Tuning Into Music And Possibilities
Today we highlight the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, honored this past spring at the sixth annual Champ Celebration. (This is the fifth installment of a nine part series.)
At Woods Lake Elementary School: A Magnet Center for the Arts seventy-eight first through fifth graders are enrolled in the CIS After School Program (funded by the Michigan Department of Education, 21st Century Community Learning Centers.) Here, after school, they have a safe place to learn and grow, receive a hot meal, get homework help, and then, thanks to the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, tune into music and possibilities within themselves.
The children are literally surrounded by caring adults who repeat the same chorus: one of building resilience through the artful combination of mastery, unconditional acceptance, and high expectations. This song every child deserves to hear is on the lips of Liz Youker, Director of Education for the KSO, it’s in the steady beat of Jennifer Barliment and the KSO Board of Directors.
The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra’s love for music is transforming children and a school. It is a powerful change that overflows into the children’s home environment. As one mother tells us, “My daughter may be learning music but she’s also learning so much more. Like how to express her feelings better. I’ve noticed that, because of Kids in Tune, we communicate better as a family.”
Because Kids in Tune is a trio, a partnership between Kalamazoo Public Schools, Communities In Schools, and the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra it is impossible to pull an individual note out of a symphony and say, “Ah, this is it. This is the note that captures the success of Kids in Tune because, just like the orchestra, everyone has a part to play. Children are forging noble identities because of the actions of many: the Kalamazoo Public School teachers and Principal Mitch Hawkins who stay after school to watch their students perform. Because of the custodian who took vacation time to play her cello with the kids, the CIS Site Coordinator who moves between piano and cell phone calls with parents without missing a beat. Youth Development Workers moving effortlessly between homework help and violin or flute lessons. The Kids in Tune curriculum director who wields chalk by day at K College and a baton in the afternoon. The four KSO teacher artists who read children like they read music, having the wisdom to stop a lesson when a child is struggling to find out what is going on. Volunteers, Service Learning college students, and high school students…the notes go on.
The Kalamazoo Symphony’s commitment to this Kids in Tune partnership, their innate understanding that it takes practice and then more practice after that to get it right is an inspiration to us all.
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, we thank you for helping students stay in school and achieve in life.
Tags: 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Barry Ross, CIS, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo, Jennifer Barliment, K College, Kalamazoo Public Schools, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Kids in Tune, Liz Youker, Mitch Hawkins, music in the schools, Rick Barth, Thomas Barth, Woods Lake, youth development workers
