Holocaust Music Education and Performance

Educational Services
Past Performances

K-12 Education

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Dr. Tamara Freeman is a certified Kindergarten - 12th grade vocal and instrumental music teacher. She taught K-12 public school music for over 30 years. Her Holocaust music lessons are infused with her engaging and flexible teaching style. Her classroom management is organized, calm, and respectful. Dr. Freeman's genuine warmth toward children is evident in each of her presentations.

Holocaust Music Classes Kindergarten —12th Grade

Dr. Freeman teaches grade/age-appropriate lessons of morality and courage through children’s songs composed in Holocaust ghettos and concentration camps. Her beautiful singing voice engages elementary, middle school, and high school students to sing poignant Holocaust lullabies, folk songs, work songs, and partisan songs in their original Yiddish language with English translations. The amazing journeys of young Holocaust composers “come to life” through Dr. Freeman’s inspiring historical narratives. She also plays children’s Holocaust pieces on her 1935 Joseph Bausch viola, a priceless instrument that was rescued from the Nazis.
 
Dr. Freeman’s Holocaust music classes are coordinated with administrators and teachers so that the School Community’s culture and goals are valued. They are custom-designed and grade/age-appropriate in order to respect the cognitive and emotional development of the students. Dr. Freeman’s classes also adhere to the key themes of the New Jersey state mandated Kindergarten – 12th grade Holocaust Curriculum:
 
Elementary School: Friendship, Respect, Community, Peace
Music includes Oifn Pripitchik (By the Fireside), Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen (Raisins with Almonds), Patshe Kikhelekh (Clap Your Hands)
 
Middle School: Discrimination, Ghettos and Concentration Camps, Resistance, Liberation
Music includes Nit Keyn Rozhinkes und Nit Keyn Mandlen (No More Raisins, No More Almonds), Yeder Ruft Mich Zhamele (They Call Me Zhamele), Shtiler Shtiler (Quiet, Quiet)
 
High School: Prejudice, Persecution, Fascism, Genocide, Teenage Heroes
Music includes Ani Mamin (I Believe), Geto (Ghetto), Yungt Himen (Youth Hymn)
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Adult Training

Holocaust Music Training for Adults

Kindergarten – 12th Grade Teachers
Dr. Freeman works with teachers of all grades and subject areas to create Holocaust lesson plans that use music from the ghettos and concentration camps. Compact disc recordings and sheet music are provided. Plans are custom-designed to be sensitive to the cognitive and emotional development of the students, and adhere to the 1994 mandated NJ K-12 Holocaust-genocide curriculum.
Music can be a powerful “hook” for helping students to learn challenging topics. The beautiful music composed by children and teenagers in the WWII ghettos and concentration camps can help students connect personally with Holocaust history and lessons of multicultural respect and morality.
The Holocaust lessons reflect the teachers’ professional expertise, and the values and culture of the school. Dr. Freeman brings to the table 30+ years of K-12 teaching experience, which includes:
 
  • Actively listening to the teachers’ ideas and respecting the teachers’ current classroom practices.
  • Communicating the joy of meaningful making-music, for music teachers and non-music teachers.
  • Writing curriculum that is enduring and meaningful.
  • Creating lesson plans that are engaging, informative, include critical/creative thinking, and assessment.
  • Building a safe, accepting, and warm teaching environment.
  • Helping students to appreciate music that may not be of their own culture.
Public and Private School Administrator
Dr. Freeman collaborates with school administrators to help them update and enrich their Holocaust-genocide studies curriculum through Music and Arts of the Holocaust. Discussion points include:
 
  • The district’s/school’s current practices in Holocaust-genocide studies.
  • Designing a Holocaust Curriculum that is articulated smoothly and affectively from elementary school, middle school, and high school. Music and Arts of the Holocaust helps ground the seamless articulation.
  • Teacher training that respects the unique talents and strengths of the teachers.
  • Promoting teacher collaboration to strengthen an interdisciplinary Curriculum.
  • Identifying people and/or traditions in the school’s broader community that would support an Arts-based Holocaust Curriculum.
  • Assessment
College Faculty and Students
Dr. Freeman’s passion for Holocaust music is brought to college communities through:
 
  • Presenting guest lecture-recitals for individual classes or for the entire college community.
  • Helping to create and/or produce Holocaust Commemoration Programs.
  • Facilitating Holocaust music teacher-training workshops to help future educators fulfill Holocaust-genocide state mandates.
  • Working with professors on enriching a Holocaust Studies Course with music of the Holocaust.
Clergy
The music of the WWII ghettos and concentration camps are imbued deeply with spirituality. The lyricists and composers of this poignant music reflect the human condition at its core: Sorrow, hope, longing, courage, and resistance.
Ministers of all faiths and religious traditions can use Holocaust music in their houses of worship to teach tolerance and faith. Dr. Freeman works with clergy to identify and teach pieces of Holocaust music that will enrich their Sacred Community. She can also assist congregations with:
 
  • Creating and producing a Holocaust Commemoration Service
  • Arranging music for choirs and instrumentalist.
  • Conducting choirs and/or instrumental ensembles.
  • Teaching Holocaust music to children.

 

Dr. Freeman can also present a Holocaust Music Lecture-Recital in your house of worship.

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