Bringing symphony to the classroom

Bassoonist Bill Hunker of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra taught Top of the World Elementary students about Mozart, rhythm and the joy of music as part of the school’s Class Act program.

The PTA-sponsored series introduces a different famous composer to the students each year, as taught by a professional musician who also teaches about their own instrument.

Students learn musical history and composition, listening techniques and fun facts about the composer’s life.

This year’s composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was introduced by Hunker at an assembly early in the school year.

He followed the group session with grade-level classes where students got to learn about the bassoon and the origins of popular nursery rhymes, among a variety of other colorful facts.

“It’s not a bazooka and it’s not a baboon or a balloon, but it’s a”¦” Hunker began.

“Bassoon!” a group of young kids cried.

“That’s right!” he said.

When teaching them song structure, he described the ABA structure as a “song sandwich,” showing how to create more complex songs by adding new A sections, like verses, in between portions of the same B section, like a chorus.

To illustrate, he performed Mozart’s Turkish Rondeau, helping kids remember it by singing “Yabba dabba doo” as he played the piano.

The highlight for many kids was when he used part of his instrument to mimic the sound of a toilet flushing.

Thurston Middle School English teacher Randi Beckley, whose child attends Top of the World, saw Hunker teach and asked him if he would work with her own students, who were learning about the intersection of music and poetry in lyrics.

He came to their middle school and conducted a special session geared toward the students’ grade level and curriculum, using meter, rhyme schemes and other poetic devices to show students how easy it can be to create adaptations using existing music and words.

Hunker unpacked “The Two Grenadiers,” a German poem set to music by Robert Schumann, helping kids note the song’s two characters.

“Singing is the ultimate expression of a poem,” he said.

Tuesday night, Top of the World kids and their families were given the chance to see Hunker and an ensemble of musicians in a chamber music performance.

The program will continue with an assembly on April 4 where the students will show what they learned from the sessions.

Finally, students will take a field trip to see Hunker perform with the full orchestra at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Hunker sees the program as an opportunity to sell classical music to a generation that might otherwise not become familiar with it.

“I think being an orchestra musician means that you’re kind of removed from your audience,” he said.

“But when I teach kids, I can really tell if I’m connecting with them.”