By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
Online instruction necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic has forced teachers to find creative ways to make learning meaningful.
Not only did one Salina South Middle School teacher find a way to do that, but he also found a way to showcase his advanced guitar class in the time of social distancing.
"When the whole move to online learning came about I was truly at a loss. I think what’s at the heart of a successful music program is the feeling students get when they make beautiful music together," South Middle School music techer Matt Gerry told Salina Post this morning.
"I started praying that God would give me some kind of wisdom to know how to make guitar class meaningful through a computer screen. I especially wanted to do something special with my Advanced Guitar class," he continued. "I teach around 150 students this semester with a little over 100 of them being guitar students. The rest are sixth graders taking general music class. I’m still working with -- and love -- all those kids and we’re still learning, but I needed something special for advanced guitar."
Gerry said the 30 advanced guitar students are all eighth graders, and many of them he has been working with for three years.
"So many advanced guitar students e-mailed me upset that they weren’t going to get to finish the semester of a class that meant a lot to them. They were disappointed about missing their concerts and special events like our elementary school bus tour where we play concerts at all the south-side elementary schools and some nursing homes," Gerry said. "These things are a big deal them! This particular advanced guitar class is one of the most talented groups I’ve had the pleasure to work with, so I was equally disappointed."
Gerry's divine inspiration came via a friend he met a few years ago when Gerry was honored in Nashville by the Country Music Association as a Music Teacher of Excellence, he explained.
"While I was there, I met some other nominees who have become lifelong friends. One gentleman has a very successful mariachi band program in Washington state. We follow each other on Facebook and the friendship has really been inspiring," Gerry said. "While in the midst of praying and stressing about how to reach my students, that friend posted a video of a high school mariachi band program from Texas. They posted a video where their students all played a piece from home and were split-screened into one video. It was fantastic and had over a million views! That’s when I finally figured out what I needed to do with advanced guitar."
Gerry said he chose the song Stand By Me for two reasons. One was that he believed the lyrics were perfect for the times we are living in, especially the second verse: "No, I won’t be afraid. No, I won’t shed a tear. Just as long as you stand by me."
"True, we can’t stand closer than six feet apart and most of us are confined to our homes, but, figuratively, we’re all standing by each other! What an inspiring message, especially coming out of the mouth of an eighth grader with a voice that won’t stop!" he said.
The second reason to select Stand By Me was because it was a song the students already knew.
"If you look on our Facebook page, there is a video of the class playing the same song (minus the vocals) in our classroom. We were actually slated to perform the song at our middle school pep assembly the week we returned from spring break," Gerry explained.
Although the students already knew the song, creating the video was a bit of work.
"I made a click-track for the students which is basically a metronome in their ears making sure everyone plays at the exact same speed. Any deviations in tempo would make it impossible to splice the videos together. So, students were wearing headphones and hearing that click while they recorded themselves playing," he explained. "I also recorded myself playing their parts and vocal instructions -- example: verse starts in 1,2,3,4 -- to make sure we were all together."
Gerry said there were five different parts going at once: acoustic guitar strumming, the bass guitar riff, the vocal part, the guitar solo, and the triangle.
"After they all recorded their video -- some using cellphones, others using chromebooks -- they sent them all to me. I edited their videos together on my laptop using video editing software. I would be lying if I told you that editing process went quickly, but I had plenty of spare time amid everything going on," he said.
Gerry said the middle school students began online learning this week.
"It’s definitely an adjustment. You cannot teach things the way you’ve always taught them. That’s a struggle, but also a blessing in disguise! All of us teachers miss one thing the most: the connections with our students," he said.
Gerry said the first question he asked his students when classes went online was "How do you feel about the school year being finished over the internet?"
"The number of kids that said, 'At first, I was excited that school was cancelled, but now I really miss school' was astonishing," he said. "Sometimes kids, especially middle schoolers, like to pretend they don’t like school because that’s 'cool.' I think, deep down, most of them really love it."
Gerry praised the USD 305 staff and residents of Salina for their support of the students and the video.
"The staff of USD 305 is incredible. I put out a simple e-mail to the staff at South Middle the day before we released the video asking them to share it when it went live on Wednesday. A video doesn’t go viral without people sharing it. Not only did all my colleagues step up to the plate, but the entire school district and Salina as a whole," Gerry said. "The support these students have gotten has been overwhelming! The students and I want to thank everyone for all the kind words and for the passing the video on to others."
Gerry said he loves living in Salina because it is such an artistic community.
"Students across the country are not afforded the kind of arts education that our students enjoy. Many don’t have art or music classes at all, let alone a guitar class. When times get rough, music has a very special job to do. We just hope that our little video has helped our community to stay strong and united," he said.