Eleven Leaps to Literacy for Beginning Band, Strings, and Recorder

Eleven Leaps to Literacy is a balanced and progressive approach for developing literacy that is tied into what students already know from their general music experience. The Eleven Leaps to Literacy model includes singing songs from around the world and then adding solfège, singing with note names, singing with rhythm syllables, and counting before playing a song with notation alone. This approach ensures the success of students of all abilities, all races, and all ethnicities. It’s time for our instrumental beginning classes to teach musicality and literacy to students with a curriculum that ensures success and retention into middle school and high school.

Michael Francis Smith is an American composer, songwriter, educator, and curriculum consultant with 23 years of experience as a K-12 Music Department Chair in two Massachusetts school districts. With a passion for music education, he has presented at events such as the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and Music Educators Association state conferences in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. In August 2024, he presented at the Conn Selmer Institute (CSI) Northeast Conference in Ithaca, New York. Currently, he is dedicated to nurturing young musicians in grades 3-5 at the new Intermediate School in Bourne, Massachusetts. His programs “It’s Time to Play (A Band Instrument)” and “It’s Time to Play (The Recorder)” accelerate student learning and enhance literacy as students sing and play a diverse repertoire of songs. His Eleven Leaps to Literacy approach bridges the gap between general music and instrumental music, unlocking each student’s full potential.

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