September 17, 2003
School offers arts-infused education
Interlochen Pathfinder School hires three new arts faculty members
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"I have done some of my most gifted choreography while falling."
Kat Brown - inspiring, nudging her dance students at Interlochen Pathfinder School - challenged them to let go Thursday afternoon. She exhorted them to find their own artistic muse and dance it. Punching the on button, the music blared and Brown and a half dozen girls at the school leaped, twirled and expressed themselves.
Just another snapshot of the arts-infused curriculum at Interlochen Pathfinder School this year, thanks to the hiring of three new arts faculty members. In addition to Brown as a dance instructor, Margaret Bell joined as choir instructor and Martin Van Maanen is the new band instructor.
Along with Lynne Tobin, the general music teacher and string instructor, who joined the faculty last year, this hiring represents a boost and an investment in the school. In an era when arts programs and teachers may find themselves on the chopping block due to budget shortfalls, this school boldly stepped in a different direction.
"We believe that the arts are a great facilitator in the learning process and helps in the retention of information and, more important, in the application of knowledge," said JD Friley, director of Interlochen Pathfinder School. "The thing we are fortunate about here is we have the quality people in the community, to have this kind of partnering take place with the community."
Tobin is a firm believer in the arts-infused education concept. Last year she was on campus as a music consultant, working closely with teachers of all grades to incorporate music into their curriculum and their curriculum into her music.
When younger children studied pioneer times last year, Tobin was there with songs and music as well as a hands-on chance for students to make butter. The shaking of the buttermilk in a jar, passed hand to hand in the class while singing and clapping, taught rhythm, history, teamwork and science.
"The arts-infused approach supports what we're already doing," said Tobin, who is the associate conductor with the Traverse Youth Orchestras and the primary conductor with Traverse Area Kids Orchestra.
"We're not creating a junior conservatory here, what we're doing is what all good education does: provide arts exposure," Tobin added. "This is not to get them ready for the academy [Interlochen Academy for the Arts], but to get them ready for life."
The new instructors have deep roots in the artistic community.
Bell is the founder and conductor of the Leelanau Children's Choir and the Leelanau Youth Ensemble; she is also the music director at the Suttons Bay Congregational Church. Van Maanen is the artistic director and conductor of the Encore Society of Music and Brown teaches at Dance Arts Academy and choreographed a summer production for the Traverse City Children's Theater.
Tobin works with students off all ages at the school, preschool through eighth grade. Bell, Brown and Van Maanen's classes are electives offered to older students in fourth through eighth grades. Anyone with an interest can sigh up for a semester; the school does not require auditions to participate in band, choir, strings or dance.
Van Maanen, an experienced teacher from the Houston area, relishes the chance to share his passion. A clarinet player, he works with the schools older students weekly, teaching them the basics of band music and performing.
"I've never been part of a school that increases arts," he noted. "Despite stack of studies I have at home that show that student who participate in music on a regular basis have three times as many synapses as those who never had."
Brown, who will also teach classes in the school's expanded arts after-school program, said using arts in education allows teachers to access students' different learning styles.
"A teacher's job is to figure out with the student what way they learn best," she said. "The arts are the way to teach - they are not the icing on the cake, but the main ingredients to make everything taste better."