The magic of music

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca



“OK, starting from the G, halfway through the 24th measurement, let’s begin,� said Lindsay Place High School music teacher Marika Shaw.

To the average, non-music-reading West Islander, that means absolutely nothing, but to the 540 students in the Pointe Claire high school’s music program, it tells them where to start reading, and from which note to begin playing.

Shaw, in her fifth year teaching at Lindsay Place, picks up her violin and begins playing the tune for the Grade 8 strings class, who sit rapt. Meanwhile, in the back of the class, fellow teacher Kari Keiser — who’s not actually on duty — helps a bass player with her finger placement. A few feet away, on the school’s auditorium stage, first-year LPHS teacher Susan Strunc conducts a Grade 8 band rehearsal from the front of the stage, while veteran teacher and department head George Doxas hangs out in the rear, stepping in every so often to help a young percussionist find the beat again. In a classroom not far away, Larry Livshits is teaching music theory to a Grade 7 class as they learn about note placement, pitch and other rudiments of written music.

It’s a team effort, and it has to be, in order to keep up with the massive program Doxas has built in his decades at the school. To add to the workload, the school now offers an Arts-Études program with music concentration that gives students extra class time three days a week in the hour before school starts in the morning.

Doxas said the combined energy the students and staff bring to the program has made it what it is and with the new music-concentration courses, taking it to a whole new level.

“We’ve got between 60 and 70 kids in the concentration program, and with the dedicated staff we have, so diverse, so competent and so enthusiastic, you have the kids who are coming in from Verdun, Lachine and LaSalle just to be part of the program, they all feed off each other. It becomes a lifestyle that doesn’t end at 3:30 p.m. For the teachers, music is their life. You go home, you’re a musician, you wake up, you’re a musician, and that translates to the kids, and they see the passion. They see that you practice what you preach and that you have a love for music. This is the biggest (in numbers) and most talented staff I’ve worked with here,� he said.

Doxas, whose two sons Jimmy and Chester are now professional musicians, has built a music program where each of the 540 students enrolled gets an instrument to use, take home and take care of for the year. That is decidedly not the case at every school. Not even private ones, said Strunc, who used to teach at a private school in Westmount — an institution that charges students $13,000 a year to attend.

“There, four children would share one instrument, and with 130 kids taking music, you’re going to have instruments that need repairs and had to be sent out. When I was given the opportunity (to leave the private-school sector) and come to the biggest music school on the island (of Montreal), it was a no-brainer. In terms of resources, from a technology perspective, they had a lot, but for students, I only got to see the kids once a week. Now, I see them every day. My Grade 7 class is doing the kinds of things my Grade 9 class was doing over there,� she said.

It’s an atmosphere that works well for adolescents looking for emotional support and a vehicle for personal growth and self-esteem — somebody’s always there to answer questions, talk about music or set up some one-on-one work after school.

For instance, last Thursday, Shaw recounted a Wednesday workday that saw her at school from 7:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., working with kids who wanted extra help.

“Sometimes, music is all that they have. They could be terrible at everything else and music is where they get their self-esteem and their sense of accomplishment, and they’ve got that, and it’s something they can be proud of. For a lot of teenagers, that’s huge,� she said.

For all the talk about what the program has, there’s little to no talk about what it hasn’t got. Indeed, what’s missing from this picture of a suburban high school? Where are the smart-aleck comments, the knowing smiles and the nonsense one usually associates with the adolescent mind?

It’s not there. No smart comments, no screwing around, just work and respect, going both ways — exactly the way it should be, Keiser said.

“It’s a great environment to work in,� said Keiser, herself a cello player by trade. “You get to know the kids, you see them every day and they see you, and it allows you to get through to them and they really get to enjoy learning and you get respect,� she said.

At the end of a particularly well-played section of music by three girls sitting next to one another, the rest of the class stomped the floor loudly in appreciation. No snideness. No cynicism. No sarcasm.

Just ask the students.

“It’s really great,� said Grade 9 Art-Etudes student Lysa Wolfe. The Pointe Claire resident explained the extra practice time and class time has helped her improve as a musician.

“I know so much more this year than I did last year. Instead of learning what regular Grade 9s at other schools are learning, I’m learning stuff I would otherwise learn in CEGEP,� she said, adding that she derives tremendous personal satisfaction from her music studies.

“It’s easily my strongest subject. I really enjoy it. I’d like to study it further. It’s something I’m really good at and something I’d like to continue doing,� said the viola and piano player.

When the bell rings to signify the end of the period, instead of running for the door and the hall, the students remain transfixed while Doxas finishes his point and stay that way until he’s through and dismisses them. A little thing to be sure, but a lot of little goes a long way.