School Health Program That Uses Music to Health Profiled in Staten Island Advance

An exciting elementary school program designed to foster mental and emotional healing among public school students after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was profiled in a March 25 article in the Staten Island Advance. The program, implemented in P.S. 35 in Staten Island, uses music and songwriting to aid in children???s emotional recovery and promote mental/emotional health. It was funded through grants received by the Academy???s Office of School Health Programs to create ???Moving from Crisis to Hope and Well Being.??? The Crisis-to-Hope program aims to foster long-term emotional and psychological health among New York City public school communities.

The Academy is implementing this program in the city's highest-need areas to promote mental and emotional health. Schools included in the program receive: mini-grants to develop unique schoolwide programs that promote mental and emotional health, as well as training for teachers and parents. Read the article, which appeared in the Advance???s weekly ???Chalk Talk??? education column.

The Academy's Crisis-to-Hope program is funded by the New York Community Trust (Japan Relief Fund), Metropolitan Life Foundation, Bristol Myers Squibb,The Annenberg Foundation and the Sept.11th Children's Fund, among others.

They say music has charms to soothe the savage soul. But over at PS 35 in Sunnyside, an unusual music curriculum is simply soothing stress. Originally designed to ease children through post-9/11 trauma, the program is now being used to inspire patriotism and ease concerns about the war in Iraq.

The program is funded with a $3,000 grant from the New York Academy of Medicine's "Moving from Crisis to Hope and Well Being" initiative, which was instituted as a response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

A team of staff and volunteers at PS 35, including Principal Timothy Behr and other administrators, the school nurse and school psychologist, several teachers and a parent liaison, wrote the grant proposal.

Since music has proven to be a powerful way to communicate, the team at PS 35 thought it would be a novel way to reach the school's 360-some students who range from kindergarten through fifth-grade.

Outlet For Expression
While learning about historical events through song, students have the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings. Songs such as "We Shall Overcome" and "This Little Light of Mine" have been springboards for discussions about our troubled times.

Folk singer Robert Conroy, who plays banjo and guitar, has been visiting the school once a week to reach out to every class with grade-appropriate lessons.

"We'll take a song like 'We Shall Overcome' or 'This Little Light of Mine' and I'll explain the context in which it was written. We'll learn the traditional verses, and then they have the opportunity to write and sing their own verses to the song and make it relevant to our times," explained Conroy, 58, a retired financial administrator from Westerleigh who has been playing and studying American folk music since his teens. "Some of the verses they come up with are very poignant in their simplicity," Conroy observed.

When asked to write verses for 'This Little Light of Mine,' for example, students came up with descriptions of how and why they'd want their "light to shine" - "around the Twin Towers" - "for peace and love around the world" - and "for all my friends to be safe at home."

American folk music has always reflected the fears, hope and pride of the times, Conroy said. "Folk songs were written to give people a voice to express what they were feeling and to tell a story of the times. When they're handed down they create an oral history."

A song such as "We Shall Overcome" began as a Negro spiritual sung by slaves in the cotton fields. It was adapted in the 1960s as an anthem for the Civil Rights movement, and was resurrected after Sept. 11 and reworked with references to overcoming terrorism and hatred.

Some Originals
Conroy also presents original material to the classes. Last May, he composed a song for an intergenerational program taking place at the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Livingston. The song was based upon John Noble's 1973 lithograph, "Ghost of a Bygone Ferry." The lyrics reflect Noble's thoughts as he sailed into lower Manhattan on one of the last steam-powered boats. In the lithograph, Noble juxtaposes the stacks of the old ferry with the rising Twin Towers, which were still under construction. Ironically, Noble spoke of the towers as indestructible symbols of a new and impersonal age.

Students listened to lyrics and wrote their own lyrics based upon the melody Conroy composed. PS 35 students also complete writing assignments that describe how a particular song has affected them. This is designed to integrate emotional health issues and language arts skills with the historical lessons they've learned through music. Members of the school-based support team are on hand to help students deal with concerns that may arise as a result of listening and interpreting the songs.

The final piece of the project will be a year-end concert for parents and the school community. Not only will this enable students to show what they've learned, but they will be able to demonstrate their "talents," and increase their self-esteem, Conroy said.

Makes A Difference
Principal Behr said Conroy's weekly visits are therapeutic. "Music is universal, across all ages. It's soothing and it calms fears. It gives our students an outlet for their emotional response to the times, and it allows them to begin a dialogue, to get them talking about what's on their minds," he said.

Behr said classroom teachers have also been working with Conroy and are pegging lessons and discussions to his visits. Christine Roos, a PS 35 parent who helped write the grant proposal, said Conroy's visits also help enhance children's self-esteem. On the day Conroy comes to visit the class, she said her 5-year-old son comes home from kindergarten "singing and chattering." "It's a release," she said. "People feel good when they sing and let it out."

Fifth-grade classmates Ariel Wenig and Kristina Bohl, both 10, agree. "I feel I'm expressing myself. I'm letting my feelings come out in song," said Ariel. "Listening to the music and singing the songs helps relax us," observed Kristina.

Long-time Musician
Conroy is no stranger to Island schools. He has brought his "American History and Geography Through Song" curriculum to several Island schools over the last three years, including PS 45, West Brighton; PS 29, Castleton Corners, and PS 39, Arrochar. The programs had been funded by each school's Parent-Teacher Association, because of budget cuts that have all but knocked out the music and art instruction in the elementary schools.

Conroy became interested in American folk music as a teen-ager growing up in Brooklyn. Drawn in by the "folk revival" of the early '60s, he was fortunate to hook up with banjo virtuoso Erik Darling, best-known to general listeners as one of The Rooftop Singers. The group's well-known Top 40 1960s hit was "Walk Right In."

While Conroy pursued his musical interests, he earned a bachelor's degree in communications from the New York Institute of Technology and a master's degree in public administration from Long Island University, both in Brooklyn. He went on to a career as a manager with the New York City Department of Finance.

While working for the city, Conroy founded the group "Stout," with guitarist Frank Henricks and vocalist Bill Grau. The group has performed at Historic Richmond Town and at Snug Harbor, and has recorded two CDs. Conroy has also teamed up with Dan Milner to record a CD collection of Irish folk music, "Irish in America."

Posted on April 3, 2003

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Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
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