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POPs Program Elements

In School Education

TEACHING KIT

Organ Crawl, the POPs for KIDs video, is now available on DVD, and can stand alone as a teaching tool. This 12-minute visual aid has been used successfully all over the country. It complements the other teaching materials that prepare students for a visit to a real pipe organ.   The full teaching kit also includes worksheets, cassettes, and practical tips for integrating science, social studies, and music. Call USD 259’s Fine Arts Office at 316-973-4440 to reserve the DVD or the full kit for use in a Wichita class.

NEW ONLINE TEACHING AID

The new Internet-based teaching unit is now available on this web site.  It represents a step forward for classroom and home learning through POPs for KIDs. To see it, click  “POPs Teaching Elements” in the menu above.

The new Teaching Unit was demonstrated for USD 259 music teachers May 1-3, 2012, and at the Teaching Parents Association Convention June 1-2. It allows classroom teachers to use the unit on a SMART Board, with its touch-sensitive display front and center;  or, to use it in the traditional way, with a simple computer screen. From the lead page of the presentation, users can click on links that will help explain the specific parts of the pipe organ and show videos of the instrument as it is being built.

In addition, from a supplemental document teachers and students will be able to access videos of historic organs and of organists playing the works of the various organ composers, and to read brief composer biographies. A third document also gives links to various Music Theory study programs online.

Out of School Education

CHILDREN’S CONCERTS

POPs for KIDs usually sponsors at least one Children’s Concert each year, presenting a major recitalist in a program especially designed for young audiences.   Programs are announced in the Wichita Eagle, the Arts Partners Newsletter, and in the Wichita Chapter AGO Newsletter, as well as on their web site.

If you would like to be notified of such programs, please watch for this news, or contact POPs Director Carole Pracht to be included on a mailing list.

PIPE ORGAN DEMONSTRATION

Experience the sights and sounds of a real pipe organ as part of a group demonstration at one of the 65 pipe organs located in Wichita. See the various shapes of pipes, and tour the insides of this fascinating instrument! Numerous well qualified organists are available to play for these demonstrations. Young keyboard players can also try their own pieces at the pipe organ.

Several schools are located near churches with pipe organs, and arrangements can be made for school children to visit those sites. The walking tour will save on costs for a field trip, and can include details of architecture and stained glass, as well as the pipe organ. Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8.

Contact us at: agowichita@gmail.com to arrange a demonstration.

The Wichita Chapter’s Sunflower Organ Initiative can also arrange for pipe organ demonstrations, as “Family Organ Tours,” in other parts of the State. Contact us at: agowichita@gmail.com

POPs for KIDs has sponsored two Pipe Organ Art Contests in its 20-year history, encouraging young people themselves to make drawings of the pipe organ.   Most recently, to commemorate the Chapter’s AGO Region VI Convention in 2009, one contest resulted in winner Joel Sponsel’s new design, shown here. Note- and post-cards with this design are on sale: Contact us at: agowichita@gmail.com to obtain a set.

Winning designs from the first contest in 1994 were used on the T-shirts POPs volunteers wear at concerts and demonstrations, as well as on note-cards sold then to benefit the Project.

Summer Organ Study Scholarships

The Wichita Chapter also sponsors a number of scholarships for organ study each summer, for children from grades 3 – 11, the awards based on auditions in May. For more information, Contact us at: agowichita@gmail.com