School wins music education award

The Hermiston School District has chosen to continue to fund a separate full-time music teacher for each of its elementary and middle schools, as well as band and choir directors at the high school.

“It’s an incredibly important component to the education of the whole child,” said Mike Kay, operations director and former activities director for the district.

That dedication to giving kids access to multiple hours of music instruction a week is one reason why Hermiston School District was the only district in Oregon to receive a “Best Community for Music Education” award from the National Association of Music Merchants this year. The district received the same award in 2014, which looks at factors like funding and teacher quality.

Kay said fundamentals like math and reading are important, but students are better educated when those classes are paired with an exposure to music, physical education and other subjects outside of the core curriculum.

“It’s an opportunity to explore,” he said.

He said the district is proud not only of the quantity of music classes it has continued to fund, but also the quality.

“Our instructors are doing an incredible job,” he said.

Music students in Hermiston are often given the opportunity to perform outside of school concerts. Next week the middle school bands will play at the Cherry Festival parade in The Dalles, and next year the Hermiston High School band is taking a trip to San Diego to play in the Holiday Bowl parade.

At the elementary level, music teacher Dean Mason at Sunset Elementary School said classes include singing, experimenting with instruments, learning to write music and dancing. Mason, who plays the keyboard by ear, likes making up songs with the children or playing familiar tunes for them to sing along.

“If someone is in a bad mood, music usually perks them up,” he said. “Most of them like the signing.”

Studies have shown that music classes improve students’ academic performance, and Mason said he has seen benefits from certain exercises, such as having students listen to a rhythm he taps out and then write it out in the form of musical notes.

“It seems to help in their classroom work too, with their ability to listen and respond,” he said.

For most students, their time in band or choir will remain with them into adulthood as merely an enriching hobby, but some Hermiston alumni have translated those skills into a career.

Kelly Kuo, class of 1990, has conducted more than 75 operas and currently works as the music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, artistic director of the Oregon Mozart Players and music director and conductor of the Butler Opera Center in Austin, Texas.

Another notable name is R. Joseph Scott, who started the Hermiston Symphony while still in high school in the 1950s, then went on to found and conduct the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra in Bellevue, Washington for 30 years, before conducting another 16 seasons with the Sammamish Symphony Orchestra.

Ron Blessinger, class of 1983, is a violinist for the Oregon Symphony and the music director of Third Angle Musical Ensemble.