Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
First time’s a charm
 |
| Larry Newman with his Emmy and a collection of musical instruments Friday. (Alex Collins/The Leader) |
Elementary school band director’s initial effort at filmmaking earns him an Emmy Award, and his students are the stars.
By Alison Tully
For Larry Newman, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School’s band director, a high-definition camera and weekly lessons at the Apple Store were all it took to secure an Emmy Award.
Newman, who accepted the award on Sept. 6, won for his film, “Children’s Music Workshop: 2007 All Schools Honor Orchestra,” in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Children/Youth and Music Programming. The film featured nine Burbank Unified School District elementary school students — Alec Bieker, Abhi Varma, Ayaka Kojima, Alex Tarandek, Alan Edgar, Pablo Edgar, Nicole Bieker, William Dougall and Nick Van Loo.
The work shows the annual UCLA concert of 130 honors orchestra students enrolled in his Children’s Music Workshop program. The workshop, which he founded in 1994, has set up weekly orchestra instruction classes in 30 elementary schools across Los Angeles County, including Jefferson Elementary School in Burbank.
“I was really surprised when I found out about the Emmy because it was the first video I ever made . . . I just purchased a high-definition camera and went to the Apple store for weekly lessons on Final Cut Pro,” Newman said.
Students at Jefferson and other participating schools spend an hour once a week learning the basics of instrumental music. Newman not only helps find scholarships for students to purchase their own saxophone or violin, but also provides them a series of self-written textbooks.
“What really attracted me to Larry’s program is his philosophy. I come from a performance background where you are critiqued on a daily basis and have to be perfect. While it worked for me, a lot of people get discouraged and drop out of music,” said Jefferson music teacher Brenda Etterbeck, who brought Newman’s program to the school seven years ago. “His program is instead about simply bringing the passion of music to children: not to become the best, but to fall in love with it.”
The film includes interviews with students, parents and principals who discuss the positive effects the program has had on their lives.
“My grades improved a lot after taking the program,” student Valery Vasquez said. “I will never forget it because we all got so close. We were like a family. Brenda and Larry taught us so much and were always there to help us whenever we needed it.”
Valery’s mom also saw the difference in her daughter’s education.
“My husband and I both loved that my daughter, Valery, stayed in the program at Jefferson all five years she was there because we know about the studies they’ve done that show that learning music helps improve a child’s academic skills in areas like mathematics,” said Marcy Vasquez, whose other daughter, second-grader Vivian, is also enrolled in the program. “In fifth grade, Valery got a perfect score on her math test, which I attribute to her being in Larry’s program.”
ALISON TULLY covers City Hall and public safety. She may be reached at (818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at alison.tully@ latimes.com.
Newman, who accepted the award on Sept. 6, won for his film, “Children’s Music Workshop: 2007 All Schools Honor Orchestra,” in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Children/Youth and Music Programming. The film featured nine Burbank Unified School District elementary school students — Alec Bieker, Abhi Varma, Ayaka Kojima, Alex Tarandek, Alan Edgar, Pablo Edgar, Nicole Bieker, William Dougall and Nick Van Loo.
The work shows the annual UCLA concert of 130 honors orchestra students enrolled in his Children’s Music Workshop program. The workshop, which he founded in 1994, has set up weekly orchestra instruction classes in 30 elementary schools across Los Angeles County, including Jefferson Elementary School in Burbank.
“I was really surprised when I found out about the Emmy because it was the first video I ever made . . . I just purchased a high-definition camera and went to the Apple store for weekly lessons on Final Cut Pro,” Newman said.
advertisement
“What really attracted me to Larry’s program is his philosophy. I come from a performance background where you are critiqued on a daily basis and have to be perfect. While it worked for me, a lot of people get discouraged and drop out of music,” said Jefferson music teacher Brenda Etterbeck, who brought Newman’s program to the school seven years ago. “His program is instead about simply bringing the passion of music to children: not to become the best, but to fall in love with it.”
The film includes interviews with students, parents and principals who discuss the positive effects the program has had on their lives.
“My grades improved a lot after taking the program,” student Valery Vasquez said. “I will never forget it because we all got so close. We were like a family. Brenda and Larry taught us so much and were always there to help us whenever we needed it.”
Valery’s mom also saw the difference in her daughter’s education.
“My husband and I both loved that my daughter, Valery, stayed in the program at Jefferson all five years she was there because we know about the studies they’ve done that show that learning music helps improve a child’s academic skills in areas like mathematics,” said Marcy Vasquez, whose other daughter, second-grader Vivian, is also enrolled in the program. “In fifth grade, Valery got a perfect score on her math test, which I attribute to her being in Larry’s program.”
ALISON TULLY covers City Hall and public safety. She may be reached at (818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at alison.tully@ latimes.com.
Save/Share
 |
 |
|
| Stepping into Hawaii | A band with a family plan |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of burbankleader.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
Not registered yet?
RSS