Herald News :: News :: Lincoln-Way offers variety of music groups

Music teachers at Lincoln-Way High schools don't think students should be part of a school musical group.
They think they should be part of several groups.
"We highly encourage our students to sing and play across different ensembles," said Clifton Smith, music teacher at Lincoln-Way East.

The goal is to raise multi-faceted musical students, officials said, who take a variety of music classes while in school and are involved in several after-school ensembles.
The various programs seem to pay off both for the music department and for students, officials said.
"I understand music a lot better," said Amber Feigel, a senior who participates in various music programs.

Feigel is a member of the jazz band, marching band and a woman's choir. She also attends guitar class. She said Lincoln-Way's varied music programs are "all integrated" together, making it easy for her to be part of several groups at once.

Feigel is a serious music student who plans on earning at least a music minor in college, she said.
"Collectively, we're all getting better because we're encouraging our students to not isolate themselves to one area of music," Smith said.

Experts agree that encouraging students to take up more than one musical avenue is a great idea.

"If people sing, they will most likely play their instruments better," said Laura Sindberg, Ph.D., chair of the music education department at DePaul University.

Sindberg said being more active in music programs exposes kids to different of learning styles and scenarios.
Students with a "wide breadth of music experience" get a deeper experience, thanks in part to working with different peer groups and with teachers who have different styles, and to learning new things all the time, she said.
Alex Krawczyk, a Lincoln-Way senior, is another committed music student.

He's in a series of jazz groups, brass ensembles and is beginning to learn strings and piano.
"All these help me to play more in tune," Krawczyk said.
Around the country, though, students such as Krawczyk may be rare.

As No Child Left Behind and other federal laws encourage stricter core class standards, less time generally is allotted for the arts.
"With new mandates, it's very difficult for a student to take part in one music group -- much less several," said Linda Kummer, office manager for the Illinois Music Educators Association, a nonprofit organization designed to provide music education support for teachers.

At Lincoln-Way, however, being involved in many music programs is encouraged, and it provides some academic advantages, teachers said.

Junior Alex Blomarz is a member of the wind ensemble, choir, jazz bands, and marching bands. He thinks "the wider base he has as a musician, the better off" he'll be in life.
He's split between pursuing music in college and pursuing astrophysics.

While some might consider these subjects polar opposites, Alex sees music, math and science as all related.
He said keeping himself engaged in a variety of musical programs helps him understand scientific concepts like black holes, which fascinate him.
It works the other way, too.

His pursuits in math and science, he said, help him "decipher music in different ways."
Krawczyk agrees. He takes calculus, he said, one of the highest math classes offered at Lincoln-Way, and feels his music education has led to success in academics.

"It helps me, as a whole, to be better," Krawczyk said,
Advanced music students who excel in other academic areas, are not anomalies, said Bert Johnson, chair of the music department at Lincoln-Way.
"Most of our kids in the music classes are the kids that excel academically," Johnson said.
Even with tougher core assignments brought by No Child acts, Johnson said, "kids are finding ways to be in (music) classes.

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Being involved in multiple musical programs at one time also has practical career advantages, in addition to conceptual ones. "I think it's a real advantage for people who want to be music teachers," Sindberg said.
Kummer agrees, but extends professional music involvement beyond just teaching the fine art.

She said employers frequently look at involvement in music programs as a plus for a job candidate, as it shows the individual has discipline, time management, and other skills.
Report cards and job interviews aside, though, being in multiple music programs also literally makes things sound better.
"They can imagine the sound in their head before they actually play it," Smith said, of students involved in singing and instrumentation at the same time.

"When students can sing well, they can typically play well on an instrument.