A New York music education experience from Porterville

Central California Connections Academy, a kindergarten to 12th grade virtual public school available in Tulare County, has launched something unique and new — online Julliard music classes.

Julliard eLearning is a collaboration between The Julliard School — the world renowned school of music located at the Lincoln Center in New York City — and Pearson’s Connections Education. Together it offers quality K-12 online music education to students everywhere,  a press release sent by Rebecca Buddingh, of Central California Connections Academy, reported.

The online courses — the conservatory’s first-ever online courses for grades K-12 — offer educational institutions an affordable option to keeping their K-12 arts program alive or serve to enhance current music offerings.

Currently, more than 600 K-12 students are enrolled in Julliard eLearning courses for the spring semester.

Students enrolled in the Central California Connections Academy can take the classes as part of their regular curriculum.

Classes offered are feature instruction, virtual instruction and multimedia lessons. Musical concepts and techniques are explained through multimedia. The class includes demonstrations, recordings and video performances by faculty, students and alumni from Julliard.

Some of the courses currently being offered include: Experiencing Music for kindergartners to second graders; Discovering Music for third to fifth grade; Exploring Music for sixth to eighth grade; and Living Music for high school students — a class that studies rhythm, beats, notation and music history.

The courses are available to individual students and school districts. Parents and school districts can take advantage of the courses by purchasing them, at a cost of an approximate $250 to $300 per course, for their students. Tuition courses are also available to adult lifelong learners.

However, most of the connections academy school students can enroll in the courses as part of the virtual school program for free. Students can learn anytime and anywhere there is an internet connection and the courses are constructed around, and aligned to, the National Standards for Music Education.

The music educatoin is just the beginning, with more arts courses to follow.

In the future, courses such as music theory, music history, drama history or dance history may expand the Julliard eLearning offerings. Synchronous virtual music instruction courses and virtual master classes are also being considered.

Central California Connections Academy — which serves Tulare County — is currently enrolling students for the 2013-14 school year and is hosting information sessions throughout the spring.

One information session will be offered in Porterville from 6:30 to 8 p.m. April 18 at Holiday Inn Express, 840 S. Jaye St.

Online information sessions will also be offered at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and at varying times on April 9, 17, 19 and 22; and May 3, 10, 20 and 28.

Other sessions will also be held in Visalia, Hanford, Selma, Fresno, Clovis, Delano, Bakersfield, Tehachapi and Ridgecrest.

Visit www.connectionsacademy.com/california-central-school/events.aspx for times and locations.

At Connections Academy, each student’s learning plan is aligned with skill level and needs.

“Virtual education is continually growing in California, with 23,000 students across the state enrolled in full-time online charter schools in the 2011-2012 school year — a 22 percent increase from the previous year,” the report said. “Students work at a flexible pace and can expand learning opportunities with unique offerings, such as the new Julliard elearning music courses.”

Visit www.connectionsacademy.com/california-central-school/home.aspx for more information about the academy or call 888-440-2899 to speak with a representative about the Julliard eLearning program.

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045. Follow her on Twitter @Avila_recorder.