TOM STAFFORD HAS been singing his coronary heart out since he was 5 years previous, performing in a gospel trio together with his sister, Pam, and their mom, Doris. The Stafford Household singers traveled throughout Appalachia with their distinctive three-part concord.
“My mother used to say I came out of the womb singing,” says Stafford, who grew up in Vanceburg, Kentucky, earlier than learning music at Morehead State College and getting a grasp’s diploma in training on the College of Louisville.
Tom Stafford, former music instructor, principal and humanities coordinator for Pacifica College District. (Tom Stafford through EdSource)
The exuberant 61-year-old hasn’t stopped singing but. When Stafford first landed on the Pacifica College District simply south of San Francisco in 2002 as a choral director, he taught music to all of the third, fourth and fifth graders. That’s nicely over 1,000 college students every week.
“It was pretty crazy,” he admits. “It was a lot. By the time I was done on Friday afternoon, I was toast. Thank God I was younger then. But, you know, I loved it. I loved that every kid in town knew me.”
Over time, Stafford has performed many roles in Pacifica, together with music instructor, bandleader, classroom instructor, principal of Linda Mar and Cabrillo faculties and visible and performing arts coordinator. He was dubbed the “singing principal” as a result of he sang to his college students every single day. It was his secret to spark engagement amid widespread scholar disaffection.
“It’s a way to get their attention and help them listen to you and know that you are there and that you care,” he mentioned. “The arts are always the first thing cut, and that’s sad because the arts help you build a strong foundation for everything else. Learning to read music early is going to improve reading in class. It’s going to improve the way kids think mathematically in class.”
Stafford retired final yr, however his legacy lives on for Pacifica’s college students as a result of he stays the district’s unofficial music man, the architect of its formidable sequential music curriculum. He has at all times believed that music issues in training.
“We are aesthetic beings by nature,” Stafford mentioned. “And because of that, having a music program allows kids to really explore who they are as individuals, as musicians, as students, as anything they really want to be. The arts in general allow for kids to experiment in becoming who they are.”
All-in on music
Stafford stepped up when alternative knocked, increasing the district’s formidable music program, bolstered by new Proposition 28 funding. Regardless of declining enrollment and the funds woes it triggers, a problem now going through many districts, Pacifica stays all in on music training.
“Their early commitment to expanding music education is a game-changer for their students,” mentioned Allison Gamlen, visible and performing arts coordinator for the San Mateo County Workplace of Training. “By offering a sequential, standards-based music program from TK through grade 8, they are ensuring that every child has the opportunity to develop creativity, collaboration and critical thinking skills through music.”
Try a scholar efficiency from 2015 at Cabrillo College in Pacifica, which options an introduction by then-arts coordinator Tom Stafford, now retired. (Michael Douglas/YouTube)
Stafford needed to faucet into a number of funding streams, combining personal philanthropy with Proposition 28 cash, to broaden the district’s unique music program to succeed in all grades from transitional kindergarten to eight. Discovering music academics amid a continual staffing scarcity was additionally a key problem.
“You have to leverage every dollar to make it happen,” he mentioned. “You leverage the other funding you have so you can use Prop. 28 to pay the teachers.”
Whereas some faculty districts have been hesitant to leap on Proposition 28 arts funding, others have been chomping on the bit to carry the humanities again into lecture rooms after many years of cutbacks. Underneath Stafford’s watch, Pacifica envisioned a symphony of studying, a program that step by step develops from transitional kindergarten to eight in order that college students emerge with a profound understanding of the artwork kind.
“Depth of knowledge in music education, focusing on progressing skills over time within a single discipline, has profound benefits for students,” Gamlen mentioned. “By prioritizing depth in music education, Pacifica is giving students more than just exposure. They’re equipping them with a pathway to mastery, self-expression and a lifelong love of the arts.”
Even when college students don’t change into virtuosos, this deep dive into music will make an enduring influence, specialists say. Even college students with a tin ear are prone to get the total cognitive increase that music classes give the rising mind. For instance, analysis suggests that even 45 minutes of arts apply, nevertheless rudimentary it could be, notably reduces stress. Ability isn’t any impediment. You may be drawing blurry stick figures or mangling chopsticks on the piano, and it nonetheless helps spark focus and focus within the classroom.
“(H)aving a music program allows kids to really explore who they are as individuals, as musicians, as students, as anything they really want to be. The arts in general allow for kids to experiment in becoming who they are.”
Tom Stafford
“Sustained, high-quality arts education enhances academic achievement, social-emotional learning and overall student engagement,” Gamlen mentioned. “Pacifica’s investment in music is an investment in their students’ success — both in school and beyond.”
When Stafford stepped down final yr, he handed the torch to Benjamin Gower, the district’s present visible and performing arts coordinator and band director. They each see music as a device for constructing educational abilities and emotional resilience in a technology hit laborious by the COVID-19 pandemic. This system begins in transitional kindergarten with the fundamentals of tune, rhythm, and dance and builds till college students be a part of a live performance band and specialise in a woodwind, brass or percussion instrument by eighth grade.
“While the core subject areas teach us the important things we need to understand the world, it is art that helps us learn how to understand ourselves and to be able to live with and make sense of the world around us,” Gower mentioned. “Music is what helps to do that for me and has impacted my life in almost every way I can think of, and it’s that idea that helped inspire me to become a teacher in the first place.”
Instrumental instruction
Immersing in music over time permits college students to realize a sense of experience, of charting their very own course and following their ardour, that may result in higher information and satisfaction, specialists say.
“Music requires students to develop critical thinking skills, organizational skills, understanding the need for teamwork, communication skills, the idea and concept of practicing for improvement,” Gower mentioned, “while also helping boost their self-confidence and helping them to learn how to overcome difficult obstacles and tasks.”
Some youngsters will uncover an instrument they’ll play their entire life. That musical acumen will assist form their id, buttressing their love of studying.
“Sequential music and arts programs are essential,” mentioned Merryl Goldberg, a veteran music and humanities professor at Cal State San Marcos. “Deep learning in any subject teaches not only about the subject, but it also teaches one how to learn, how to be disciplined, how to embrace understanding, and to feel confident in one’s ability to understand, question and wonder.”
Stafford has lengthy seen music as a balm for the soul. He says he has at all times embraced this philosophy: “If you didn’t show up to help, then why are you here?”
When he realized how a lot struggling and isolation youngsters had weathered throughout the pandemic, he started holding “dance parties” throughout recess at college. He cranked up the music, from disco to Okay-pop, and invited all comers to bust a transfer.
“That was my favorite part of being principal,” he mentioned. “I wanted to do something joyous. It was also the best move I ever made to maintain discipline.”
The dance break gave college students an opportunity to let off steam, which helped launch frustrations and resolve habits points at school, and gave them an opportunity to bond with their friends. If he ever acquired too busy and needed to cancel a dance celebration, college students inevitably got here knocking on his door. They didn’t wish to miss out on an opportunity to socialize.
“They needed it, and they knew they needed it,” mentioned Stafford, “Music is how you build bridges in a community. It brings people together.”
The most effective a part of retirement for Stafford is lastly having extra time for his personal music, corresponding to his revue “Totally Tom.” He says doesn’t miss the herculean administrative headache of operating a college, however he does miss the children.
“I miss them every day.”
This story initially appeared in EdSource.
Author : admin
Publish date : 2025-02-24 00:28:52
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