SUTHERLIN, Oregon—Out in the real world, life doesn't divide into neat boxes. That's why, at East Primary School, elementary teacher Lana Graff makes sure that learning doesn't get compartmentalized, either. She's a music specialist, but says, "My job is to teach the whole child, not a subject area." By combining music and technology, she manages to teach her rural students about math, science, the natural world, "and many more 'non-musical' topics."

When the school's third-graders were studying geology in their regular classroom, Graff wrote a musical play for them to perform called "Rocks In My Head." Months later, students are still bringing rocks to share in the music room—an interdisciplinary learning place where they know that all subjects are worth investigating.

To help each student "awaken his or her inner musician," Graff starts by teaching students simple songs they can sing and play on the glockenspiel (which has larger keys than a piano keyboard, making it easier for little fingers to play successfully). Once they get the hang of a song on the glockenspiel—which, for most students, takes just a few minutes—they tackle the same tune on electronic keyboards. The lyrics reinforce what students are learning in science, math, social studies, or virtually any other subject.

A new school, East Primary is well equipped with technology. Every classroom has several computers for student use, plus a networked computer workstation for the teacher. The music room also has 13 portable electronic keyboards. By keeping the volume turned low, Graff can have every keyboard in use at once so that all students are engaged and active.

"My teaching assistants are the students themselves," she explains. "The first child who is able to play a song correctly teaches another, who then joins the first in teaching another until all have been taught." The experience of teaching helps cement student understanding.

In the course of learning and teaching a song, Graff says, "students internalize the structure and relationship of keys on the keyboard. They see that black keys are grouped in twos and threes while white keys are continuous." Students figure out which end of the instrument produces high sounds and which end produces low sounds. They hear the dissonance of playing two keys located right next to each other and the more pleasant sound that results when they play a simple chord.

"These experiences produce learning by providing the students with tactile, aural, and visual input concurrently," Graff explains, "giving them a multisensory understanding of how music works."

It doesn't surprise her to learn that researchers are exploring connections between studying music and learning math. Both subjects involve patterns and relationships, and both are reinforced by multisensory learning, especially in the elementary years. "Music experiences may stimulate the brain to produce pathways that are used in math skills acquisition," says Graff. "Wow! A double whammy!"