Music Teacher Feature: Sue Leithold-Bowcock

What would you say is your primary instrument?
My voice. I am a lyric soprano.

What grade level(s) do you teach? What types of music classes do you teach?
I teach classroom music to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Each class meets three times a week for 30 minutes.

Do you direct any ensembles? If so, which ones?
I direct 90 4th and 5th grade musicians who participate in the Lincoln Choir. I am also one of the directors of the Owatonna All City Choir.

In what ways do you try to encourage your students to appreciate and participate in music?
Actually, I don't believe in music appreciation. We don't have "math appreciation," where you watch others doing addition and subtraction, you appreciate it, but you don't actually solve the math problems yourself.

Those who truly appreciate music are musicians. I believe that all kids are musicians and music is for everyone. Music teachers do not "give" kids their musicianship it is already within them. My goal is to help each child unlock his or her musical gift. All children can sing, all children are capable of being musically literate. Music is for everyone — no exceptions.

What's one of the most memorable moments you've had in the classroom (or had while teaching music)?
World music is an integral part of our Kodály-inspired curriculum in elementary music. I was teaching an Ethiopian game called "Kumbaraza" about a turtle (awesome game, by the way). One of my students, she and her family were Ethiopian refugees, having escaped a political coup. The first day we experienced the song she came to me after class and said, "Mrs. Bowcock, when we sang that song it was like you were calling my name." Who knew that 8 measures of music could bring that much joy?

If you were to help program a day of music at Classical MPR, what would be a piece of music you'd play in the morning? What piece of music would you play in the evening?
For the morning piece, I would choose Dancing Song (Táncnóta) by Zoltán Kodály:

For the evening, I'd pick Esti dal, also by Kodály:


What is it about these pieces that make them a couple of your favorites?
While many people know Zoltán Kodály as a composer, few people know that he was the finest music educator of the 20th century, advocating music literacy for all children. Both of these pieces were intended to be sung by young musicians. Kodály, along with B$#233;la Bartók, collected indigenous Hungarian songs with the intention of preserving the native tongue of his country. Táncnóta is representative of how he used his folk influences in his compositions. Even without knowing the translation, it is clear that the music reflects the joy of living, Esti Dal means "evening," and it has some of the most sonorous harmonies that have ever been written for treble voices. It is like a musical sigh of a day well-lived.