Music in academics: How one teacher works miracles through orchestra

By Brooke Nelson

May 18, 2005 | Stepping backward off the podium on the high school stage, Karin Hendricks keeps her eyes on the orchestra, but lets her baton drop to her side.

Dozens of students continue to move their bows back and forth, strains of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 filling the auditorium. Quiet for a moment, smiling with satisfaction, she then steps back to her music stand, finds her place and continues to conduct.

"Sometimes it sounds so good I have to go out and listen," she tells the members of the Logan High School Philharmonic Orchestra. "And sometimes it doesn't sound so good -- it sounds better."

Emphatically she strikes the music stand with her fist, startling a few of the players closest to her.

"You are so awesome!" she praises. "You're going to make those judges cry."

From moments of quiet awe to furious movement, the musical and human drama of conducting an orchestra consisting of teenagers is just part of a typical day of teaching for Karin Hendricks.

"Teaching is like surfing," she says. "You have no idea what's going to happen. You can plan, but there's no guarantee. You just have to ride the wave and be on guard at all moments."

But it's not the unpredictability or the disciplining of her high school students that makes her job difficult, she says. In fact, the opportunity to work with teenagers, which she says might drive others away from a career in teaching, is what keeps her coming back day after day.

The most frustrating part of her job, she says, is "selling the importance of music to the administration.

Hendricks said she probably puts in between 20 to 40 hours each school year, in addition to her responsibilities as a teacher, attending meetings and doing work to simply defend the validity of her program.

"Working with the administration, dealing with parents, everything that happens besides the students can be difficult," she said. "Now, students, they're the fun part."

The 1980s were the golden years of music education, Hendricks said. The arts were receiving more funding than ever and classical music saw a huge push in the public school system. Since then, a push for core academics, and most recently the "Leave No Child Behind Act" has prevented the arts from remaining a high priority.

"They say 'No Child Left Behind' should not effect the arts," Hendricks said of statements made by the bill's chief advocate, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "But when the administration has to make a choice, it's the arts that get cut first.

And cutting the arts, even in the name of promoting core academics, is in no student's best interest, she says.

A 2002 report by the Arts Education Partnership found that certain arts instruction enhanced reading and language development, and spatial and reasoning skills essential to math learning, among other advantages.

"I can't tell you how many parents who have students who are struggling in class keep them in orchestra because they know they will do better," Hendricks said. "It teaches them discipline, of course, but also structure because in music, both sides of the brain are involved."

Michael Ballam, director of Cache Valley's own Utah Festival Opera Company, for years has promoted research finding correlations between brain development and music education.

According to the Utah Festival Opera Company's Web site, in 1995, SAT scores for students with coursework in music appreciation were 61 points higher on the verbal and 46 points higher on the math portion than those without musical course work or experience.

Hendricks has seen similar trends among her students. Hendricks said the grade point average at Logan High school is 2.7 among its juniors and seniors. Among the members of the Philharmonic, the GPA is 3.6, she said; among her best players the GPA is 3.8. Meanwhile, back in the Philharmonic's 8 a.m. rehearsal, one student is delivered a letter informing him his test scores qualify him to be a National Merit Scholar.

While Hendricks acknowledges there is research that questions if music really makes kids smarter or if smarter students just naturally become involved with music, regardless, she says, there is a definite connection between intelligence and music education.

"We need something for those smarter students," she said, "so they have a challenge and some kind of release."

But the benefits of music education go beyond academic.

A 2004 study by the University of Texas at Austin found there were no effects of three years of piano instruction on a student's academic performance in language or math. However, the study found self-esteem was greatly improved in those students who participated in the lessons.

The report by the Arts Education Partnership details strong correlations found among arts education and the motivation to learn, attention span, risk-taking, self-identity, empathy and social tolerance. In addition, the report states, "the arts help to create the kind of learning environment that is conducive to teacher and student success.

And that type of environment is exactly what Hendricks strives for. Students are grouped by age, not ability, from the fourth grade on in Logan School District, allowing students to become a family, she said. That environment is crucial in making students feel welcome and part of the group.

"In school there's all these social classes and cliques," says Logan High School sophomore, and orchestra member, Doug Madlock. "But in orchestra, everyone is equally important. We're all trying to be better, all playing together.

In Hendricks' classroom there are no trophies or awards decorating the walls, though over the years the school has earned many under several conductors. Those types of symbols simply don't have a place there, she said. Instead there are pictures of the students.

Hendricks also demands personal responsibility and leadership from her students. She has a large officer system, with 30 orchestra officers representing 180 student musicians.

"Orchestra is a social class. They have to work together as a team," she said. "Hearing them express not just dynamics, but express the music -- it's a magic moment when it just falls together and there's absolute unity."

"Listen to each other!" she yells over the music in rehearsal, urging notes into tune. Cooperation among players among the students as a group is critical, she says.

However strong her influence has been on students as a group though, there is no denying the influence Hendricks has had on individual students.

When students aren't able to afford certain opportunities orchestra provides such as field trips, Hendricks helps students find "alternate means," said Madlock, who plays the viola.

"She calls it being 'on scholarship.' Music to her isn't about the money," Madlock said. "Music is more important."

The experience he has had in orchestra has been so positive, Madlock said, he already knows what he wants to be when he grows up -- a high school music teacher.

Hendricks proudly displays a picture in her office of another student she has influenced. The lethargic and grumpy teenager has a look on his face Hendricks said, "just dared you to challenge him."

"He was very smart, but he hated school," she said.

Allowing him to come in and read during her preparation hour, by graduation, Mark and Hendricks had become very close, she said.

"We had a lot of long chats," she said.

After the annual commencement ceremony, one of Mark's science teachers approached Hendricks, having seen him play with her orchestra.

"I just got choked up, and watching Mark, knew that was one place he belonged," he told her.

Later that summer, another student forwarded on a message from Mark while he was serving an LDS mission.

"Tell Miss Hen I send my eternal thanks for being my teacher and allowing me to play the most beautiful music the world," he wrote. Thanks to her class, "I am better and changed," he said.

It's hard to imagine a justification large enough for taking away the opportunities music programs like orchestra provide students like Mark, Hendricks said.

"They want it so much," she said. "So I keep fighting the constant battle to keep the program alive. Where else could I be?"

So Hendricks, like thousands of music educators across the country, stay -- battling to keep art alive. It's worth it, she says, the benefits far outweigh the costs.

"Math educates the mind," she said. "Music educates the mind and the heart. It educates the whole child."

MS
MS