Ep 200 | HALF of Middle School kids are enrolled in music class?!

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Let's try chorus my sixth grade year. Oh, I really like chorus, but I think I want to play the trumpet as well. So I'll try band next year. To have that kind of experience to try things on and see what fits for them just makes all the difference in developing the kind of student and the kind of future leader that we want to create here in Escambi County.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week, we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every child in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support your child's success. In January 2026, at one of the largest music education professional learning events in the U.S., Fairy Pass Middle School and Ransom Middle School were awarded the Music Enrollment Awards for having over 45% of students enrolled in choir, band, or orchestra. My next guest is the fine arts specialist for Escambia County Public Schools and a 31-year veteran of the classroom. Today she's going to share the stories behind this incredible statistic, along with answering the why and why it matters. Community-minded art steward, investing where it counts, Barbie Spears. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, when I heard this stat, I was like, I'm sorry, what? Middle schoolers, like as an 11 to 14-year-old, what is going on? Are they handing out money and band class?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Isn't it wonderful? The thing about middle schoolers is everybody is so excited to move on to the next level. We've had elementary art experiences, elementary music experiences. And now to get to be a big kid to move into the next phase of holding an instrument, of singing in a large choir with different sounds, different voice ranges, is something that's really exciting and that appeals to middle school students because it's a great place to fit and belong.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Okay, I think you just touched on something that was a major missing puzzle piece for me personally. I did not realize that the students were exposed to music prior to middle school. So in my ignorant little brain, I was imagining middle schoolers going, huh, music class, never heard of that. I think I'll sign up.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Violin, here I go for the first time ever. Absolutely not. One of the greatest things about Escambia County Public Schools is we have a thriving network of teachers who are teaching every different kind of music and art and theater and as much dance as we can squeeze in. In the elementary school, in the pre-K level, actually, we um go to music class every day. We're learning to sing along with the songs, we're learning to clap, we're learning to move our bodies in ways that express different feelings. It's terrific to see what's happening in those schools and to see those students so engage. Not only are we going just to music class, but um we also offer orchestra opportunities in the fifth grade. So in the fifth grade, you can go hold a violin and practice what it feels like to actually jingle bells, hot cross buns, all those great songs right from the very beginning. So in the elementary school programs, we have music every day for one class or another at some point. By the time they get to middle school, they are very aware of what it's like to have that reprieve in the middle of the day, to really enjoy learning with a different side of their brain, approaching problem solving, expressing themselves in a different way. And so they have those choices through band programs, choral programs, and orchestra programs in the middle schools.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Wow, that is so interesting. I had no idea. Are these high enrollment numbers pretty typical for like Florida? Are they typical for a Scambia County? How weird is this?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

If you go look at the Florida Music Educators Association webpage, that's the organization that offered these awards. There are schools across Florida who have 86% of their students enrolled in music programs, both in middle and high school. One of the level of the criteria was 45%. And so that's what our schools qualified for. And these are public schools. You know, there might be some magnet schools, but these are public schools that offer these kinds of opportunities. So I would say in Florida, it is kind of typical. It's special for us. I did some digging in the last 20 years. We've had Fairy Pass, Ransom, Bailey, and Workman Middle School have been awarded this enrollment award several times since 2006.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Isn't that incredible? That is incredible. So the big question is, I guess, why? Why are there such why is there such high enrollment?

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Well, one of the things about being a middle school student is everybody remembers how awkward you feel at that age. Everybody remembers what it's like to just really want to belong. And in music classes and visual arts classes, that's one of the great things that we offer to all different kinds of students is a safe space. When you come in this classroom, and anybody who's been a band kid, anybody who's been a choir kid, anybody who's had that kind of experience can tell you that classroom was a safe space for me. And my friends, I made terrific friends in there when I was in the sixth grade. And those friends could have made it all the way through 12th grade, maybe even gone on to college to be a part of a college marching band program. So when you find your people, people who have the same priorities that you do, people who want to excel, people who are willing to do the hard work and are willing to learn something new, that's really a unique bond to make with a group of your peers. So I think our middle school students really tap into that because they're able to try chorus my sixth grade year. Oh, I really like chorus, but I think I want to play the trumpet as well. So I'll try band next year. To have that kind of experience to try things on and see what fits for them just makes all the difference in developing the kind of student and the kind of future leader that we want to create here in Escambi County.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Okay, so here's my question, because I'm as you were talking, I'm I am time traveling in my brain back to middle school. And I'm thinking about what that felt like to be because I was not only in middle school, I was middle school moved from a small town to a bigger town in the middle of eighth grade. So it was like middle school on steroids, you know? And I remember feeling very awkward, as you said, but also like I wasn't good at anything. So, how does that work though for music? Because part of learning a new instrument is embracing that you're gonna be bad at it. But isn't that extra hard for middle school since you already feel so awkward every moment of your like existence anyway?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Well, and that's the beauty of these music programs is that they give you a safe space to try it and say, oh, that sounded terrible. Let's try it again. That this part of the music is really difficult. I'm gonna have to zone in and really carefully go through this little section that I'm struggling with so that I can make it as get better at my fingering, get better at hitting all the notes, and to be able to try and fail and try again and get to the point where look at that, I achieved what I was um setting out to do. Having the space together with a corporate group of people. When you're standing with 40 people who were all singing the national anthem, let's say, and you all know, oh, we we killed that. That was that was a part wasn't so great. We have the opportunity to try it again and fix it there in a safe space together.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

It's like a safe container to mess up so then they can take that that experience and instead of the reverse, which was what I was saying, like, hey, you know, I felt awkward walking down the hallway. I would definitely not sign up for another class in which I would feel additionally awkward in a music program. But you're saying it's actually the reverse for many of these students that they're like, oh, I experienced awkwardness and you know, air quotes failing in this safe container in the sandboxed experiment. And so because of that, I know that I can go and introduce myself to the new kid or whatever. And we're just all a part of the trumpet section.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

And here in the trumpet section, trumpets are number one and we move along together. You know, we we identify as being a team and being safe with each other. And dude, how do I, how do I do this? Oh, here, let me show you how you to do that. And so to have that collegial bond, that peer bond that we want so much to develop for middle schoolers in the first place, this is something you don't get in an academic class necessarily. This is something you don't get in other places. But in music, that we are able to form those relationships and be like all on the same team and all a part of the same process.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

So, what are the teachers saying? What do they have to say about the kids going through all this?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

You have to be a special kind of teacher to be a middle school music teacher. They adore these children. Every light bulb they see come on is just another really meaningful moment. Middle schoolers, they want to have your approval. They want to know that you you recognize them, you see them. And our middle school teachers are just top-notch. They are really doing everything possible to give those kids a safe space, to help them realize that they can be anything they want to be. We're learning the lesson that it's hard work. You have to keep trying and keep trying again. But the outcome, the performance, the final presentation is so rewarding.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

I love that. Okay, you said earlier in a virtual world, fine arts gives students real life activity, community, and confidence-building tools. Absolutely. That is a big claim.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

It's a big claim, right? AI cannot do what our music teachers are doing. I saw a really great quote about music and the arts is about breath. And so when you think about it, if I'm gonna sing a song, the first thing I have to do is take a deep breath. If I'm gonna play my trumpet, the first thing I have to do is take a really deep breath. And all of our breath is working together, all of our strength is producing a powerful breath together to make the sound that we are want to make, striving to make. If I'm gonna dance, I better be breathing. That breath is gonna go all the way through me and go through my physical motions. If I'm acting, I've got to really concentrate on how I'm breathing so I can stay in character. If I'm drawing a picture, if I'm building a sculpture, if I am honing in on the teeniest, tiniest little details, I have to be really centered. I have to be really regulated. And that's a phenomenal skill to teach a child who's in a very awkward phase of life and in this place where AI can do pretty much anything. AI can't take a breath and put a human experience in front of an audience or present it to somebody as part of a final project. It's really special. And we are never, we are never gonna lose the opportunity to have the human connection with arts. It's always going to be there. A robot cannot teach the children the way that our teachers can.

unknown 11:38

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Another bold claim from the School of Spears is the secret to successful public school education is the arts.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I believe that a hundred percent. The arts complete what is happening in the academic classroom. If you're learning science, if you're reading, if you're doing math, if you then continue that learning through the lens of the arts, if you add some music on top of it, if you add some visual representation on top of it, if you add some dramatization on top of it, we've got a more visceral physical experience of the content. And so that is what makes everything more real. And if you're gonna keep 25 wiggly little middle school bodies with you in the middle of teaching, one of the best ways to do it is to add the arts on top of it. It is it is the secret weapon that I really wish more people understood. If you taught through the lens of the arts, you would produce different students.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Can you give me an example? So, like let's say what's a subject that middle schoolers struggle with? It could be any subject. It could be reading, it could be math, it could be science. Let's let's do science because I don't I feel like that's a good, not obvious one. Because I can, I mean, I can make connections between reading and and the arts pretty easily. But science, how would you teach science through the lens of the arts? Oh, that's such a great question.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

We did a project last year for our Bright Images art show. We had a grant that provided the art supplies for students. The theme was bringing art to life. And in bringing art to life, we looked at the life cycle of a plant, of an animal, of a piece of technology, of whatever they wanted to choose. And they used their medium. It could have been drawing, it could have been painting, it could have been ceramics, and how we see something go all the way through the life cycle. I think one of my favorite ones was the little tadpoles, and it was ceramics, little tadpoles, turning into a little frog. Uh, it was great, it was adorable, but that child will never forget that. Building that through the ceramics, building that through the artistic process, the creative process, they'll never forget what that cycle looks like. So, same for me. If I'm gonna do a play about Benjamin Franklin, I am gonna know the ins and outs of Benjamin Franklin. I'm gonna remember the lines that I said, and I'm gonna remember the kind of person he was and how he interacted with other characters in the play.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

I can see that now because it's almost like the kinetic experience. Oh, absolutely. You know, the the information becomes visceral because you are putting your imagination into it. Absolutely. And it's all and that's learning.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

That's what should be happening across the board. We do it every day in fine arts classes. So when you blend what's happening in a fine arts class with what's happening in every other academic subject, it's just going to explode. It's going to become more real. And like I said, the experience of problem solving, creating something, being innovative, creating something brand new, these are things that we want our leaders of the future to be able to do. And so we're doing it every day. And it's almost taken for granted in the fine arts classes because it's something that we just are always doing.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Is it true that students who are good at, you know, music class that they perform better in math class? Absolutely. Music is math.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Music is a method of, like I said, uh a rhythm and structure and counting and finding patterns. I've seen all kinds of great activities where I saw one where you would map the music notes onto a graph. And, you know, it just was fascinating to see how you, a student, could document the song on a graph. That was just kind of neat to see. But yes, students are going to be higher achieving, they're going to have be more confident, they're going to have more success, especially entering high school, having had those types of experiences behind them.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

What about attendance? Does it have any effect on kids showing up? I mean, obviously it's a big thing because if the kids don't show up, we can't educate them. But I know sometimes attendance can be a struggle.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Well, and that's another thing with building relationships in the classroom. When you view it as a team, you guys, this our our band, our chorus, our orchestra, we are a team and we can't do it without you playing your instrument, singing your note. It's not the same if you're not here. And our terrific teachers instill that in our students, that we are, we're we're all in this together. And, you know, this is this matters that we have everybody on board. And so when a student realizes that they don't want to miss the performance opportunities, they want other people to rely on them and they want to be, you know, a contributing team member, they definitely are willing to show up. I know when I was teaching, kids would come to school just so they would not miss my rehearsal during the school day. And they, I've got to be in Miss Spears class. She's gonna, she's gonna get me if I'm not there. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

You had a couple of stories to share. Is this a good time for you to share them? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

I was for in the classroom for 31 years. And so in that time, I taught theater one, two, three, four. I taught English one, two, three, four, I taught technical theater, which is stagecraft building and um lighting and sound and all those things. And I also have other various experiences doing the yearbook, doing the newspaper, all that kind of thing. And so I noticed early on that I was teaching every kind of kid. They were not the highest achieving students, they were not the lowest achieving students. I had a lot of students that I had to build their confidence level. I had a some students who had to tone down their confidence level. Um, but you know, to have it's such an inclusive space, everybody is able to take the kinds of fine arts classes that they want to take. So I had one student who was a student with autism, and he would tell me, Oh, I can't do it. Oh, that's just not, I'm not the guy for you. And I kept saying, no, no, you can do this, you can do this. Here, we're gonna do this much, and then we'll add a little bit more, and then we'll add a little bit more. And these were in days that I didn't necessarily have training in how to work with special needs students. I didn't necessarily have, we didn't have the same language or the same approaches that we have today. And so what we learned is that in the long run, he probably felt more accomplished, more successful, more able to achieve what we were trying to do, get the play finished. And uh he told me, he said, You changed my life. He went to college afterwards. He was able to do to to independently do the things that he thought as a young high school student that he would never be able to do. And so the experience of starting a project, taking the small steps to get into the project, build the project, do the thing, and then having the sense of accomplishment when you're finished and it and it went great. That is an experience that when people have it. I meet adults who say, Oh, I was in a play when I was in high school. Oh, I remember my band trips, they were so fun. We sang at the at the baseball stadium. They these are core memories that we're building. And so middle school is the prime, prime place to offer these experiences, offer as many of them as we possibly can, and light a fire in those students and make them inspired to go on and do great things later on as adults. Because without these first steps, they they won't, they wouldn't do it otherwise.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Now you have such like a robust history in this area, both you know, from high hands-on experience and just I think a perspective that you've gained, you know, it's kind of shaped that. Do you have any specific hopes for what the future of fine arts will look like?

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Oh, that's such a great question. So I've been in public education for 33, 33 years now. And part of that time was spent in Leon County, but the majority of the time has been spent here in Escambia County. I have met some of the most amazing artists and musicians and and um directors and actors, and I've met some of the most amazing people who give of their time and their spirit and their everything they've got to helping students achieve their goals. What I would love, love, love to see in Scambe County before I retire, 10 years or less. What I would like to see is I'd like to see theater in every middle school. I'd like to see at least one or two middle schools take the challenge of really teaching through an arts lens, of really looking at arts integration as the the way to make it happen. And again, I just want to continue every single school in our district to have the finest opportunities that they can have to see professional musicians, artists, actors performances, to experience what it's like to be in a in a professional performance at at the school level and to know that they can do it. Not everybody's gonna be an NBA player, not everybody's gonna be a major league baseball hero, not everybody's gonna be in the hall of fame, but you can take your music spirit with you everywhere you go. And you can share music everywhere you go, you can share your visual artistry everywhere you go. And so these are things that I think are just the most valuable to instill in our kids.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

I can't think of a better note to end on. See what I did there?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Yes, it does great.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

You you really are fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this. And I I just think it for me, it really paints a different picture of what I think middle school can look like because maybe I'm not alone. Maybe other people are also thinking about what middle school at this moment is like based on their own middle school experience or maybe their adult child's middle school experience. And so it's really neat to actually talk with someone who is in it and in it in such a neat way, like such a specific way.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

School itself does not look like it did five years ago. It definitely doesn't look like it did 10 years ago. So we have nothing to lose, in my opinion, by really diving in to what the fine arts experiences can offer. And we can just win, win, win, win from here.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Well, thank you, Barbie. This was great. I appreciate it. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.