GRICELDA CALDERON, ELM MUSICIANSHIP TEACHER
by Kate Fitzsimmons
Our hearts are overflowing, mostly with joy, for Gricelda Calderon who is stepping into her new role as a full time music teacher at Davidson Middle School in the fall. While it is bittersweet to see her move on, we are proud of the wonderful work she will be doing at Davidson by using her talent, both as a musician, a teacher and a role model.
Gricelda earned a BA in music and a teaching credential at Sonoma State University. As the first in her family to graduate from college, Gricelda made a conscious decision to stay close to home and give back to her community. She began with ELM as a high school intern in our summer program. When she started as a teaching artist, she had many ideas and aspirations, but it was working with the other teaching artists that helped her mature and solidify her own teaching style. Her work with ELM students included teaching basic music theory, rhythm, melody and harmony.
She said, “Working with children on music theory, without an instrument, allows them to experience, say rhythm, in a different way. They get to discover why learning music theory matters. That is reinforced when they go to their instrument class. They see the same concepts but in action on their instruments and that's very valuable.”
Read Marin IJ feature in 2018 featuring Gricelda: San Rafael music program enriches lives of students
Gricelda added, “ELM has given me the time to get to know the students, to get to know the way they interact with each other outside of the classroom setting. I learned that it is 100% okay to be flexible, to just kind of throw out your lesson plan if it's not working. If the students are not responding, I can go off into a different direction, as long as the students are engaged and learning.”
Her teaching duties at Davidson Middle School (which she attended) will include three orchestras and two choir classes she’ll be directing which represents a new and exciting challenge for her.
“I want to continue the success of Davidson’s choir and orchestra programs, growing what is already a big program with high standards. I love to sing, but the choir will be a step in a new direction.”
“I joined ELM, she explained, “because I wished that I would have had a program like ELM when I was growing up. I was in the same socioeconomic status as most of these students in the Canal neighborhood and my family couldn't afford to pay for private music lessons.” She continued, “The vision of free, scholarship-based music lessons is inspirational for me as a teacher. I'm giving back to the community that I grew up in. I am especially proud that our ELM students are able to see themselves in me as a role model, for whatever career they choose. I start off and end the year describing how I went through the public school system in San Rafael, just as they are. I made it all the way through college and now I am a full-time teacher, pursuing my dreams. I want our students and their families to know that it can be done.”
