The Magic of Music and Theater

Ronni Ernenputsch talks to us about the lifelong benefits that come from experiencing performing arts.

Show Notes

Shel Silverstein

Bach to Rock

What is The Sequoia Breeze?

A podcast for homeschool families brought to you by Sequoia Grove Charter Alliance. Encouragement, tips & tricks, interviews with HSTs and curriculum help.

Rebecca: Welcome, listeners, to the Sequoia Breeze podcast, a breath of fresh air for your home school. I am your host Rebecca LaSavio, and I'm so glad you've joined with us today. We've got a great episode for you. Thank you for joining us today. Today. I've got Ronni Ernenputsch...did I say it right?

Ronni: Good job.

Rebecca: ...joining me to talk about theater and music and the importance of that in our lives and in our home school. So welcome, Ronnie.

Ronni: Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Rebecca: Please tell us a little bit about you and your family and your home school journey.

Ronni: Yeah, so I started in a traditional brick and mortar several years ago, many moons ago, teaching high school, which I loved, and started having babies. So I came home to focus on them, moved to California and Northern California and learned of this home school population, this little pocket of goodness, and wanted to learn more about it. I appreciated the perspectives and the freedom of choice for parents and really wanted that for my own children. And so I started teaching at Inspire Learning Academy, which is an enrichment program in Auburn. It was at the time this will date me and started providing teaching drama there and novel studies, my single credentials in English. And so it was kind of a crossover. I can teach both English and theater and then applied for Clarksville after doing that for a couple of years and I've been here for six years now.

Rebecca: Awesome. And how many kids?

Ronni: I have three.

Rebecca: Okay. And what's her age range?

Ronni: My daughter is eleven, she's the oldest. She will be twelve soon. My son just turned ten last weekend, actually, and then I have a six year old boy as well.

Rebecca: Okay, span of educational needs?

Ronni: Yes, definitely.

Rebecca: So Ronnie, I know you are a Clarksville employee. What specifically is your role with us?

Ronni: So I actually wear several different hats. I'm an instructional team advisor, so I supervise a group of teachers. I am a home school teacher, HST. I have 22 students who I've had for some of them, six years and then I also help with diversity and inclusion.

Rebecca: Awesome. You've got a lot going on.

Ronni: Yeah, I stay busy.

Rebecca: So tell us about you alluded to teaching some drama, but you don't teach drama without having participated in it and knowing something about it. So tell us a little about your background with theater and music.

Ronni: Yes, so I consider myself coming from a musical family, we have a variety. My dad is distantly related to Elvis Presley, so that's like his when you share that surprising fact of like share one thing, nobody knows about you or that's his go to and he can even curl his lips anytime. There's Karaoke. That's his song.

Rebecca: Okay. Yeah.

Ronni: So that's on that side. And then on my mom's side, we have several musicians, several who can just hear something and play it. My brother got that I didn't.

Rebecca: That's enviable. Yeah.

Ronni: Little jelly there. A little jealous, I say. I've had to work for any musical ability I have, but yeah, so it's just always been a part of our family. We have family reunions and everyone's playing banjos, and my grandma had dementia and she forgot all of us and never forgot how to play the organ and would play it.

Rebecca: I'm going to come to your family reunion. What about theater?

Ronni: So theater was something I started in high school my sophomore year, and really it was because my sister, who was two years older, was a senior audition for the musical. And it never dawned on me, and I'm like, hey, I think I want to try that too. And this is kind of a reoccurring theme in our relationship. She'll start something, introduced me to it, and then I take it and I'll run with it, and then she like, pieces out and does something else. So she only did the musical that year, and then I've been in theater ever since, so it's like a love of mine.

Rebecca: Okay, awesome. Sounds like a good big sister. Besides the family connection that you have to all of it, what makes these things so important to you? Where do you see the value in theater and music?

Ronni: Well, I think even as I look back on my own journey, I was pretty shy as a child in my earlier years. I consider myself an introvert extrovert, so I can turn it on, but it's exhausting and I have to reenergize privately. But when I started singing in junior high and then theater in high school, there's this new confidence that came with that for me, and the ability to speak in front of people, articulate myself, even in a sense of like, in my shyness or anxiousness, become somebody else to present what needed to happen. And so I think when we think of our own students and theater just enables them to express themselves in ways that maybe they couldn't do otherwise. And music helps express emotions that they wouldn't be able to express without it.

Rebecca: So how have you integrated theater and music in your own family?

Ronni: I've always had an appreciation for music in our home, so we listen to a variety of genres. We play instruments, my son's learning the drums, my daughter plays the ukulele, the piano. And so we always have something on. I think that's important. But then we also try to learn about where it comes from. So if there's a certain genre, my husband and I prefer different genre, like our go to, you have your goto music, I just need to clear my mind. I don't want to do anything. I just want to go to my happy place. We have very different choices. So he is very much reggae or even rap, which prior marriage I was not exposed to. And then me, I'm more like I call it indie folk. I really like kind of so the roots of the banjos and that kind of stuff, still having that present or Americana kind of. Yeah, I really like that. So learning where music comes from, I think there's a different value on that. Learning the journey of the musicians to think about their lyrics and what they mean, how their story has influenced those. And then you can also see the musicians where it's just the pop culture. Not to minimize pop because I enjoy a good pop song, but they bought that song that somebody else wrote.

Rebecca: Right. The meaning might be less that the music can be everybody is enjoyable, right.

Ronni: And then you look throughout history and song is such an important way of communication. The oral tradition is what originally started for how things were communicated prior to the written word. And it helps memorization by going with music. And so you think that there's like this story that's being told through music. So I think that's the value of how can we communicate through music, tell our story through music.

Rebecca: I have noticed sometimes when my kids have just had it with schoolwork or their brains are too tired, I will often say go practice piano or go practice your violin or something. And while they may push back because they're tired and they think they don't want to, they almost always come back with a new attitude. And I know that that's going to use a different piece of their brain and it's going to engage them in a different way. And I can see a real attitude change in them. Most days there's always those frustrating practice days when it backfires, but most of the time they'll come back with a better attitude because it can be a brain break using different channels than they've been using for their schoolwork. I found that. And of course, we all do a better job cleaning the house when the right music is on, right? Absolutely. How about theater? How have you introduced your kids to that?

Ronni: So theater goes so great along with language arts. And that's why I think I hold those closely of like English and theater together. Because if you look at even the state standards or ICANN statements that we are integrating that are kind of our guiding journey to what we're choosing to teach. In the language arts, there's a section of speak, like I can speak kind of standards. So being able to speak clearly at an appropriate pace when giving in a report, sharing a story, I did pull these or an experience. I can use appropriate eye contact and volume as well as speak clearly. I can include multimedia. These are newer standards that are coming because our students are becoming tech savvy.

Rebecca: Right? It's a tech world.

Ronni: And so they're having to integrate with these things or engage with these things. I can change my way of speaking for a variety of situations. All of those, you can integrate or learn through theater.

Rebecca: Right.

Ronni: So you can read a novel and then have your child pause and write a dialogue page that those two characters would have. Like, imagine if we were taking this story off the page. What do you think a conversation would look like between these two characters? And then they write this page of dialogue and then you act it out.

Rebecca: How fun. Right? And now you are interacting with the characters in that book in a much deeper way.

Ronni: Or if you're studying a certain time period in history, you can research what theater was during that time, learn about it, reenact a piece from there, or research the music that would go within. So I think there's a lot of ways you can take theater and integrate it into your everyday learning. And I think it helps bring things alive when you can reenact something.

Rebecca: See.

Ronni: Something from somebody else's perspective, and that builds empathy and understanding, which is really important.

Rebecca: Absolutely. Yeah. What are some specific benefits that you see from giving attention to music and theater in your family, in your day, in your home school?

Ronni: I think several things. First, music helps enhance brain development. And we see that even I mean, you mentioned that with your children giving them a brain break. I think it releases endorphins if they enjoy it, and it's flexing that creativity muscle that we can forget how to use. It also gives an outlet, as I said earlier, to express emotions. It can expose students to different languages and cultures by singing songs from other countries. And music can help build confidence in students who are shy and anxious. My middle son is an introvert and has trouble engaging in conversation with others. So I like to role play with him. And I'll say, if you just met me, what is something you could say to me? And then I'll say something and then he doesn't say something back. What else can you say to engage in this? So reenacting a conversation, I mean, that aligns with theater and a sense of role playing and thinking outside of yourself, trying to take on somebody else's perspective.

Rebecca: I know my kids are part of a theater program this past year, and every time that they were there, there was some sort of a game. And as far as the kids thought, they were just playing games. But as they tell me about it. I could see the skills that they were learning. Whether it was being engaged with the timing of what somebody else was doing. Or finding how your voice and your behavior affects the people around you. Or there are lots of different ways that the skills. The things they were practicing for their drama production was actually teaching them some life skills at the same time.

Ronni: Absolutely. And I even think not everyone is going to be the one in the front, the leader. Right, right. But we still need to develop the skills to communicate well or to be able to be up in front of people when needed. And so I think singing in a choir and this is kind of that if we took it in a performance route, right, being on the stage in a theatrical performance or singing in a choir, you get that experience of being up in front of people without having to be the one leading the charge. And I think that that helps develop lifelong skills. And I attribute much of my ability to speak in front of people because of that development that happened early on.

Rebecca: We've even had conversations about how important those background roles are. Like, you may think you didn't get the biggest role, but let's think about what the stage would look like if those parts weren't there. So you are an integral part. A choir that's missing ten people is not the same choir. Each person, while you may feel like you're part of a crowd or not that important, does have an important role.

Ronni: And I would just even piggyback off of that and say that it helps build teamwork, the ability to cooperate and work with other people, which is also part of our standards, that children need to learn how to share and take turns. And that's all important. And that can happen in those collaborative environments. And especially because in the home school environment, we aren't funneling into school made programs like in a traditional brick and mortar, we kind of have to find those. And I would say in brick and mortar, there tends to be a higher push on sports because schools have these big sports teams and the money is coming from there. But in home school, we don't have that. And so I think the music and the arts can have a greater space, a greater part of our story, and we can funnel our kids that way.

Rebecca: And of course, music and theater is not going to be for everybody, but learning a little about it, experiencing some of it, and very possibly giving it a shot, I think would be worthwhile. My son was terrified to try theater, and I said, you know what? I really want you to try this once because I don't know if you're going to like it or not, but you might. And if you don't, that's fine. You don't ever have to do it again. Give it once, try it.

Ronni: And he loved it.

Rebecca: He had a blast.

Ronni: Well, and I think there are places in front and behind. So yes, I don't think everyone is going to be on the stage in the production. They don't want to be that person. But there needs to be somebody behind the scenes handing the props, organizing the props, doing the lighting. I think of my husband, who is an audio engineer, and he I mean, that's his jam. He geeks out on this audio stuff.

Rebecca: I don't even bother to sit in the dark.

Ronni: Absolutely. But we need him in order to make the production. And so even I mentioned earlier my middle son, who's shy because my two bookends are pretty both outgoing in their own way. So they'll be on the stage, no problem. But I think of him and he's excited about learning about that audio engineer aspect. He's excited about learning about the audio engineer aspect.

Rebecca: And to be a good audio engineer, you have to know something about music.

Ronni: Absolutely.

Rebecca: You've got to know how to mix the voices and the instruments and all of that. If there are parents listening who this is kind of a new idea, or they just maybe they're coming from brick and mortar school and they left it up to the school to think about these kinds of things before. So if you're just starting, this isn't pressure. These are some ideas of things that might bring a little fun and a little breadth to your home school that it doesn't just have to all be the math and science and reading. You can do some fun things. How would you encourage parents to get started? Or where should they look?

Ronni: Great question. So I think if you have younger students, when I think that, I think like tk through third morning circle time, like starting the day together is an easy way to on ramp theater and music. So you can look for songs on YouTube that are even Google morning Circle and see what songs come up. And it'll be songs to learn the days of the week or the month of the year or the weather. Because we have such a strong sense of memory that comes tied to music. And think of your own children, their favorite song. They know every single lyric. And then you've tried to have them memorize the 50 states and they just don't get it. And you're like, how come you can do this, but not that. But if we tie it to music, then their recall ability is greater. So you can do that for those younger grades. And I think of for the older grades tying in if you're going to be studying a time period, like I mentioned earlier, look for a theater, study the theater of that time. Look for a play that you could read along with it. Obviously, Shakespeare always comes to mind because that's such a strong component of language.

Rebecca: Arts through high school.

Ronni: And I will say he introduced like 600 words to the English language that he developed all on his own through writing theatrical productions.

Rebecca: That's amazing, fascinating.

Ronni: Right? But there's so many more. It's not just Shakespeare. So there are easy ways to integrate reading of scripts. I also would say poems is such an easy way, like memorizing the poem and then reciting the poem so you can have family dinner and your child gets up and recites the poem. And I will say my husband, when he shared about his childhood. His stepdad would make them sit around the dinner table and they would have to share once a week a poem that they memorized, and then they would talk about it. And at first I'm like that's kind of silly. And the more that we've shared about that and how that influenced his development, I can see value in it. And I think in the home school world, you're not getting up in front of your classroom regularly to give these reports, so how can we create space for that? But it's in a fun way, but they're still getting that experience of being in front of others.

Rebecca: And for those of you who tuned us out, as soon as we start talking about poems, there's such a wide variety. You don't have to start with Sonnets. I mean, there's lots of poetry books for children that can be great resources. You could even start with silly shell silverstein poems and things like that that are easy to memorize because they make you giggle and so don't tune out poetry. There are lots of great resources for that.

Ronni: Absolutely. There's such a wide variety that you can pull from. And I think, too, you know, this whole movement of graphic novels right now that are really big and like, second through 6th graders, I'd say Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I'm blanking on the names, but my kids have so many of them. Captain Underpants. You can have your kids re enact scenes from there. Like, how easy is that? It's that play aspect that sometimes we don't give enough credit for. That is a part of learning and a part of equipping our students to develop a sense of who they are, develop their ability to be in front of other people in a productive way. Like, great, you want to act something out. All I'm asking is it has a clear middle or beginning, middle and end.

Rebecca: And it can be a skill. You never know what job they're going to have. And they may never need to stand in front of 500 people, but they might need to be able to stand in front of a conference room and present an idea. And we want our kids who have great ideas and big thoughts to feel confident presenting those. Sometimes I think we as parents can put our own fears on our kids, and maybe we had a bad experience being in front of people or never really were taught how to do it. And we can accidentally let our kids know we don't like that. That's an uncomfortable thing. Being in front of people is uncomfortable. We don't expect you to like it, but maybe your kids can handle it in a way that different from you, or they could have a different experience. And so it can be important, I think, for us as parents to sometimes give our kids a chance to form their own opinions about what they like and don't like. So let's present the opportunity. And my husband doesn't particularly like being on the stage. He has a beautiful voice. He doesn't use it in public unless forced. He doesn't seek being on the stage. He could also be the sound guy. He likes that type of role. But our life, his job has required him to do public speaking a lot. And so it's a good thing he's capable of doing that because it's been necessary. So we can equip our kids with that skill.

Ronni: Absolutely. And I think, too, you know, home school can attract students coming out of traumatic situations in a brick and mortar and so maybe they're even more reticent. And so as parents, how do we nurture our children through that? How do we help them grow through that? To not turn inward, but to grow outward. And so these can be opportunities for that.

Rebecca: And even if they're never performing musician or on the stage, having an appreciation for these things can expand their horizons culturally. What's out there, what they listen to. They don't hear music that's different and go, EW. Immediately. They can listen and try to find the value in something that's unusual or different from their previous experience. Yeah.

Ronni: And I think it gives us depth, right?

Rebecca: Yes.

Ronni: And isn't that neat when you get to talk to somebody who you're like tell me about yourself or what do you love? And they have all these things to share. We consider them to be cultured. They have a lot to offer. And we get to shape that in home school for our children. And we can help them have those wide breadth of understanding of different genres, different music. And then to articulate and develop their opinions on that and share that with others is a gift.

Rebecca: That is. And who of us wouldn't be proud to have children that could do that? So I think it can expand, as you were saying, if we understand the music and the theater of a time period that we're learning about, it's no longer just facts on a page. It's life. It's understanding so much more about the people and how they think and what they valued of that time period.

Ronni: And I will say, from a performance standpoint, take it or leave it. Parents bit of encouragement. I've been performing off and on most of my life recently. Just within this last year, started performing on a bigger stage. So I sing for about 800 to 1000 people once a month and I still get nervous. Those nerves have never gone away. And when I first started, it was in February, there's a joke. I had to hold the mic with both hands and we call them tiny hands. I don't know if you see there's this game where there's these little tiny hands and you have to collect things because the mic would shake. And so I've been able to develop and I'm 41 to where just this last time that I sang last week, I could use one hand and that was like a win for me. So being able to acknowledge that those nerves will still be there and don't make decisions based on the nerves, that.

Rebecca: Is such great advice. And in fact, the nerves can serve a real purpose too. They can help bring the focus and channel the energy. And they usually give away to that performance high at the end, don't they?

Ronni: Absolutely. And I think it shows that we care about something and that's not a bad thing as long as it's not crippling us or we're choosing to give way to the fear and not do something, we need to push through it.

Rebecca: And so many of the most valuable things in my life have come after doing them, even though I was afraid of them, you know, it's true. And I've heard famous actors and singers talk about how they're still nervous when they go on stage. I think it doesn't go away for a lot of people because you're putting yourself out there. But then we get to share with you, we get to experience you. You're not hiding that gift in a closet or we get to know you a little better through that.

Ronni: Yeah, I tell my daughter that nerves just means you care and you have a gift that others are going to enjoy, like they're going to walk away feeling a sense of enjoyment. So give them a gift. And we all have gifts. Everybody has a gift. Sometimes they don't see it yet. And as parents, we get to call those out, right? We get to encourage those in our children so that they can use those for the betterment of society.

Rebecca: And if they don't like performing, they've still experienced doing something that felt uncomfortable. And that's a massive life lesson to learn. I love that you brought that up because I think it is important not to let our feelings always dictate what is useful and valuable. Is there anything else you would like to share with us before we close today?

Ronni: I would say if you're listening as a parent and this is something new to you that you want to explore with your child, we have some great vendors that locally have theater productions or music lessons. And my encouragement would be if you do expose your child to that, have a commitment of a time period so they don't give up right away because anything new is hard. And so I usually have my kids do six months of something before they choose that they don't really like it. Or if maybe you're going through a vendor and they have a production, sometimes they'll have if it's like Bach to rock, I think of off the top of my head, they have many different locations throughout our area, the Sacramento region. They'll do a recital in May. So maybe have your child just go through one recital and then you can.

Rebecca: Reevaluate that's fabulous advice, such good advice. Thank you, Ronnie, so much for being here today. I think there's some really great ideas and really valuable information that parents can glean from and I really appreciate you sharing your gift of knowledge with us today. Thank you.

Ronni: It's been a joy.

Rebecca: Parents and learning coaches, I have a favorite ask. I really want to hear from you. I would love to know why do you home school? Send me an email and succinctly tell me why do you homeschool? Why is that important to your family? If you'd like, you can also record a short message on your phone's recorder and email that to me as well. And maybe you'll even get to hear yourself on a future podcast. I would love to hear from you. Send me an email at [e-mail]. Thank you for joining us today, listeners, on this episode of the Sequoia Breeze podcast. I've been your host, Rebecca LaSavio, and I hope that hearing more about music and theater has been a breath of fresh air for your home school.