| Symphony, Center Reaching Developmentally
Disordered Children Through Music
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Contact David Tisdale - 601.266.4499
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Dr. Jay Dean and Margaret Buttross-Brinegar are unlikely partners in a collaborative effort that brings members of the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony to the Children's Center for Communication and Development.
The result has been a unique learning opportunity, not only for the communicatively and developmentally-disordered children who receive treatment at the center, but for the Southern Miss students, faculty and staff involved.
A year ago, Dean, director of the Southern Miss Symphony and Buttross-Brinegar, director of the Children's Center, discussed ways that the symphony could help the children who receive services at the center.
Dean saw the opportunity as a way to enhance the outreach work the symphony was already doing with the Hattiesburg Public School District.
"I defined our mission to him and talked about some of our needs, and he was very supportive," Buttross-Brinegar said.
The Children's Center is a clinical division of the Southern Miss Department of Speech and Hearing that provides a transdisciplinary team approach to the assessment and treatment of communicatively- and developmentally-disordered infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Because of their developmental challenges, Buttross-Brinegar said these children are unique learners.
Dean arranged for the symphony to perform one day at the center, and the impact on the young audience was enlightening.
"There were some special things that happened at that performance," Dean said. "We got some positive responses. Kids that were not responding, perhaps, to regular instruction began to respond to music, so it was then that we realized we could use musical performance encounters to stimulate them mentally and physically."
That encounter followed with a fundraising opportunity for the center through a concert held last year at Main Street Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, which included the symphony and the university's choral group. The center's staff had the opportunity to help promote the concert through ticket sales, and benefited from funds raised through that effort.
But Dean wanted the relationship to continue beyond the concert. And that's happening, as Dean's music students give individual performances as well as presentations about the musical instrument they play for the center's children, with these performances integrated into the center's curriculum.
Darryl Harris Sr. of Greenville, a doctoral student in musical arts at the University of Southern Mississippi, performs at the university's Children's Center for Communication and Development.
"Since our children don't learn traditionally, we seek multi-sensory avenues of learning, and these in-class performances reinforce the language concepts that we are teaching," Buttross-Brinegar said. "Live music is a unique experience for our children, so these music students are helping us break our information and instruction delivery down to reach them through music."
For example, if students are working on language concepts of big and small, fast and slow, loud and quiet, music students perform with their instrument accordingly to simulate these concepts, she said.
"Besides the obvious benefit of the live music and tying it in with our lesson plans, the children are meeting new people and they are being exposed to musical instruments and music they would not typically see or hear."
Buttross-Brinegar said the experience benefits everyone involved, including the music students who get to learn about the work of the center. Speech and hearing students at the university who serve internships at the center also learn about the musical instruments that make up the symphony's structure.
"Everyone is learning something from one another during these performances," she said.
Dean sees the performances as opportunities for Southern Miss music faculty and students to use their talents in ways that go beyond providing entertainment. "In our work with educators and students at all levels, we want to give them as many quality life experiences as we can," he said.
Darryl Harris Sr. of Greenville, a Southern Miss graduate student pursuing a doctorate in musical arts, said performing for the students is gratifying. The reaction he gets, he said, is what a musician hopes for.
"I don't think it gets any better - it's an honor and privilege to play for these children," Harris said. "They appreciate the music and they're fascinated with the instruments. When you can put smiles on little faces like that, that's what it's all about. That's what we practice for."
Harris isn't surprised that the children are connecting with the performances. "The power of music can reach people when mere words can't, and you can see it in the faces of those kids. It really works."
(Southern Miss Marketing and Public Relations photo by David Tisdale)