LOWER POTTSGROVE — It’s a little known fact, according to Tom Kelly, that being a musician “makes you smarter,” and that students who get involved in music score better on tests and other academic measures.
Kelly would know. For more than 30 years, he has worked at Zeswitz Music working with public school music directors. And he is also affiliated with the National Association of Music Merchants which each year issues the Best Communities for Music awards and Tuesday night, for the fifth straight year, he was at the Pottsgrove School board meeting to once again inform them Pottsgrove has been so named.
“I’ve been doing this for 32 years” and has worked with several Pottsgrove music directors “and I’ve been through several, but in each one, I see their undying efforts to provide the best music program possible,” he said.
The recipients are not chosen by the association, but by the separate, objective judges at the University of Kansas. And it is not an easy application to fill out.
“The questions change, so it’s not like you can just use the answers from the previous year,” he said of the 36-page application.
There are thousands of school districts across the nation that apply, so to be one of only 700 district across the country which are chosen to receive the award is significant, he said. “It’s a real testament to the work your staff is doing here.”
But Pottsgrove’s music education significance does not stop there.
The same night the school board unanimously approved a request for Pottsgrove to host the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association’s District 11 Choir Festival at Pottsgrove Middle School. It will involve nearly 150 students from 60 different school districts in early February.
In the past, Pottsgrove has hosted similar festivals for band, orchestra and strings according to choir director Amy McMahon, who told the board that when she did it as a student “it was one of the best experiences of my life.”
Superintendent David Finnerty said the timing is good as the audio improvements planned for that space should be finished in time for the festival.
“This is a great showcase for us,” he said.
