Musical Moments
Season 1 Episode 1

Our first episode covers how to choose an instrument. We travel to Table Mound Elementary where fourth graders are selecting what they think they might like to play and giving their choice a test drive.

August 2009

Video by Gary Olsen

usical Moments for 2009 has been taken over by two music teachers in the district, Brian Enabnit and Deb Stevens, for the purpose of following the fortunes of real 4th and 5th grade musicians as the ascend the ladder of virtuosity. The proverbial question when a young students take up a musical instrument is, "Will they stick with it?" This is what our series aims to discover and promote.

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The series television show, airing on Mediacom Cable, Channel 19 and this website, has traditionally featured student musicians of every talent, but now there is some structure to the series as we endeavor to provide students with a better showcase for their talents, and parents with the information they need to encourage their students to become "musicians for life."

The show was conceived by Gary Olsen, Media Developer for the Dubuque Community Schools. "We've been doing little segments on student musicians over the years, but it always seemed difficult to get the music teachers in our district to provide opportunities outside of the normal concert and stage musical performances to produce music videos that would really get up close and personal with our many talented student musicians. They just had too much on their plates," explains Olsen.

"This initiative is part of what I call our 'classroom without walls,' in which we use television to allow our students to share their personal insights into their creative process," explains Olsen. "The students become the teachers in this virtual classroom, and students and family members throughout the district can watch these videos and learn from them. And television is so portable, we can produce a show anywhere at any time."

Olsen shared his enthusiasm for the project with Deb Stevens and Brian Enabnit, instrumental music teachers in our elementary schools, and they warmed to the idea of actually hosting the show. "Anything to provide students and their families with good information on how to encourage musical talent," explains Deb. In fact, on the first day of a teacher in-service, the pair approached Olsen to ask for his help in following elementary school musicians throughout the year to provide incentive to students to stay with the program.

"I explained to Deb and Brian that they would have to help make the production go smoothly and productively. "We are doing one show a month, and we review what we've learned the previous episode and teach parents and students something new each time. Meanwhile," explains Olsen, "we showcase students' progress and talents. It's a great formula and relatively easy to produce. But the key is preparation by the teachers, Brian and Deb. "Once the camera starts rolling on a segment, we don't stop the camera until it's finished," explains Olsen. "It's like live television."

"We've got to do our homework, and that's why we teamed up," says Deb of her partnership with Brian. "Brian and I share the load and share the show's host duties, and we encourage and compliment each other in each episode."

"My hope, adds Olsen, "is I can take any success we realize from this activity and migrate the formula to math, science and writing," explains Olsen.