Normandy kids get extra lesson at music camp

Nine elementary and middle school kids from Normandy got an out-of-town music camp experience this summer. For some, the lessons went beyond music.

Twelve-year-old Jackie Parks will be a seventh grader this fall. She began playing the trombone at McKinley Elementary School when she was in fourth grade.

But, her trip to the Southeast Missouri State University's summer camp July 9-13 was her first music experience away from home. It also was the first time she had been to a camp where the majority of the musicians were white.

That's how teacher Thomas Greene planned it. Greene leads the elementary school band program in the Normandy district. He said children in the Normandy district are predominately black.

"I wanted the kids to have a good music experience. But, I also wanted them to experience what it's like to be a minority," he said.

"That way, when they go off to college, they'll understand what it means," Greene added.

Greene himself is a graduate of Normandy Schools. He has been a instrumental music specialist for the district for 14 years and directs the district's elementary school band.

He went away to college, earning a music education degree at University of Missouri-Kansas City. He also has a master's degree in elementary education from MU-St. Louis.

As a youth, he had his out-of-town summer music camp experience at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.

Jackie Parks said music work at the SEMO camp was hard. It was the first time she had such concentrated practices. At camp, kids practiced morning, afternoon and evening.

She said the kids got up at 6 a.m. and practiced in the morning for about three hours. Then, after lunch, there was another practice session. And, after dinner, they practiced another 1 1/2 hours.

She said, "The camp was fun. I learned to expand her range of notes. I even hit high C sometimes." She said musicians worked as a total orchestra and in smaller "sectionals" for those with the same instruments. She said there were five trombone players at the camp.

Jackie was one of seven Normandy elementary students in the first camp. They were split up at the camp. They lived on different floors in the college dormitories and "we weren't allowed on different floors," she said.

That insured that kids would interact with musicians they didn't know. That's where Jackie had some unusual experiences.

Besides Parks, other elementary students from Normandy were Gary Walker, Adam Wells, Jeremy Harris, Kelly Knox, Andrea Black and Tamisha Grant.

Jackie said, "One white girl came up to me and asked if I'd like to fight." She said, "I heard blacks like to fight.' I told her I had no interest in fighting."

But, she said other whites would signal to her that they wanted to talk because they hadn't had much experience talking with blacks.

The camp ended on a Saturday when all the kids got together to give a concert to an audience made up most of parents and friends of the youngsters.

Two older Normandy musicians--Eric Robinson and Eric Humphreys--attended the SEMO camp for middle schoolers later in July.

Teacher Greene and the musicians did a lot of work to be able to attend the SEMO camps. Attendance at the camps cost $225 per person. A candy sale and a year-ending barbecue fund-raiser earned enough to pay more than half of the fee.

Greene was able to negotiate a 20 per cent discount for his students. That left only $60 per student, which was paid by the parents. Normandy provided a school bus to take the kids to and from Cape Girardeau in southeast Missouri.

Parks is looking forward to taking her improved music skills into middle school this fall. But, she's not sure she wants to be a professional musician.

Greene said one of the goals with his music program is to help kids improve enough to qualify for music scholarships if they go to college.

And the SEMO music camp experience gave his students the additional experience of mingling with musicians from different races and backgrounds. "They shouldn't wait until they go to college to have that first experience of being away from home in a situation where they are a minority," he said.