Pius X Students Celebrate Music
This week the Pius X High School band and choir hallway is not only filled with the sound of instruments and voices. It is also filled with inspiring words and art. Pius X students celebrated their love of music by creating posters to highlight what music means to each of them. The month of March has been named Music in Our Schools Month by the National Association of Music Education.
The posters answer the question ‘to me, music means…’ The answers: joy, thanks, freedom, hope, party, escape, relaxation, emotion, everything... One student even compared music to transportation: “It takes all your troubles to a faraway place.” The art and the list of answers are as varied and filled with personality as the authors themselves.
“It is amazing what students write knowing it will be shared with all the school,” noted Choral Director Todd Krier, whose student teacher Lisabeth Wissink executed the project. In total, 245 choral students each created a poster to share the meaning and purpose of music in their lives.
And share they did. One poster reads: “Music gives unspeakable words to all. It sings to the human soul in a way that is different to each person.” Another student wrote: “Music is a universal language that is enjoyed by the whole world.”
“Our students poured out their heart with fears, joys, and struggles,” Krier continued. “Their words and posters are a reminder of how crucial the arts are in our schools for students to have a creative outlet.”
While there was no right or wrong answer for this assignment, one student may have captured the spirit of the project the best: “Music is a way to paint your emotions across a canvas. It reaches into your soul and pulls out what cannot be expressed in any other way…The human person uses music because it gives us the chance to be more of ourselves. St. Augustine said: ‘Those who sing pray twice.’ I think this means God gave us music for a reason. He intended for it to be a way to praise Him more fully. So let us sing joyfully to the Lord. Let us shout to the Rock of our Salvation.”
