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Memento and memories of Brush High Spring Concert 2014

(Maria Shine Stewart)

Maria Shine Stewart

LYNDHURST, Ohio -- The Brush High Spring Concert in Lyndhurst on Thursday, May 15 was bittersweet for me. Let me be honest: I left with a lump in my throat.

As usual, the concert showcased the talents of amazing, musical students striving to fulfill their potential; that's enough to inspire some sentiment. Second, music transports me out of worry-time into another type of time, let's call it "the music zone." Third, it was the annual send-off of orchestra students graduating from Brush; their genuine fondness for one another is always a joy to behold.

Last and of course not least, it was the final concert led by retiring music teacher and director, Ms. Lydia Proniv, who served the South Euclid-Lyndhurst schools for 25 years. "We also have a teacher graduating," as one of the devoted, behind-the-scenes Orchestra Booster parents put it.

And I think Purcell, Mascagni, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Del Borgo, Dvorak, Handel, Bach, Pachelbel, Fletcher, Stamitz and yes the Beatles themselves would shout "Bravo" to the collective efforts. And let me not forget the audience. They ... we ... were part of the celebration of tears and laughter, too.

As Ms. Proniv gave fresh flowers to each of the graduates after leading 7th through 12th graders in a varied, creative assortment of music, my mind decided that this was an image to savor. A teacher seeing her students truly blossom ... and commemorating that. I had seen her do this before; she had been my son's strings' teacher from fifth through 12th grade. The years have flown; he is in college now.

Thinking back: Each enchanting winter holiday concert or energizing spring concert I attended opened my ears and hearts to something well worth pausing for: A common purpose of art and community. The beauty of children and teens under skilled supervision, looking like angels, maneuvering musical instruments with confidence and dignity. For me, this has been one of the best things of all in Lyndhurst.

A patient, adaptable and devoted music teacher (a subset of a subset of all music teachers), Ms. Proniv dedicated herself to three schools (Brush High, Memorial Junior High, and Greenview Upper Elementary) and guided many children. I knew this from direct observation myself, and as the tributes of former students in the program testified, these observations were many times over confirmed. She led, when she could, trips that encouraged students to challenge themselves in major competitions. Such trips opened my son's horizons as we could not travel as a family.

Ms. Proniv was the teacher, literally and figuratively, who would go the extra mile, organizing and planning while striving to teach some of life's difficult tasks, as I define them:

How to perform whether one feels like it or not.

How to be a cooperative part of a group.

How to transcend stage fright.

How to own one's errors and move beyond them.

How to listen to others, to one's self.

And then there is the sheer power of music, the potential for joy. That is the last word the seasoned teacher typed in the concert program, thanking her students past and present who "made teaching a joy."

She was slicing cake at a reception that was partly her own farewell; she had switched gears, as she often did, from conductor to performer in the evening, gently accompanying on piano a precocious 7th grade violinist who made his instrument sound like a gracefully singing bird.

No further evidence is needed on the value of music education in transcendent moments like that. The audience cheered.

As a parent, I feel gratitude to teachers and guides, from preschool through college. There is only so far a parent can ever go. Our fledglings must fly ... and if they find those who can help them soar, that is a gift. A parent's heart, from the early weeks of a child's life, is the gentle drumbeat, the first music, heard. Music reaches into the human heart (if we let it), an enduring and universal language.

Good teachers like Lydia Proniv model passion and radiate a poise, a presence, that is "caught" by receptive students yet not directly taught.

Below-the-radar community volunteer, the gifted Anthony Addison, was also involved with the chamber ensemble, radiating professionalism. He has also gone the extra mile to help students.

I hope that in our modern multitasking zeal we do not forget how to do one thing at a time well. And to listen to others and ourselves. As technology becomes more and more "intuitive," I hope that humans do not become less so. The ear and human voice are miraculous instruments and powerful, both solo and ensemble.

Though the indigo and maroon velvet drapes in the Brush High auditorium may resemble stage curtains at any number of schools anywhere, good teaching is never generic, It results in unique individuals, like those on stage and in the program, not cookie-cutter replicas. A good teacher elicits what is dormant within ourselves, what we doubt we can do. That takes trust in human potential as well as talent.

Ms. Proniv said to the audience near the end of the evening, "At the beginning of the year the first violins didn't think their fingers could move that fast..."

But they could.

And did.

P.S. Let me know what you're Lovin' in Lyndhurst. Contact mariashinestewart@gmail.com