical). This curricular material was created for the development of musical skills aligned with other musical teaching methodologies such as the Suzuki Method.

Program Implementation

The implementation process begins with a certification workshop that consists of 25 contact hours and continuing education. It continues with a process of support for the participant that consists of 12 mentoring visits provided to certified teachers in their classrooms by curricular consultants from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and 15 hours of reinforcement workshops. Program participants receive appropriate materials for the development of musical activities such as: teacher's guides, basic musical instruments, compact discs, among others. At the end of this process, the teacher leaves empowered and inspired to use Musical Awakening for the benefit of their students. In previous evaluations it has been shown that Musical Awakening has been of great benefit in children's mastery in the areas of music and movement, socio-emotional development, language development and mathematical logical thinking. Parents have mentioned that after starting Despertar Musical they have observed in their children great interest in playing musical instruments and an improvement in initiative, self-esteem, creativity, interpersonal relationships and conflict resolution.

Early Childhood Curriculum Support

Music is an essential part of human development and its capabilities. By making music we support different areas of development, such as: linguistic, motor, socio-emotional development and logical[1]mathematical thinking. The benefits of music are incalculable. Thanks to the impact we have had, we can verify and demonstrate the benefits that a musical education program provides at an early age.

Despertar Musical has served as a tool to regulate children's behavior through songs, facilitating changes in routines and transitions, all of this as explained by the impacted staff from the different programs, private centers and schools. The repertoire and activities provide children with tools to develop everyday skills and behaviors, such as: taking turns, attention, memory, following instructions, among others. The musical activities presented in our guides contribute to problem solving and socialization by providing children with experiences where they share instruments, work in groups and listen to instructions to achieve the goal of singing and dancing with the purpose of learning and enjoying. In addition, it has been highlighted how music promotes a positive environment that encourages self-control, discipline and good self-esteem, reinforcing values through the musical repertoire and its activities.

 Over the years we have been able to experience how Despertar Musical promotes language and cognitive development in children, since it is a tool that serves to strengthen and stimulate pronunciation, motor coordination, sequence, rhythm, and syllable division. , among others. The Despertar Musical repertoire encourages and reinforces the use of mathematics through some of its lyrics and in the use of patterns when working on musical concepts such as rhythmic skills and musical form.

Through attractive and appropriate musical activities that use play and the participation of children, we stimulate development, involving motor development. When we clap with a fixed pulse or rhythm, move in response to music and play musical instruments, we reinforce areas such as gross and fine motor, visual motor, laterality, spatial concepts, among others. In addition to the objectives presented in our guides, we promote the child's enjoyment of the experience of making music, enhancing the child's holistic development.

According to the evaluations compiled, all teachers agree on the value and relevance of the Musical Awakening Program, both for children, teachers and families. They highlight how it promotes holistic development in children, from music to behavior, motivation, social, physical and cognitive aspects. They mention how the program has generated in them a desire to learn, strengthening their musical knowledge. Singing has reemerged in classrooms and/or classroom environments, discovering that they can sing and teach music, integrating and reinforcing the concepts and skills in their educational programs in a different, active and enjoyable way. It is evident how Despertar Musical integrates and reaches families, teaching them to share with their children and the school, highlighting the importance of values through the program, recognizing the contribution of the project at a social level.

Achievements

From 2006 to 2008 and thanks to an alliance between the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, the Ángel Ramos Foundation and the Autonomous Municipality of Caguas, Despertar Musical began its massive implementation in the Head Start Centers managed by the municipality, benefiting the towns of Juncos, Gurabo, Aguas Buenas and Caguas. Thanks to this alliance, during this period approximately 200 teachers, assistants, educational supervisors and support personnel (speech and language therapists and psychologists) were trained, serving 86 classrooms and who in turn benefited around 2,200 children and their families. families.

Since then, the project has continued its expansion uninterruptedly, largely thanks to the continued sponsorship of the Ángel Ramos Foundation.

Today the project is already implemented in 30 municipalities. These are: Caguas, Juncos, Gurabo, Aguas Buenas, Carolina, Guaynabo, San Juan, Canóvanas, Loíza, Ceiba, Rio Grande, Las Piedras, Patillas, Bayamón, Trujillo Alto, Vega Alta, Aguadilla, San Lorenzo, Cayey, Aibonito, Comerío, Naranjito, San Sebastián, Moca, Isabela, Quebradillas, Mayagüez, Corozal, Guayama and Manatí; and has trained more than 1,518 teachers, assistants and support staff who in turn have served approximately 34,600 children and their families. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in the general population as well as in those with diverse needs through its implementation in the following 22 educational programs or centers:

• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Autonomous Municipality of Caguas,
• Head Start, Early Head Start and Head Start Programs ACUDEN from the Autonomous Municipality of Carolina,
• Puerto Rican Down Syndrome Foundation,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Autonomous Municipality of Guaynabo,
• Head Start Program Presbytery of San Juan (currently Quintana Baptist Church),
• Northeast Head Start and Early Head Start Community Development Institute (CDI) Programs,
• Early Head Start Community Development Institute (CDI) Program of the municipalities of San Sebastián and Moca,
• Head Start Program of the Autonomous Municipality of Patillas,
• Head Start Program Autonomous Municipality of Bayamón,
• Early Head Start Programs Autonomous Municipality of Bayamón,
• Child Care Autonomous Municipality of Bayamón,
• Puerto Rican Family Institute Head Start Program,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Foundation for the Development of the Own Home (Concessionaire and Delegate Agency),
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Autonomous Municipality of Aguadilla,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Autonomous Municipality of Humacao,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Autonomous Municipality of Guayama,
• Head Start Program of the Municipality of Vega Baja,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Municipality of Isabela,
• Head Start Program of the Municipality of Quebradillas,
• Head Start Program of the Municipality of Mayagüez,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Program, Municipality of San Germán,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Program, Municipality of Barceloneta,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs of the Municipality of Manatí,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Programs New York Foundling,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Program Municipality of Yabucoa,
• Head Start and Early Head Start Program, Municipality of Fajardo,
• Early Head Start Program Municipality of Dorado,
• First Steps Municipality of San Sebastián,
• Santiago Iglesias Pantín Public School,
• Rafael A. Delgado Mateo Public School,
• The Casa Cuna of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan,
• The Ave Maria Children's Home,
• YMCA San Juan,
• Mary Help of Christians School,
• BYou Academy,
• CODERI and
• Private Centers around the island.

Additionally, some of these programs have achieved the institutionalization of Despertar Musical, which extends the initial benefits of the implementation to new groups of children and families annually.

Added to these achievements is a collaboration with the Alliance for a Drug-Free Puerto Rico and its Sowing Values project and the development of the concept Musical Awakening, the show…

The administrative work team of the Musical Awakening Project is made up of its director, Mrs. Francelyn Figueroa Troche; the coordinators Prof. Tania J. González Colón and Prof. Nathalia Pérez and their administrative assistant Mrs. Evelyn Medina. It also has an excellent team of highly qualified curricular specialists. For more information related to the Musical Awakening Project, please contact 787-751-0160 x. 276, 291 or 244, you can also write to despertarmusical@cmpr.edu .