By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Joan Crull, music teacher for Hays USD 489, has been spreading her love of music to youth for more than 45 years.
Crull's last day as a public school teacher was Thursday.
Although Crull, 67, has worked in the Hays school district for 17 years, she's worked in five states — Kansas, Colorado, California, South Dakota and Iowa.
Crull teaches orchestra and general music at O'Loughlin Elementary School.
"I have taught in multiple states and many schools. This district has so much going for it," she said. "The teachers are amazing. I can say that having known hundreds of teachers from five different states that this is a wonderful district, especially now that we are [building a] new high school and everything."
Crull, whose primary instrument is the violin, said she fell in love with music when she was in elementary school.
"I had a second-grade music teacher who made it so fun," she said. "I loved it. I just loved it.
"My mom and dad were musical. I went away from it for a little while, but I knew from the time I was little that I wanted to teach music," she said. "I've been involved in music since I was tiny."
She said music can speak to students in a way nothing else can.
"Sometimes they're having a hard day, or sometimes a child has struggles in another area of school, but in music, they find release. Music makes them feel better about themselves. They can express themselves better. They find they have a talent there."
Younger children become more creative, she said.
She said she can look out over a large group of students from all types of backgrounds, but when they are making music, they are part of a team, she said.
Crull has worked with children from kindergarten through high school. Which age group she likes to work with the best depends on the day.
"Sometimes I think kindergarteners are really cute," she said, "and some days I think, wow, I really enjoy the high school, the top group, because they can really do so much.
"Some days, I think the middle schoolers are fun. They have such a fun sense of humor."
Crull tries to pull music from a wide variety of genres.
"There is something beautiful in every time period," she said.
She said you might think students would prefer upbeat music.
"A lot of times, even with younger students," she said, "You'll find that their favorite pieces are the slower pieces that are very emotional and moving. If you give them a choice of what they want to play, they will pick one of those."
She said she has fond memories of her students earning places in Kansas All-State, but it is often the little things that have stuck in her memory.
"It's the light bulb going on," she said, "a kid smiling. A student was having a rough day and was able to get into the music. It speaks to them. It's little things every day. You never know what it's going to be."
Crull said her most significant challenge as a music teacher has been meeting the needs of students at varying skill levels. She might have a middle school student who is just learning to play and another in the same class who has been playing since she was five and can play advanced music.
Crull is used to working with large groups—65 to 70 at the middle school or high school or up to 100 for an elementary school program.
During her tenure as a teacher, she said music education has grown and now entails more hands-on work with the students, moving and creating.
"It is no longer sit with a book and sing," she said.
Many students also have a lot of obstacles to overcome to be at school, Crull said.
Crull was a teacher through the era of No Child Left Behind and an emphasis on testing. She talked about the importance of music education.
"Not everybody is a good test taker. That just measures certain kinds of intelligence," she said. "Music speaks to the whole soul. It speaks to the whole child. They can always succeed. Nobody loses. We always win.
"It helps develop the other part of them, the creative, the artistic, the emotional side of the child that studying for a test doesn't."
It creates more synapses in the brain, which helps with the development of language and math skills, she said.
"Einstein played the violin," she said. ... "I always tell my students you are playing the same thing that Einstein played, and look what he did."
In retirement, Crull will teach private violin and viola lessons at home. Crull has children and relatives who live across the country and in China. She said she needs free weekends to visit her family.
She also hopes to still do some piano accompanying at local schools.
She also will continue to sing in the Smoky Hill Chorale and play in the Hays Symphony.
"Music is just so important to me to express myself, and it makes me happy. It is just so a very, very important part of who I am. If I didn't do music every day, I would be very sad."