Positive notes: DPS teacher brings sound of music back

The Rocky

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News

Lincoln High School advanced band students Alan Rocha, 15, left, and Ignacio Gamez, 17, crack up while playing trumpets in their morning class with music teacher Melissa Grundy. Grundy teaches two band classes: beginning/intermediate and advanced. Grundy also teaches piano, choir and orchestra and directs the pep band.

Ellen Jaskol, Rocky Mountain News.

DeVann Moreno, 15, practices on an electronic keyboard during Melissa Grundy's piano class.

It may have been outmanned 10 trumpets to two, but the Lincoln High pep band blared its horns with pride.

Small? Sure, but respectable. Green? Oh, most definitely. It had been a group only since the beginning of the school year, after all.

But as they ripped through La Bamba, and grooved through The Flintstones, the musicians, too, tasted victory as they cheered their basketball team to a 4-A state championship last month.

"Last year we didn't have a band, and everyone was asking, 'Where's the band?' " says Lincoln music teacher Melissa Grundy. "But the whole school has such a pride of ownership.

"I take credit for our success," she says. "I'm proud of it - but it's the kids who deserve the praise."

Despite a nationwide trend of cutbacks in arts education, Denver Public Schools has hired three full-time instrumental high school music teachers this year. Grundy, one of that trio, arrived at Lincoln in southwest Denver in August. She's made giant strides in reviving the school's pep band - and music program as a whole - after working similar wonders at Kepner Middle School.

We observed Grundy over the course of two days as she gave instruction to groups of willing (and less than willing) students, fighting her own battle to promote a love of music with an arsenal of violins, horns and pianos.

8 A.M.

A handful of sleepy-eyed students gathers in Grundy's basement music room. Seating themselves at electronic keyboards, the beginning keyboard students seem barely awake. Among the five or six, only one or two start to practice. The others sit and stare at the notes on the page. After working with an intermediate student at an upright piano in the next room, Grundy visits each novice. The air is filled with Offenbach's Can-Can, played earnestly and repeatedly by the young pianist on her upright.

8:50 A.M.

The energy level increases as the advanced band arrives. By the time they begin tuning up, 20 brass, wind and percussion students have gathered. Grundy grabs a trumpet to play along ("My main instrument is clarinet, but a trumpet can be heard," she says). The band works on the '60s classic Wipe-Out. With a clenched fist, she halts play. "Watch your accidentals," she cautions. "What's an accidental?" one player asks. "Sharps and flats," she replies. Players move on to the bouncy Spanish Dance. Grundy later notes that band members have been playing their instruments at least two years. "Unfortunately, we're missing the low end," she added, pointing to a lack of trombones.

9:40 A.M.

The choir gathers, and the body language suggests that, again, not everyone is thrilled to be there (music classes are among the required electives, Grundy noted, adding that some students with discipline problems were assigned to choir by school counselors). She leads the dozen or so students in warm-up stretching, then guides them through a few scales. Grundy admits she has no background in vocal coaching, stepping in when no one was available. "A school without a choir is a sad thing," she said later.

10:30 A.M.

The singers depart, and another group of instrument- toting students begins to straggle in. This is the beginning/intermediate band, dominated by flutes and clarinets but including a girl playing electric guitar and a chatty, shaggy-haired boy named Storm Moreno on electric bass. Grundy noted that some of the students own their own instruments, while others borrow from the school. This is CSAP week and absences are expected on a non-testing day, yet the full contingent of 17 is present. "They don't want to miss what they love doing," Grundy says. The group plays through a few generic pieces, with missed notes in plentiful supply. The teacher forges on.

11:20 A.M.

A welcome 90 minutes of rest arrives; Grundy settles in her tiny office near the practice room and pulls a warm bowl of soup out of the microwave. Looking much younger than her 32 years, she admitted her youthful appearance helps connect with students. "That's part of the job of an educator - to build a relationship with them. I try hard not to talk as a parent. You have to be real."

The discipline needed in studying music stretches far beyond the mere learning of notes on a page, Grundy said later. "It's a team concept, being in a band or orchestra. I tell them that no one is invisible, that they can't fake it. Things are individualized in the academic classroom, but not here.

"I know I have students who are in gangs. But other kids come to my class because they know it's safe - they know what's going to happen. They're looking for continuity in their lives."

Grundy said she'd once thought about pursuing a conducting career, but instead got hooked on teaching.

There's nothing negative when she talks about the state of arts programs in the schools. "If the school supports what we do, everyone will be influenced," she said.

1 P.M.

Most of the 13 members in Grundy's beginning orchestra class studied with her at Kepner Middle School, so there's an air of camaraderie as the group warms up with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. "I have good news," Grundy tells them. "The shoulder rests (for violins and violas) have been ordered. Once they arrive, it'll take time to get used to them, but you will. And then we can start (learning) vibrato." Work begins on a simple piece titled Plum Creek Fantasy. It doesn't start well. "First and second violins, your D (note) on the A string? That was kinda gross," Grundy offers with her friendliest voice. She never shouts, patiently waiting for the players to fall silent before quietly giving further instruction.

1:45 P.M.

Her teaching day is finished. Usually, the end of school offers additional time for individual tutoring in piano or choir, but not on this day - so Grundy prepares to leave the campus, meeting with her husband, a substitute teacher. Reflecting on her work, she admitted that high standards of intonation and ensemble must be set aside for now. "There are (instrumental) section leaders, who help to keep everyone on track. The most important thing is that the kids know it's OK to make a mistake." Discipline, however, is crucial. "I'm on top of that," she says of academic performance. "If they're not passing, they don't get to play on field trips." Those include home and away games and, in April 2009, a trip to Washington, D.C., for national celebrations of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. Anything spotlighting the success that comes with being a musician is valuable, she stressed. Students were thrilled to have a pep band at the basketball tournament - though it was badly outmanned by the group from Widefield, Lincoln's opponent. "Last year," Grundy recalled, "we didn't have a band, and everyone was asking, 'Where's the band?' We had two trumpets this year, compared to (Widefield's) 10. But the whole school has such a pride of ownership. I take credit for our success. I'm proud of it - but it's the kids who deserve the praise."

Meet the teacher

A quick look at Melissa Grundy, who teaches music at Lincoln High School:

* Age: 32

* Education: Metro State

* Salary: $33,000

* Family: Married to Chaz Grundy, a DPS substitute teacher and actor.

* Teaching experience: Powder Horn Elementary (1 year), Kepner Middle School (4 years), Lincoln High School (6 months), the discontinued Saturday Morning Music Program (12 years)

* Music budget at Lincoln: $3,000 annually (instrument repairs are covered by DPS)

* Classes: Piano, beginning/intermediate band, advanced band, choir, orchestra

* Extracurricular: Pep band

Denver bucks the trend

Arts education in the public schools has taken several hits nationally, due mainly to the increased reading and math requirements established in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002.

According to a 2008 study from the Center on Education Policy, in order to comply with NCLB, approximately 62 percent of U.S. school districts increased class time on reading and math in elementary schools, while 44 percent decreased time on science, social studies, art and music.

Locally, however, there is reason for optimism:

* In 2003, voters approved a mill- levy increase, earmarking $6.5 million annually for elementary-school arts education and adding 106 arts teachers to the DPS roster.

* Starting next school year, high- school graduates must take a year of arts courses (there are currently no requirements), according to DPS arts coordinator Maruca Salazar.

Denver's growing support of arts programs will be of interest to the 2,000 delegates gathering in Denver today through Wednesday for the annual conference of the Music Teachers National Association. That group, consisting of independent and college teachers, will attend 100 workshops and presentations, culminating in a recital by pianist Lang Lang. Most events are closed to the public.