The Bakersfield City School District’s music program is growing, and the district’s music teachers are performing in 33 schools this week and next to inspire and draw more students into the program.
One of those music assemblies happened at William Penn Elementary School on Tuesday morning, where more than 150 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders gathered in the cafeteria to watch and listen as 14 members of the music faculty used songs and lyrics and costumes to invite pupils into the music program.
It’s a decision that could change their lives for the better.
“Boys and girls, we know that if you study an instrument you will earn higher grades and better attendance at school than any of your peers,” BCSD’s Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Michael Stone told the crowd of young faces.
“Those are just two reasons to get into the music program,” Stone said, noting that the district’s music department has been a national award winner for the past 11 years.
This year’s theme at the assemblies is “Video Game Music” and is organized, presented and performed by the district’s 12 elementary traveling instrumental music teachers, as well as by Stone and Academic Coach David Green.
They call them traveling teachers because most of them teach music to students on three campuses.
The assembly began with the teacher-musicians introducing each musical instrument on stage. Flutes, clarinets and saxophones were introduced as part of the woodwind family. Trumpets, slide trombones and Stone’s baritone horn were shown off as members of the family of brass instruments.
As the children watched, enthralled, traveling teacher Crystal Walker introduced the old folk song, “Mama Don’t ‘Low,” which gave several teachers a chance to solo briefly on cello, trumpet and other instruments.
Some students couldn’t remain still, and instead danced in their seats.
At one point during the assembly, every teacher played a stringed instrument. As instrumental music teachers, each one must know the basic techniques to play all of the instruments, Stone said.
The annual assemblies expose students to a variety of musical styles as well as instruments. It also included audience participation through singing, moving and playing rhythm instruments.
At one point, more than a dozen youngsters joined the band playing a variety of percussion instruments.
The school district offers instrumental music classes at all comprehensive schools within the district.
Students may choose to play a musical instrument beginning in the fourth grade. And at Tuesday’s event, teachers explained that students will receive information to take home to obtain parental permission.
Being involved in music at school “absolutely makes a difference in students’ motivation to come to school,” said Walker, who teaches at Mount Vernon, Fremont and Wayside schools.
“It encourages students,” she said. “They’re part of something, part of an ensemble. They work together to play the concerts, and they look forward to that.”
Students involved in music are not bound by grade levels, Walker said, but instead work as a team with students of various grade levels.
Traveling teacher Tyler Jordan, who provides instruction at Franklin, Roosevelt and Frank West, is also the father of a BCSD student.
Music, Jordan said, has the power to engage children in the educational process, children who were not engaged before.
“I think it’s a pretty common thing to find students who are not necessarily engaged in academics, but you’re able to cultivate their creativity and kind of point that back at the academics. You see the difference.
“They’re able to make connections because in the things we do in music class, there’s elements of science, there’s elements of math and sometimes those little light switches start to click.”
For longtime music educator Jeff Zelinka, who travels between William Penn, Owens Elementary and Hort schools, education in the arts is not just an elective, not just an option. It’s a necessary journey for all students.
“Somebody once asked Winston Churchill, ‘Shouldn’t we cut money to the arts to help pay for the war effort?'” Zelinka said.
“And Churchill said, ‘Then what are we fighting for?'”
“What he meant was we’re preserving our culture, our heritage, our way of life.”
And that’s worth fighting for.
