CSO Connect program sparks discovery for teachers and students

March is Music in our Schools Month and a time to recognize the important work of music teachers in the lives of students. This year, Chicago Public School (CPS) music teacher Andrew Gonzalez offers a reflection on how the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Connect Elementary School Partnership program, which is produced each year by the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO, has positively impacted his teaching.  

Participating in the Connect Elementary School Partnership program has had a meaningful impact on my teaching practice at Mozart Elementary School. The program has provided a powerful opportunity to collaborate with other educators, explore interdisciplinary learning, and design lessons that connect music to broader academic concepts. Through this experience, I have been able to strengthen how I teach the elements of music while also helping students make connections to science through creative exploration.

One of the most valuable aspects of the program has been the opportunity for collaboration. Throughout the Connect professional development sessions, I have worked alongside experienced teachers — especially other music educators — to exchange ideas and develop new approaches to instruction. These conversations consistently push my thinking and inspire new lessons and even tweak the lessons I’ve developed over the years. Hearing how other teachers approach similar challenges helps me refine my own strategies and ultimately improves the learning experiences I create for my students. The collaborative environment encourages experimentation and reflection, which has been essential for my professional growth.

Hearing how other teachers approach similar challenges helps me refine my own strategies and ultimately improves the learning experiences I create for my students. The collaborative environment encourages experimentation and reflection, which has been essential for my professional growth.

This year’s Connect theme explored the classical elements of music alongside the elements of the universe. At first, the theme felt broad and somewhat overwhelming, but as the four professional development sessions unfolded throughout the year, the ideas began to take shape in a clear and meaningful way. For my classroom, I chose to focus on the states of matter and how they move, connecting this science concept to the core elements of music. This allowed me to design lessons where students explored both scientific ideas and musical expression at the same time.

A particularly exciting collaboration occurred with our fourth-grade science curriculum. During their sound waves unit, students were already learning about how vibrations create sound. This created a natural bridge to the musical concepts we explore in music class, such as volume (dynamics) and pitch. By aligning our lessons, students were able to see how scientific principles directly influence musical sound. Instead of learning these concepts in isolation, students experienced how sound behaves both as a scientific phenomenon and as an artistic tool.

Instead of learning these concepts in isolation, students experienced how sound behaves both as a scientific phenomenon and as an artistic tool.

The Connect program also encouraged me to rethink how I teach the elements of music. Rather than introducing many concepts at once, I focused on breaking lessons down so that students could explore each element systematically. My fourth-grade students are studying four key musical elements: volume, pitch, timbre, and articulation. For each element, students learn not only what they mean, but also experiment with creating sounds that demonstrate that concept. Students perform short musical ideas for their classmates and reflect on how each element changed the character of the music.

This approach has also added an important element of joy and engagement to learning. Concepts that might otherwise feel abstract, or even boring, become exciting when students are able to explore them through music and creativity. When students experiment with sound, movement, and composition, they become curious about the ideas behind the music. This has been especially meaningful for many of our dual language learners and diverse learners, who often find another way into the content through listening, creating, and performing rather than relying only on verbal explanations.

I have even seen moments when this interdisciplinary approach helped bring out student voices that are usually quiet. In one class discussion, a student who rarely speaks in music class made a thoughtful connection between the science of sound waves and the musical concepts we were studying. Moments like this remind me that when learning feels creative and meaningful, students who might normally stay silent often find the confidence and curiosity to participate.

These experiences will ultimately lead to a culminating project where students compose their own short pieces of music. Their compositions will include an ostinato pattern and follow a specific musical form such as ABA, ABB, or ABC. Through these structures, students will creatively represent the states of matter through sound, exploring how musical ideas can move, change, and transform just as matter does in science. Later in the year, students from Mozart Elementary will share this work with students from Chopin Elementary as part of the program’s culminating collaboration.

Another highlight of the program is the involvement of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Civic Orchestra musicians. Their performances and classroom visits help bring these ideas to life for students. Seeing professional musicians perform not only inspires students but also reinforces the musical concepts they have been exploring in class. The third professional development was especially helpful as we learned how the small ensembles of Civic musicians created their own programs to bring to our school by combining specific musical concepts and different aspects from this year’s theme: the universe. It’s only solidified by my epiphany that you don’t have to teach about everything under the sun and beyond, just a few concepts are enough. Furthermore, these visits build excitement and provide a meaningful connection between classroom learning and the professional world of music.

Importantly, the learning that takes place through this project aligns with Illinois state music standards while also supporting our fourth-grade science curriculum. By integrating the arts with science content, students develop a deeper understanding of both subjects. They learn that music is not only about performance, but also about observation, experimentation, creative expression, and reflection and revising their work.

Overall, the Connect program has strengthened my teaching by encouraging collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and creative lesson design. It has helped me build meaningful connections between music and science while giving students opportunities to explore, perform, and create. Most importantly, it reminds me that when educators collaborate and approach learning creatively, students benefit in powerful and lasting ways.

About the Connect program
Building on decades of partnerships with Chicago Public Schools, the Connect Elementary School partnership program provides teacher professional development in the area of arts-integration. Participating teachers design curriculum inspired by orchestral repertoire and a yearly theme tied to CSO for Kids school concerts. The program also includes in-school performances by musicians from the Civic Orchestra, a field trip to a CSO for Kids concert, and a culminating event where students share their original musical compositions. 

For CPS high schools with band and orchestra programs, the Connect High School partnership program provides mentorship to students by Civic Orchestra musicians, attendance at CSO open rehearsals and Youth Concerts, and a culminating event where students sit side by side on stage at Symphony Center with CSO and Civic musicians during the Chicago Youth and Music Festival. 

All partnerships aspire to build relationships with classical music and a sense of connection to the CSO Association. Partnerships also respond to the unique needs of partner schools and advocate for equitable access to music education.

There are currently 30 Chicago Public Schools participating in the Connect program. Schools and teachers interested in becoming a Connect school can contact the Negaunee Music Institute to learn more.

The theme for this year’s Connect program is Classical Elements and it previews school and family concerts March 20-21 featuring conductor Mei-Ann Chen and members of the CSO. The concerts are a musical exploration of the elements air, fire and water that create a balance on planet Earth and encourage students to discover how we are all part of that harmony.