HENRY COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Susan Burton
Communications Director
Buchanan, TN – Why is music class important for children? Lakewood music teacher Jenny Cooper and Lakewood band teacher, Hastings Hale, believe that students learn skills in music that will follow them for the rest of their lives.
Cooper is quick to point out that “many different skills like problem-solving, teamwork, multi-tasking, and critical thinking are used when playing, writing, and learning music.”
Her class is learning the recorder, a fun and inexpensive approach to introduce a student to a musical instrument. Cooper can teach fundamental skills such as fine motor control, breath control, how to read and write music, as well as how to learn to compose a song.
Fourth grade students in Cooper’s classroom are learning all the above skills on this day. They are going over the rules for the day, including, using good posture, finding note C with your fingers, using soft feather air, and a final “sizzle-sizzle” as they practice a song using just air between their teeth before actually playing the recorder. A little later, Cooper asks her students to compose a song in a 4/4 time, using half and quarter notes, and then play the new piece as a group. The students go to the board, draw the notes that are suggested, and count the beats and feel the rhythm. Students are excited, having fun, and most of all, engaged in playing and making music together.
Cooper received her bachelor’s degree in instrumental music from the University of Tennessee at Martin and is from Camden, Tennessee. She played the euphonium and the tuba while in high school and college. She was the only female tuba player at both schools and would play both instruments in marching band shows.
Across the hall, Hastings Hale has a group of 5th grade band students who have just begun their band experience. Band is offered to students in grades 5-8. The students are practicing new notes both individually and as a group, learning the proper sound and how to tune their instrument to make that sound. Hale tells her students they are “building mental stamina when they practice.”
Student Chelsea Cumberland says she loves band because it gives her an opportunity to see her friends and learn more about music. Hale agrees that band is more than just music. “It’s an opportunity not only for students to become literate in what is like another language, but it’s an opportunity for students to learn responsibility together and to be involved with a group of people they can stick with through middle school and high school.”
Hale is in her first year of teaching at Lakewood. She received her bachelor’s degree in music education at Murray State University and is originally from Murray, Kentucky. She focused on percussion in her music career but also knows the basics of every instrument in the band.
Lakewood will be showcasing their music programs on April 8 when the 2nd grade students will have a program and on May 15 when music, chorus, and band will present the program, “America, Our Land, Our Home.” The community is invited to attend. Times will be announced by the school.
Photo 1: Student in Jenny Cooper's 4th grade music class composing a song for the class to play on their recorders.
Photo 2: Jenny Cooper teaches her 4th grade class the proper way to breathe, sit, and count the notes for a song they will perform on their recorders.
Photo 3: Hastings Hale directs her 5th grade band group as they learn new notes for a piece they are playing.