A few short years ago, Loma Portal Elementary School students had to wait until fourth grade to enjoy and benefit from music classes. But when a talented musician and teacher appeared as a volunteer to direct the school’s music program, there was a change in curriculum.
With the support of Loma Portal’s Parent Teacher Association behind her, Point Loma resident Alicia McMillan has brought music to kindergarten through third-grade classes.
McMillan’s passion for teaching stems from her own experiences as well as from research on the link between music and education.
“There have been studies upon studies that show the correlation between music and higher intelligence,” McMillan said. “There’s just so much factual evidence that music increases test scores, memory and enhances spatial intelligence.”
McMillan added that, according to a recent Canadian study, younger “” even preschool “” children experience profound benefits from exposure to music.
The study, according to an article published by The Canadian Press in September 2006, stated that children as young as 4 show advanced brain development and improved memory. The researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, also found that children who took music lessons showed more changes in brain responses.
Even when parents hear only what sounds like random notes or nonsense, it’s likely their children are developing their brains in ways that could enhance their overall thinking, the study reported.
McMillan couldn’t agree more. She begins with the most basic lessons that adults easily take for granted.
Playing singing games as part of the national standards for music education, helps children to learn to sing, match pitch, learn beat and rhythm and move their bodies.
“[Children] don’t know how to distinguish loud from soft, or especially high from low,” McMillan said, adding that it is extremely difficult for young children to differentiate between long and short. Distinguishing these basics, she said, can be taught.
Mary Lee Silva, a third-grade teacher at Loma Portal, said she saw a difference in her students after the music lessons.
“They are learning to listen,” Silva said, adding that McMillan’s unique approach “” she uses a belt system similar to that of karate, allowing the kids to see their accomplishments and growth “” is popular with the kids.
Silva noted that McMillan’s curriculum includes music appreciation, or introducing her classes to different composers, their music and their lives.
“For some kids,” said Silva, “it’s the highlight of their day.”
McMillan said each month she features a different composer. The children hear several selections throughout the month, learning instruments and musical styles. She does not limit the style to classical, adding that jazz and Louis Armstrong were recently featured.
In addition to her commitment at the school, McMillan serves as the organist and children’s choir director at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church.
At the church, McMillan oversees three choirs: Joyful Praise, for second- through sixth-graders, Cherubs, for kindergartners and first-graders, and Angels, who are just 4 years old.
McMillan, who began the church program in 1999 with eight kids, is currently preparing the choirs “” now comprising some 40 participants “” for a pageant in the spring.
And if that doesn’t keep McMillan busy enough, she is also a single mother to Erich, a third-grader at Loma Portal, and teaches privately in the afternoons. All this from a musician who never imagined she’d be a teacher.
“When I was in college,” McMillan reminisced, “I never thought I would like teaching.”
McMillan found herself divorced and in need of more work.
“I tried a teaching job,” she smiled, “and I loved it.”
Born in Poland, McMillan began taking piano lessons at age 6. She attended the Music Academy High School in Chicago, where she studied organ. She received a bachelor’s degree in organ performance at the University of Tampa in Florida and a master’s in music from Northwestern University.
She finds time to perform now and then, playing the organ regularly at church concerts and performing in public recitals as a member of the San Diego chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Her next scheduled appearance is Friday, March 16, at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in La Mesa, as part of the Five Free Pipe Organ Concerts series. She will perform on the church’s 1,450-pipe custom organ.
In the meantime, McMillan continues to enlighten the students at Loma Portal Elementary.
“Alicia is very professional and talented,” said Silva. “We’re very lucky to have her.”
For more information on McMillan’s upcoming performance, call (619) 466-1963.