Music inspires Groton students at Northeast Academy's art celebration
Groton — Fiona Stewart, 9, jumped up and down Thursday in the media center of Northeast Academy Arts Magnet School.
She couldn't contain her excitement at the school's Celebrate the Arts event, where Jane Nolan, director of the Shoreline Ringers, taught the class how to play hand chimes.
“Oh, it was so much fun,” Fiona exclaimed after parading around the room with her chime. “I just like music so much!”
This is the second year Nolan has taught students in the school as part of the event, which brought in performers from around the region and drew hundreds of people from the community for performances in the evening. Performances were scheduled to continue from 5 until 8 p.m. on Thursday and from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Friday.
Northeast Academy became an arts magnet school this year, enrolling 23 students in kindergarten and first grade from across Groton, a number it will build on in future years. Nearly every student in the school sings in the chorus, about 100 children play in the school band and close to 90 play in the orchestra.
Most of the fourth-grade students Nolan instructed already play an instrument, so they took to the chimes quickly. Nolan counted aloud, showing the boys and girls how to hold notes for the correct number of beats, silence the chime and coordinate the playing of chimes with each hand.
“They get such a beautiful sound in such a short amount of time,” said Shannon Stevenson, orchestra teacher at the school. Music offers an opportunity for all of the students to be successful, she said.
Elsewhere, a second-grade class listened to a story punctuated by violin and cello plucking. Fifth-graders browsed among artwork on display in the gymnasium.
Julia Mielguj, 10, admired an underwater sketch crowded with fish created by Victoria Lee from Robert E. Fitch High School. “There’s so much in it,” Julia said, studying the sharks, jellyfish, squid and swordfish on the paper.
In the cafeteria, The Plainfield High School Chamber Choir performed on stage before dozens of children seated on the floor, some trying to follow the singers snapping and clapping.
“They were so fun. You could see them trying to mimic (us),” said Alexis Sangillo, 17.
Bernadette Michaud, 17, felt good knowing she could inspire younger students to try an art that has made such a difference in her life. Michaud and Sangillo both want to be music teachers.
“It’s changed my life completely,” she said of music. I’ve realized that music is what I want to do. It’s what I want to pursue. You learn so much, but you also connect with people.”
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