Current program: All 3rd grade students are taught General Music once-a-week for 40 minutes. All 4th and 5th graders choose either choir, string instruments, or wind instruments and are taught twice-a-week during the school day. Classes are 40 minutes each. The ten elementary music teachers are credentialed and are funded by the district. A wide range of music classes is offered at all the middle and high schools. SMMEF, the Gail Dorin Music Foundation, and the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation fund the Dream Strings, Dream Winds and Dream Voice programs at the four Title I elementary schools and at two of the middle schools to support students whose families cannot afford additional music instruction. Nearly half of all K-12 students participate in the district’s music program!
Performances: In addition to winter and spring concerts at all schools and the annual district wide “Stairway of the Stars” concert, Malibu High and Samohi also present choral “Masterworks” concerts, and the Samohi Viking Marching Band participates in competitions and tournaments. In 2011, the JAMS Wind Ensemble and the Samohi Symphony Orchestra were among only six groups invited to perform at the California All-State Music Education Conference. The Lincoln Middle School Concert Band was invited to perform at the California All-State Music Education Conference in 2013. The Samohi Jazz Band and Jazz Combo both placed first in the nationwide Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Festival in 2011.
Honors: Many district students are selected each year for honor choirs, orchestras, and bands on the regional and state levels by ACDA, CAJ, CBDA, CODA, SCSBOA, and SCVA. District students have also been chosen as finalists in the Los Angeles County Music Center “Spotlight” Awards, and have been selected for the ACDA national honor choirs, the ASTA National High School Honor Orchestra, and the GRAMMY High School Jazz Band and Jazz Choir. Two Samohi students were selected for the Inaugural National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA) in 2013.
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