Monday nights are the highlight of Blayke Drury’s week.
“Singing is stressful,” says the junior Vocal Performance major who wants to be an opera singer. “But I get to come in here and not worry about singing but really focus on the kids and on how they are receiving this music.”
“Here” is Oso Musical, a program that provides free, once-a-week music classes to children with special needs between the ages of 5 and 18. Oso Musical, which is awaiting its non-profit charter, is neither overseen nor funded by the university, but the Baylor School of Music does donate space and materials and help find volunteers.
Drury is one of 19 Baylor Music Majors who help Lead Teacher Elisa Crowder ’81, who taught in the Midway school district for more than 30 years.
“Ben was my partner tonight,” Drury said. “I’ve been working with him on and off since I started this past fall and today was the first day that he hit the instruments himself. [The other teachers and I] were talking about it afterward and were like, ‘What the heck was going on with Ben? He did it! Finally!’ You are learning because it’s a different kind of performance standing in front of kids and not worrying about if you’re doing it ‘right’ but if they’re engaged, if they’re receiv-ing what you’re teaching. It’s totally different and is a challenge, but you walk away feeling like you did something that matters.”
There’s a whole lot of joy on Monday evenings in Room 114 of the Mccrary Music Building. It’s difficult to tell who’s having more fun – the Baylor student volunteers or the kids themselves.
”Anthony [Benitez] loves music and singing and this is a great way to express himself,” said Anthony’s mom, Dawn Apsey. “He was already social, but is more so now. And [sister] Emily is coming out of her shell.”
Apsey decided to bring Anthony to Oso Musical after learning that his school in South Waco wouldn’t let him participate in traditional music class presentations.
“This is what we deal with in the real world,” she said, explaining that she saw a flyer at school for the Oso program, did some online research and decided to give it a try with Anthony, who took to the class like a duck to water. Emily soon followed. “The Baylor students are very welcoming, and the kids feel safe in here.”
“When Anthony first came to class, he wouldn’t really speak,” said junior Pedro Antonio Reyes Jr. “He would just use sign language and nonverbal communication. But every now and then he would say a word or two and then immediately run to his mom and hug her as a sign of ‘I’m doing better.’ At the very end of our last session the first semester I was here, he told me thank you and it meant so much.”
Oso Musical was created in 2012 by Chelsea Middleton ’06, MME ’13, and Dr. Russell Gavin, an assistant professor of instrumental music education.
“For many of these Baylor students, this is the most soul-enriching experience of their week” says Oso Musical Program Director Jill Gusukuma ’10, MME ’12. “They’re among like-minded students who are all servant minded. This class has caused many of our volunteers to reconsider their paths.”
Special-needs students in the program vary from highfunctioning autistic children to students with Asperger’s, Down syndrome and more. Two to three Baylor students assist each Oso child.
The student volunteers are in the classroom up to an hour before class, discussing strategy and handing out assignments. Each class follows the Orff-Schulwerk teaching methodology that includes the use of traditional or original poems, games, rhymes, songs, and dances as musical building blocks. During the 45-minute class, students clap, stomp, and use instruments like drums, sticks, bells, and xylophones.
“The public schools are doing a better job of integrating special-needs kids into mainstream music programs,” said Crowder, who recalls that these children weren’t included in the core curriculum 35 years ago.
Dr. Gavin and Middleton realized that students interested in teaching had limited exposure to the special-needs education. So they started a class geared toward special learners, which evolved into the Oso Musical program.
“This class not only provides Music majors with invaluable experience in the teaching field, we use our classroom experiences and observations to inform scholarly research,” Gavin said. “This is a unique program nationwide, and we present our findings in professional joumals and at conferences to discuss trends and practices that help special learners flourish in music classrooms.”
“The Baylor students run into struggles,” Crowder said with a smile. “Students move out of the circle and they get distracted. Part of my job is to model the behavior that the Baylor students need to get things back on track.”
Two-thirds of the volunteers are freshmen,” Gusukuma said. “That’s important because most students don’t get hands-on experience in the classroom until their junior years.
But more important, this class offers a combination of research, service, and education. Nobody has ever been paid a dollar. It’s just a unique combination of people helping children with special needs – all rooted in selflessness.”
“What we’re seeing is that these students are more comfortable in ALL classrooms because of this classroom,” said Gavin. “These are the best and the brightest in the School of Music. And people have been paying attention to what we’re doing because of the quality of the students.”
“They’re just an inspiration,” said senior Ashley Bogisch. “They keep you alive. They me think on my toes because this isn’t just a normal class. The kids are all a bit different and they each attach to you in different ways, which is so cool. One of our kids was completely nonverbal and then the next year was singing along with us. Even ifhe hasn’t started talking yet, he has started to progress by singing. Oso has inspired me to work with children with special needs in the elementary schools when I graduate.”
Easton Kadlacek’s grandmother, Dorothy Middleton, says “Easton catches on really fast so I record the classes and he loves just sitting and listening to them. We’ll go home and he still does the hand motions and songs. He eats it up.”
Middleton went on to praise the generous Baylor students who put their all into the program.
“Just look at how many Baylor kids come to help,” Middleton said. “It’s so neat they have so many students that want to participate in the program even when they have such busy college schedules. I like the way they let the college students each teach a part.”
