Music renaissance for Allentown schools: More instruments, educators elevate participation

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — When Annelis Orta Quiñones gets upset, she turns to her bullhorn.

“It lifts my spirits,” said Anneliese, a seventh-grader at Harrison Morton Middle School.

“It also brings a lot of joy into my life because I love being in the band,” the 12-year-old added. “It’s part of me.”

Students like Annelis have benefited from the Allentown School District’s commitment to strengthening its arts programs since Superintendent Carol Burks officially assumed leadership of the district in March 2023.

““Access to the arts gives students opportunities to go beyond just their traditional academics,” Burks said.

Investing in the arts

In the past year and a half, ASD has spent more than $1.4 million on new instruments and hired 34 teachers to teach related arts, which include band, choir and orchestra, as well as gym, health, cooking, Spanish and technology classes.

This is a major investment in a district that cut much of its arts staff and programs in the 2010-2011 school year.

At the time, public schools were on the verge of losing $1 billion in funding under new Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. Federal stimulus money ran out in 2011 and the state government has not worked to make up the difference, according to regional and local Preparing reports.

After nearly 15 years, ASD is prioritizing the arts as an essential part of creating well-rounded students thanks to COVID-19 relief funding and recent boosts in state funds for public schools.

This new focus is keenly felt in the area’s middle school music programs.

More staff and tools in middle school

Harrison-Morton, Raub, South Mountain and Trexler middle schools have received more than 410 new tools in total since the summer of 2023, according to school board documents.

Trexler Principal Bob Morrow said these purchases have helped his school add more stringed instruments to their collection, as well as several larger instruments, giving students more options for the instruments they are looking for.

“It gave the kids the opportunity to make choices, rather than coming in and going out [it’s] “Well, that’s what we have,” he said.

Compared to the 2023-2024 school year, the number of students in the Trexler band is up 68% with 119 students participating this school year.

The increase in arts staff has also had a significant impact at the middle school level, where schools previously shared arts-related teachers. The teacher will be at one middle school in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Jose Delgado, Raub’s principal, said this system was an obstacle to teachers’ ability to fully integrate into each school’s community.

“You don’t blend into the culture,” he said. “You can’t connect with students and families.”

Now, the related arts teachers are full-time employees, each working at just one middle school.

The addition of more teachers provides students with two arts-related classes each day instead of one, giving them more opportunities to explore their interests outside of their core subjects.

Ivanalis Cevallos, 13, an eighth-grader at South Mountain School, said she enjoys learning singing techniques in the school choir.

“I feel like harmony makes me happy,” she said.

Josh Colon-Hernandez, an eighth-grader at Harrison Morton, has been playing clarinet for more than a year in the school band, but recently decided to play tenor saxophone as well.

He said he was drawn to “those cool beats.” Josh, 14, also practiced conducting with his band peers.

“I’m more than just a connector for them,” he said. “I am their friend who will help them excel.”

“That’s why I make a band – to help others, but also to influence myself to learn.”

The additional arts periods for students have led to more preparation periods for core content teachers, allowing them additional time to plan, collaborate and receive professional development while their students are in art classes, Harrison Morton Principal Carolyn Hamilton said.

“I think it’s a great help,” she said.

Benefits of art education

The region does not plan to stop promoting the arts any time soon.

Autism spectrum disorderShe intends to hire three more secondary music teachers for the next school yearincluding one in Trexler. In high schools, ASD will offer six new music classes in 2025-2026, including Music Production, Music Appreciation, and Guitar and Strings I.

Burks said the arts are a priority because they help students with critical thinking, logical reasoning, self-esteem and social and emotional health.

The superintendent traces her own accomplishments back to her time as a student in the choral and theater programs, and believes the arts can similarly lead Allentown students to success.

Arts programming helps students gain “Development assetsIt is a collection of “40 positive, research-based experiences and recipes” that help students succeed in school and life, Birx said. Research Institutea youth-focused research organization.

‘Creative activities’ and ‘youth programmes’ are in themselves developmental assets, as are when students have ‘adult role models’ and ‘positive peer influence'[s]“Caring school climate.”

Although the impact of arts education is difficult to quantify, there is some data available about its importance for students, especially for music education.

Over the years, studies have shown that the arts can enhance students’ literacy skills and vocabulary, according to 2023 report from the New York Times.

The same report was quoted research From 2019 found that some elementary and middle school students benefited from increased arts education.

In the study, groups of students experienced improvements in writing, emotional skills, school engagement, and aspirations for college, and some groups showed lower levels of disciplinary issues.

Previous research has also shown that music education in particular appears to boost students’ IQ while improving math and reading skills, according to a literature review in the same 2019 study.

Positive results in Allentown

Allentown teachers have seen similar results in their students, they said.

“Students who participate in band, who participate in choir, who participate in art and music and those different things — [they] “They have fewer behavioral problems and tend to be more motivated to work,” Harrison Morton’s Hamilton said.

For some students, art classes give them a reason to come to school frequently.

“I have a lot of students [whose] “Attendance has increased dramatically,” said Michaela Madaio, an instrumental music teacher at South Mountain.

“Especially with the orchestra in the morning, the students have to come to school afterward, and then they are here for the rest of the day to get started,” she said.

“Let’s face it: students love school, but they don’t always love school when it comes to math,” Raub Delgado added. “That’s not every student.”

Alternatively, students may enjoy school because they like their art teacher or sing in the choir, he said.

Delgado also said having more art classes has helped get more Raub students involved in after-school extracurricular activities.

Raub Clubs has 500 registered members. This brings the unique number of students closer to 325 when counting students in multiple clubs, he said.

That’s a “huge” number, added Delgado, who has been an autism spectrum disorder teacher for 25 years.

“This is another manifestation of the shows we do during the day,” he said. “You have more access, you create more equity, you create more opportunities, you gain more attention — you have more kids in choir.”

Raub saw a 49% increase in her choir participation compared to the last school year. There are currently 113 students in the choir.

“It’s not just music”

ASD middle school teachers said their students gain non-musical skills from band, orchestra and choir as well.

Teachers said students learn teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, accountability and making good choices, skills they can apply in other areas of their lives.

“It’s not just all of the music,” said Jessica Gross, instrumental music teacher and band director at Harrison Morton. “It’s building your inner person and your inner self, and it’s a great experience for them.”

Music lessons also give students a chance to relax during the school day and learn about something fun, such as the relationship between the emergence of jazz and the work of contemporary artists, said Oliver Rosa, choir director and general music teacher at South Mountain. Such as singer Billie Eilish and rapper Kendrick Lamar.

“In other classes, it’s very strict, and they’re always doing something that seems like something of great importance,” Rosa said.

“As we talk in my class about music and films and how that affects audiences and different types of music and how we got there.”

Rosie Rodriguez, an eighth-grader at South Mountain School, said music is a “very comforting tool” for her.

“If I feel stressed or tired — because I tend to do that — I usually start singing or practicing my flute,” said Rosie, 13, a member of the school choir and band.

“It really helps.”

Room to continue to grow

Madaio, director of the South Mountain Band and Orchestra, said there are still ways ASD can enhance its music programs moving forward to benefit more children.

On the one hand, it is working on a proposal for an effective curriculum to simplify the learning process for students in grades four to twelve.

This way, the autistic students will be taught the same basic subjects, Madaio said.

Madaio also said it’s important to create lessons for students who play stringed instruments, such as the violin or cello, to build their musical knowledge before playing alongside other instruments that are part of the band, such as the clarinet, saxophone and drums.

“They are two different pedagogical approaches,” she explained.

“It’s basically putting an English learner in an English class without any support. This is what a string student in band looks like.”

Most Allentown schools do not have orchestra programs. Instead, string players play in the band.

But last school year, Madeo created the district’s first school orchestra at South Mountain, and this year, Harrison Morton followed suit, piloting its own orchestra program in recent months.

Although ASD has purchased nearly 4,900 instruments for all grade levels since 2023 — about 700 of which go to high schools — Madaio said having more instruments will help ASD’s music programs continue to grow.

At South Mountain, there are 71 students in band and about 64 in orchestra, but both programs have waiting lists, Madaio said.

With additional instruments, Madaio can teach more students like Zedaliz Padilla how to play.

Zedalis, a sixth-grader, learned to play the violin just this school year when she joined the South Mountain Orchestra.

“I wanted to start something new,” said Zedalis, 11. “I’m really excited because I’ve grown a lot since the first time I played the violin.”

Zedalis said her favorite parts of being in the orchestra so far have been making new friends and creating music together.

“I just like listening to music.”

Fellow South Mountain violinist Isabella Datiz, 12, agrees.

“It’s a lot of fun,” the sixth-grader added. “You have [classes] All day long, but then you go to the music, and it’s different.