Culture Corner: The Universal Language

By Nichole Hellman
University of Arizona '08

Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snow Man, Christmas Tree, Little Drummer Boy: Not exactly the songs I would want my children coming home from public school singing. Unfortunately, these were the regulars around winter recital time at my elementary school. Now that I am an elementary music teacher, I have made it my goal to broaden the musical horizons of my students, rather than limit them to Christmas carols that they hear every year.

This is my third week working as an elementary general music teacher in Northern Virginia. Ironically, I hardly remember any of my musical experience during elementary school. Starting my schooling in a secular private school, my parents recall that I came home after the first week of school singing "Jesus loves me" songs. Obviously, after this happened, I immediately started attending religious school and joined the synagogue choir for my first experience of Jewish music. Fortunately, in today's diversely populated schools, music education is viewed much differently.

Now that I am a public school elementary music teacher, I have discovered the importance of exposing students to as many different types of music as possible. I teach grades K through 6, an autism class and a 5^th and 6^th grade choir, which means I have a total of 17 different classes. In addition, my school houses students from several different countries, many different religions, and all different backgrounds.

In a music classroom, I have the opportunity to teach students about the music of all cultures and all religions. As a matter of fact, in my chorus this year, my students will be learning songs in Hebrew, Swahili, Spanish and Korean, as well as American and Australian folk songs. While teaching songs from cultures that students may not be familiar with, I make sure to choose songs that students will connect with and enjoy, so that they begin to feel a connection to other cultures. For example, the Israeli piece that I chose is an upbeat and exciting version of "Dodi Li," giving students a memorable introduction to Israeli music. With such a diverse population of students, I find that teaching a variety of music not only promotes the understanding of other cultures, but it encourages the appreciation and acceptance of all cultures and religions.

Perhaps through this diverse view of music as a "universal language" in public schools, we can teach the next generation to accept the cultures and beliefs of others, while continuing to appreciate their own.

Nichole Hellman graduated in May from the University of Arizona. She is now a kindergarten through sixth grade general music teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia.

[Posted 9/29/08]