(Left to right):  Sponsor Truett Miley of Allied Systems, BRSO Education Committee Chair Lynn Lastrapes, 2012 Music Teacher of the Year Patricia Delony, Music Director Timothy Muffitt, 2012 Classroom Teacher of the Year Kay Collier and sponsor Wayne Miley of Allied Systems.

The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) recognized two teachers from East Baton Rouge Parish School System schools as the winners of its music education awards this year.  The Orchestra closed its 63rd season of the Masterworks Series, sponsored by Entergy, and included the awards announcement on Thursday evening, March 22.
 
As part of the annual tradition of recognizing educators who seek to provide excellence in incorporating music into the classroom, the Baton Rouge Symphony honored outstanding music educators on stage prior to the concert.  The educational music awards are sponsored by Allied Systems and McGraw Hill. 
 
The 2012 Music Teacher of the Year Award was presented to Patricia Delony of the Baton Rouge Center for Visual & Performing Arts.  “Upon entering Patricia Delony’s music room, one readily witnesses the excitement of learning and performing.  Children are enjoying the fun and being challenged playing Orff instruments, percussion instruments, keyboards, recorders and, of course, singing,” BRCVPA Principal Mark Richterman said. 
 
In addition to teaching all children in grades Pre-K through fifth grade, Delony directs the school’s auditioned choir and recorder percussion ensemble.  Her highly effective musical instruction is multi-faceted and rewards students with a solid foundation in the elements of music.  She plans with her fellow Arts colleagues to integrate general music concepts and skills into the curriculum.  This ensures students are receiving well-rounded and varied approaches to learning reading, math, social studies and science concepts.
 
Delony’s activities for each subject are diverse and include having students learn or write a song, learn or write a rhythmic activity using the many melodic and rhythmic percussion instruments.  Other activities include creating movement to music, learning or creating music for literature-based productions, examining how science and math concepts relate to the production of musical sounds and their notation, and investigating musical traditions that correlate to historical periods studied in the regular classroom. 
A 30-year veteran of education, Delony has spent 16 of those years in Special Education and the last 14 in elementary and middle school choir and general music.  She also conducted the East Baton Rouge Parish School System Children’s Chorus for seven years.  During this time, her choirs earned top ratings at district and state festivals as well as first place and best in class awards in national competitions in Atlanta, San Antonio and Gatlinburg.  Delony also serves as an adjudicator and honor choir clinician for surrounding parishes.
The 2012 Outstanding Baton Rouge Classroom Teacher of the Year Award was presented to Kay Collier of Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School.  Collier teaches seventh- and eighth-grade French.  Madame Collier teaches a formal unit around Louisiana and French history with music being a major and dynamic aspect.  She celebrates French and Louisiana French holidays, and French classical music is played and studied which period it was written and played.  She continually is weaving our state’s French heritage into the classroom, specifically incorporating music and musical themes.  Collier gives bonus points to students who visit the Blue Dog Exhibit, French music exhibitions and Cajun cultural events and return to the class and discuss the experiences. 
Collier goes into great depth about the French Canadian culture in the time of the Acadian dispersion, involving the entire school when possible.  Her students learn Cajun traditional dances using the traditional folk songs and music of the original Acadian period.  Every year, she introduces a Cajun band with the “T fer” accordion, spoons and washboard, which are the traditional instruments for the famous sounds of bayou music.  Traditional Cajun dancing is an entertaining aspect to learning French Louisiana culture and heritage in her class, as well.  On the day of the fais do-do, she has a dance competition judged by other teachers and has parents bring traditional foods.  Collier believes the world is a classroom, and her use of a myriad of music methodologies proves her devotion to the importance of learning.
Each winner received two complimentary season subscriptions to the 2012-2013 BRSO Masterworks series, an award plaque, two complimentary tickets to the concert at which the awards were presented, dinner for two at Stroube’s Chophouse for the Baton Rouge Symphony League’s closing night gala on the night of the presentation concert and recognition in Braveaux, the Symphony program book.  Each winner’s school received recognition in the program book, a banner and a plaque. 
In addition to the two Teachers of the Year, nominees who exemplified the criteria of the award to a high degree are recognized as BRSO Teachers of Distinction.  One of the two winners was Norma Jean Alexander, a teacher at Jefferson Terrace Elementary School.
 
For more information, contact Carrie Knight at (225) 383-0500, Ext. 109, or CKnight@BRSO.org.