Musicians spread 'universal language' at school

There was a lot of toe-tapping going on at Cayuse Prairie Elementary School on Monday morning.

Rob and Halladay Quist, playing guitars, banjos and an upright electric bass, made a special appearance at the school Monday, putting on a community concert followed by a smaller acoustic session for a group of special education students. 

It was the first in a series of musical events Cayuse Prairie hopes to offer to students through 2016.

“I love working with the school programs,” Rob Quist said. “It takes me back to when I was in school and got to see performers come in. I would think, ‘I want to do that!’”

In addition to singing and playing locally with the Mission Mountain Wood Band and the Great Northern Band, Quist is also a 10-year member of the Montana Arts Council. He said that experience has greatly influenced his desire to get involved with school programs.

“It saddens me that the arts budgets in schools are running out midyear,” Quist said. “It just makes me want to get involved with the schools as much as I can.”

Cayuse Prairie special education teacher Kathy Manley-Coburn has applied for and received a series of grants for different programs to incorporate into the special education curriculum, including funding for the school’s greenhouse and participation in the Dream Adaptive Recreation program. 

The latest grants, from the Montana Masons and Very Special Arts Montana, focus specifically on music education and exposure.

“We are always trying to find ways to reach [the special needs students],” Manley-Coburn said. “That’s one of the great things about music. It helps with social skills and language development, it teaches appropriate behavior and curbs maladaptive behavior.”

As Quist put it, “Music is such universal language. Autistic kids in particular seem to really connect with music, and it just makes it that much more powerful.”

During the classroom session with the special education group, the father-and-daughter Quist duo performed three songs for the very attentive and curious audience. Seventh-grader Kela Aneca even joined them playing piano and singing along.

“The world needs more piano players, that’s for sure!” Rob Quist told Aneca.

They also answered questions about their instruments and discussed everything from hunting and camping to traveling through Montana and finding song-writing inspiration.

“Everybody is creative,” Rob told the group. “Everybody could write a song if they wanted to.”

Paraprofessionals Debbie Kauffman and Chuck Baker were both very enthusiastic about the morning of music for their students.

“This was a tremendous adventure,” Kauffman said. “The more we can put music in their lives, the better.”

“We are so lucky to have [the Quists] here to do this,” Baker said. “It was a great way to start the week!”

Halladay, an accomplished singer and songwriter in her own right, said she felt “extremely blessed” to have a chance to play in a small classroom setting with the students.

“There’s so much research being done that shows how music really helps the brain function and helps calm you,” she said. “I always wanted to take music to that level. It’s educational but also healing.”

The morning concert consisted of nine songs, most of which were written by Rob or Halladay. The entire student body attended the musical assembly and even had the chance to sing along with the final tune. 

Many students tapped their feet to the beat throughout the morning, with some air-guitaring along with the Quists and others taking photos and videos. The Quists received many high-fives from students as they went back to class after the concert.

“It is incredible to see the light in the eyes of the next generation,” Halladay said. “It’s really rewarding. Hopefully we inspired some students to pick up instruments and continue their musical journey.”

According to Manley-Coburn, Cayuse Prairie hopes to schedule two concerts before the end of the current academic year and at least three more during the 2015-16 year. In addition to being schoolwide events, all of the concerts are free and open to the public.

“My hope is to expose all the kids in the school to these local musicians, so [the students] can see that all kinds of opportunities are open to them,” Manley-Coburn said.

Rob Quist said he and Halladay were grateful to be part of that effort.

“The more kids we can get into playing music, the better we all are.”

Entertainment editor Stefanie Johnson can be reached at 758-4439 or ThisWeek@dailyinterlake.com.