Citizen of the Week: Musical Experience, Kirkland Connects Kids with Sound

Sara Harp Minter Elementary music specialist Alison Kirkland makes a symphony of learning.

Kirkland sees every student in Pre-K through 5th grade at least once a week, and she also leads the Minter chorus. They will have a big spring performance, and they’ll also sing at special events throughout the year like a holiday review and a Veterans Day Program.

“I love watching students grow,” she said. “I have the opportunity, which I love, to not just focus on the standards of music, but to watch these kids from babies up until they’re in fifth grade.”

She has been at Minter since it opened, and she loves that the staff has created an encouraging environment for students.

“We support each other personally and professionally. I think it’s so important as someone that’s outside of the regular core academic classroom to feel like they’re a part of that child’s journey,” she said. “So many teachers here utilize that. They see that that kid might be struggling over here in math, but they are really knocking it out of the park when it comes to chorus. So that gives them a reason to come to school. I think at Minter, we look at the whole child and we see that that’s an important thing.”

Kirkland always seemed destined to a life around music.

“I don’t remember a time in my life that was there wasn’t music.”

One of her earliest inspirations was the minister of music at her church.

“It was just his passion to grow, to grow the kids, in that musical way.”

She would later teach music class at that church, and it helped her find her own path.

“I didn’t ever want a world without music in it, so I knew I was gonna go to college for that,” she said. “I’ve thought there’s times I could have gone different ways, but I was like, no, I have to have music every day. So that’s how it just kind of was natural.”

Kirkland wears a lot of hats In addition to teaching her Mountain Lions. She is the performing arts contact for the district, serving as a liaison for things like the Governor’s Honors Program where she takes care of auditions and interviews. She leads a STEAM camp over the summer, and she also teaches voice and piano lessons privately. Kirkland does it all while also pursuing her doctorate.

She loves music’s ability to bring us all closer together.

“I think it teaches empathy. I think kids nowadays need to see other cultures and be accepting of one another and to really and truly understand kindness and empathy and connection, and music does that,” she said. “It opens up a world of culture for them.”

Her goal is always to get her students to love the musical experience.

“My why might sound a little different than maybe other music teachers. It’s important to teach the basics, the fundamentals, the musical concepts, how to play instruments. That’s important. But I want kids to leave my classroom with a sense of self and how music is connecting us all,” she said. “If I have created or inspired that in a child when they leave this room through music, I feel like I’ve done my job.”