The key to music education

Struck by the lack of music programs, one Harbor View mother chose to take matters into her own hands. It’s been 50 years since the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, and Beethoven still hasn’t rolled over. Not as long as there are beginning piano classes.

It’s a happy quirk of fate that the most famous tune in all of classical music, “Ode to Joy,” is also the easiest to play. At Harbor View Elementary School, students in Donna Sirbegovic’s piano class spent the first day learning those surging, ascending notes from the Ninth Symphony.

With that tune mastered, the students got to choose their own material for the next eight weeks, selecting songs out of a book and playing them on electronic keyboards. By the end of an eight-week session, many of them were accomplished musicians -- even those who had never touched a piano before.

“All the parents were complaining, ‘We don’t have any music programs,’ so I spent the summer putting this together,” said Sirbegovic, a parent at Harbor View.

At the beginning of the school year, Sirbegovic contacted Musical Minds, a Los Angeles-based educational agency, which provided keyboards and instructors for Harbor View students. Not sure how much of a market there was for piano classes, Sirbegovic originally posted a signup sheet for 16 children when school resumed in September.

Within weeks, that one class had expanded to five.

“This is really fun,” said sixth-grader Jake Jones, 11, after class last Monday. “You get to hang out with your friends after school.”

Over the last two months, Jake and his friends had done far more than hang out. The songbook that Musical Minds provides to students features a wide array of tunes, from classical to alternative rock to the Beatles. “First Date” by Blink-182 was a popular selection for many.

Fifth-grader Maddie Hayward, 10, had never taken music lessons before she signed up for the after-school club. Although playing the piano requires quite a bit of technical skill, such as learning flat and sharp notes, Maddie got the hang of it quickly.

“Sometimes it can be hard, but some of the songs are pretty easy after you’ve played them awhile,” she said.

Her favorite tunes to play, she said, were “Happy Birthday” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Other favorites mentioned by students were the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Behind These Hazel Eyes” and Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

Monday was the last day of the first eight-week session of the year; there are two to follow. To show off their skills, students gave recitals in the multipurpose room.

“It’s been a huge excitement,” Sirbegovic said. “Parents are telling me their kids are coming home and playing the piano, and it’s never been played in the house before.”20051129iqoqpwknDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Samantha Sanchez practices the Disney song “Haunted Mansion” before a recital at Harbor View Elementary. Blink-182’s “First Date” was also popular.