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Musary loans instruments for music lessons at Beverly School for the Deaf - The Boston Globe
The Beverly School for the Deaf hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony last April for the school’s new wing. A few months ago, a group of former students who could not attend planned a special trip to reunite on the campus and tour the new addition. When one of the alumni sat down at an old piano and played an impromptu version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’’ everyone in the room started crying.
Other than that piano, for decades the 134-year-old institution could only offer its students occasional music lessons, using a small collection of instruments trundled between classes on a cart. This year, with the opening of the sparkling new wing, the school has a dedicated music room and its first full-time music teacher.
Music can be an extraordinarily helpful learning tool for hard-of-hearing children and those with developmental disorders, explained Erin Bollacker, the new music teacher. The students learn invaluable lessons about pitch, volume, and sound vibration by handling instruments.
Rachel Barstow, who teaches a small class of fourth- and fifth-grade students with developmental and cognitive disabilities, uses music as a classroom motivator. When the school expanded its music program, she connected it with the Musary, a Hamilton-based nonprofit “lending library’’ of musical instruments.
The Musary was established a few years ago in the name of John Ryan Pike, the Hamilton multi-instrumentalist who drummed and wrote songs for the indie rock band Ra Ra Riot. After a show in Providence in June 2007, Pike drowned under mysterious circumstances in Buzzards Bay. He was 23.
In high school, Barstow played in the Hamilton-Wenham band with Pike, an endlessly curious young man who mastered every instrument he touched. Late last month members of Pike’s family visited the Beverly School for the Deaf to observe the new music class in action.
Leading the group was Tom Jones, Pike’s brother-in-law, who oversees the day-to-day operation of the Musary. He brought along his infant twins and both of their grandmothers.
As they made their way through the halls accompanied by several faculty members and administrators, a young student admired the babies as she slipped through the group on her way into a classroom. When she was greeted at the door by a teacher, the girl signed a few words. The teacher turned and told the group what the student had communicated: “That’s a big family!’’
Developing a relationship with a community fixture such as the Beverly School for the Deaf is key to the long-term goals of the Musary, said Jones. At present, the instruments they have collected are stored in the basement of the Pike family’s house. But the organization hopes to find a space of its own, where it could set up a recording studio for aspiring musicians and teach audio engineering.
Thus far the Musary has provided a few brass instruments for the BSD - a trumpet, a trombone - and they are looking for a French horn and a euphonium to lend. They offered a piano, but the school still has its own. For Jones, part of the purpose of the visit was to suggest more instruments: A banjo? An accordion?
“We’ve got some crazy things,’’ he told Bollacker.
The Musary’s broad collection of instruments was inspired by Pike, who would hear a harp, for instance, in his head for a certain piece of music he was writing and be struck with the urge to get his hands on one.
“He was costly,’’ Paula Pike, John’s mother, said jokingly as she held her daughter’s baby boy in her arms.
Bollacker, the music teacher, had already brought in several of her own instruments - a flute, an oboe, a clarinet - and she has borrowed a violin, a viola, and a cello to demonstrate for the students.
“And my roommate has a saxophone,’’ she said.
With simple songs and an abundance of youthful energy, she is methodically introducing the students to each instrument of the orchestra. On the day of the tour, she showed Barstow’s class the trumpet, explaining how the valves and the mouthpiece work.
After playing a few melodies, she asked the students if they had any requests. Austin Allen, 10, asked for the “SpongeBob SquarePants’’ theme.
“I don’t know ‘SpongeBob,’ ’’ the teacher said, offering an exaggerated frown.
She set a snare drum near the group and introduced a game. While one student drummed, the others passed around a pink eraser. When the student finished playing, he or she turned around and guessed which classmate was holding the eraser.
When it was 10-year-old Carson Reilly’s turn, he tapped the drumsticks together, counting off, then hollered “Hit it!’’ Lately he has been on a Beach Boys kick, said Barstow.
She has talked with Mark Carlson, the school’s president and executive director, about finding some way to measure the impact the expanded music program will have on the school’s students. Barstow, who is pregnant, picked up the first few Musary instruments for the school from Jones at his day job; he and his brother run Cherry Farm Creamery in Danvers.
“She wanted some ice cream,’’ Jones said with a smile.
The music teacher has plans to start recorder lessons with Barstow’s class. For groups of children whose primary disability is hearing loss, she said, the school’s growing collection of musical instruments helps instill fundamental lessons such as the difference between high and low - “a huge concept for deaf children.’’
The visual element alone is instructive, she said: “A larger instrument like the cello produces more vibrations.’’
When music class ended, the students and teachers made their way down the hall. They were all grinning. The vibrations, needless to say, were very good.
“John would have been all over that,’’ said Jones. “He would’ve loved it.’’
The Beverly School for the Deaf hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony last April for the school’s new wing. A few months ago, a group of former students who could not attend planned a special trip to reunite on the campus and tour the new addition. When one of the alumni sat down at an old piano and played an impromptu version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’’ everyone in the room started crying.
Other than that piano, for decades the 134-year-old institution could only offer its students occasional music lessons, using a small collection of instruments trundled between classes on a cart. This year, with the opening of the sparkling new wing, the school has a dedicated music room and its first full-time music teacher.
Music can be an extraordinarily helpful learning tool for hard-of-hearing children and those with developmental disorders, explained Erin Bollacker, the new music teacher. The students learn invaluable lessons about pitch, volume, and sound vibration by handling instruments.
Rachel Barstow, who teaches a small class of fourth- and fifth-grade students with developmental and cognitive disabilities, uses music as a classroom motivator. When the school expanded its music program, she connected it with the Musary, a Hamilton-based nonprofit “lending library’’ of musical instruments.
The Musary was established a few years ago in the name of John Ryan Pike, the Hamilton multi-instrumentalist who drummed and wrote songs for the indie rock band Ra Ra Riot. After a show in Providence in June 2007, Pike drowned under mysterious circumstances in Buzzards Bay. He was 23.
In high school, Barstow played in the Hamilton-Wenham band with Pike, an endlessly curious young man who mastered every instrument he touched. Late last month members of Pike’s family visited the Beverly School for the Deaf to observe the new music class in action.
Leading the group was Tom Jones, Pike’s brother-in-law, who oversees the day-to-day operation of the Musary. He brought along his infant twins and both of their grandmothers.
As they made their way through the halls accompanied by several faculty members and administrators, a young student admired the babies as she slipped through the group on her way into a classroom. When she was greeted at the door by a teacher, the girl signed a few words. The teacher turned and told the group what the student had communicated: “That’s a big family!’’
Developing a relationship with a community fixture such as the Beverly School for the Deaf is key to the long-term goals of the Musary, said Jones. At present, the instruments they have collected are stored in the basement of the Pike family’s house. But the organization hopes to find a space of its own, where it could set up a recording studio for aspiring musicians and teach audio engineering.
Thus far the Musary has provided a few brass instruments for the BSD - a trumpet, a trombone - and they are looking for a French horn and a euphonium to lend. They offered a piano, but the school still has its own. For Jones, part of the purpose of the visit was to suggest more instruments: A banjo? An accordion?
“We’ve got some crazy things,’’ he told Bollacker.
The Musary’s broad collection of instruments was inspired by Pike, who would hear a harp, for instance, in his head for a certain piece of music he was writing and be struck with the urge to get his hands on one.
“He was costly,’’ Paula Pike, John’s mother, said jokingly as she held her daughter’s baby boy in her arms.
Bollacker, the music teacher, had already brought in several of her own instruments - a flute, an oboe, a clarinet - and she has borrowed a violin, a viola, and a cello to demonstrate for the students.
“And my roommate has a saxophone,’’ she said.
With simple songs and an abundance of youthful energy, she is methodically introducing the students to each instrument of the orchestra. On the day of the tour, she showed Barstow’s class the trumpet, explaining how the valves and the mouthpiece work.
After playing a few melodies, she asked the students if they had any requests. Austin Allen, 10, asked for the “SpongeBob SquarePants’’ theme.
“I don’t know ‘SpongeBob,’ ’’ the teacher said, offering an exaggerated frown.
She set a snare drum near the group and introduced a game. While one student drummed, the others passed around a pink eraser. When the student finished playing, he or she turned around and guessed which classmate was holding the eraser.
When it was 10-year-old Carson Reilly’s turn, he tapped the drumsticks together, counting off, then hollered “Hit it!’’ Lately he has been on a Beach Boys kick, said Barstow.
She has talked with Mark Carlson, the school’s president and executive director, about finding some way to measure the impact the expanded music program will have on the school’s students. Barstow, who is pregnant, picked up the first few Musary instruments for the school from Jones at his day job; he and his brother run Cherry Farm Creamery in Danvers.
“She wanted some ice cream,’’ Jones said with a smile.
The music teacher has plans to start recorder lessons with Barstow’s class. For groups of children whose primary disability is hearing loss, she said, the school’s growing collection of musical instruments helps instill fundamental lessons such as the difference between high and low - “a huge concept for deaf children.’’
The visual element alone is instructive, she said: “A larger instrument like the cello produces more vibrations.’’
When music class ended, the students and teachers made their way down the hall. They were all grinning. The vibrations, needless to say, were very good.
“John would have been all over that,’’ said Jones. “He would’ve loved it.’’