By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Music classes at Kenwood Elementary School do not require kids to sit in straight rows, singing the same notes, memorizing the same songs.
“I’m not going to make sure small children know the birth and death dates of Mozart,” said music teacher Heather Kramer.
But her elementary students will be exposed to music by Ella Fitzgerald, MC Hammer and John Denver when they go on a new “listening journey” every year with Kramer.
That musical journey teaches the children to be curious – not critical – of “new” types of music, which to elementary kids could be a golden oldie by Willie Nelson.
On Thursday, Kramer was honored by the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club for inspiring classrooms of students to take musical journeys.
This is the type of teacher Kramer dreamed of becoming.
“I always knew from a really young age that I wanted to be a teacher,” Kramer said to her audience of adults.
It began when Kramer fell in love with her first grade teacher.
“When first grade was over, I cried for a week,” she confessed. She couldn’t imagine any other teacher could be as wonderful.
But nearly every year, she had her heart broken again at the end of the school year. Kramer found that teachers had become the most influential people in her life.
That continued through high school, with an unforgettable band teacher.
“He really felt like another parent to us,” she said. “He showed us how to work together to create something bigger than ourselves.”
And then there was her chemistry teacher, who taught students chemical formulas by putting them to music in the form of a pirate sea shanty. To prove the longevity of that lesson, Kramer sang a verse for her audience.
“Every one of them gave me something I have till today,” she said.
Kramer came to Bowling Green State University in 1998 to learn to teach. She studied under Bruce Corrigan, Karen Hann and Thom Headley.
“These people really do change lives, and they changed mine, too,” she said.
Since earning her degree, Kramer has spread her love of music at South Main Elementary, Ridge Elementary, Milton Center, the middle school and the high school – before landing at Kenwood, where she is the sole music teacher.
“I really, really love working there,” she said.
Though she admitted her first love was band, she has found the rewards of teaching general music – something children can carry with them throughout life.
“I have really found a love for foundational learning at the elementary,” she said.
Learning about music transcends the notes on a page. It’s about working as a team, developing self-control and moving bodies. Music is also about learning how to manage stress, and how to disagree without being unkind.
Kramer acknowledged there were likely several parents in the room, whose children came home from Kenwood with playlists to share with them.
And at its most basic, music class is about learning left from right, how to line up, and how to sit in a circle – which is nearly impossible for young children to do, she said.
Kramer has the privilege of watching the “arc of growth” in Kenwood students for six consecutive years.
To give her adult audience a taste of a typical music class, Kramer brought an African drum to teach the song, “One Step at a Time.” She played the drum, while the Kiwanis members played the tables where they had just eaten lunch.
She praised her new students, and showed a video of her fourth graders performing the same song. “I’m really proud of them. They are incredible,” she said.
But it’s more than the music – it’s about how to talk about music with kindness, respect, and express opinions based on facts.
“It’s about learning to be a good human,” Kramer said.
That’s a lesson that may win the hearts of children, allowing Kramer to achieve her dream of being a teacher whose lessons follow students forever.
