Football, soccer – many fall school activities get a lot of media coverage each year, while another activity that requires practice, dedication, teamwork and a lot of hard work is happening relatively unnoticed – but not anymore.

The children of the group, the children of the orchestra and the proud and patient parents rejoice. You finally get some of that fall coverage in the local newspapers that you so deserve.

Each fall, a whole new group of children become eligible to participate in a rite of passage that brings smiles to all ages – playing in the school marching band.

The feeling of wonder that invades a child’s imagination when introduced to the worlds of brass, woodwinds, strings and percussion is something well known.

As a music teacher at Jeffco, she’s had a glimpse of it every fall for the past 14 years. But for Reardon, like others who hear the call, the magic of those moments began years before she began to teach.

“I grew up in Wheat Ridge. My parents have lived here since the ’60s. I’ve been to Prospect Valley, Everitt, and Wheat Ridge High School, ”she says. “I was really excited for an instrument. I was the kid who came home saying I don’t care what I play, I just wanna play something!

She said once she signed up to play, she was into it. And in seventh grade, she knew she wanted to make music the work of her life.

And the work is. Reardon is based in Everitt, but currently teaches music at nine Jeffco Public Schools, giving two 40-minute classes in each, a few times a week.

“We just kind of just go in and teach and deploy and go to the next place,” she says. “It takes a while to get used to it. It’s very physical. I’m exhausted at the end of the day.

Reardon says the exhaustion is worth it because of the energy kids put into music and what the music gives them in return – and it’s not all in the ears.

“There’s a lot of brain research that shows that learning to play an instrument really has an impact on brain development, especially at the age we start kids at Jeffco,” she says. “During this teenage period, playing an instrument is one of the three activities that really make your brain grow. Reading is another. And the same is true of being active, of running.

Reardon says playing an instrument is one of the few activities kids do during the day that actually uses both sides of their brains at the same time and helps develop pathways in the brain.

“I think the information that struck me the most was that the part of your brain that processes sound and speech increases by over 120% compared to someone who doesn’t play a instrument.”

In fact, studies show that playing an instrument, especially at a young age, brings many benefits to the musician.

According to an article by Inc. Magazine, in a study from the University of Montreal, lead researcher Simon Landry found that musicians have faster auditory, tactile and audio-tactile reaction times. The study also showed that musicians are better able to integrate inputs from different senses.

Reardon says students who play an instrument also learn a sense of discipline through practice and teamwork.

“One of the things I say to kids all the time is that ‘you don’t practice or pay attention in another class doesn’t really impact someone else. But in the group, the orchestra and the choir, if you don’t practice it affects the whole group and we can’t move forward without you, ”she says.

She says she tries to communicate the fact that whatever the group does, they do together – they start together and end together. She believes that group dynamics are one of the most important aspects of learning to play in a group.

“In the marching band you are going to have that sense of teamwork, and in the marching band you will too, but in varying degrees of intensity.”

In addition to brain development and teamwork, Reardon says there is the obvious benefit of being creative and the tremendous outlet that playing an instrument gives children to express their emotions – to connect with each other. to others in a different and unique way.

“You can be artistic and creative and express things that you can’t always express in words,” she says.

Reardon and orchestra teacher Beth Letendre take all the band and orchestral instruments to each of the nine schools where they teach and allow children to see them up close. They play a tune on each, to let budding musicians hear what they sound like.

But they do not encourage students to choose one instrument over another.

Reardon says the best thing to do is let the kids choose an instrument that they have a bit of aptitude for and something that they will want to practice with.

“We try to give students the opportunity to try things out because the personality of the instrument is a real thing,” she says. “There is a type of personality that is drawn to each type of instrument, I think.”

Before the pandemic, Reardon says there was an easy and hygienic way for her to let students try out instruments before they had to choose, but like almost everything else, it has been more difficult in a world post-COVID.

Her voice lights up when she talks about the growth young musicians achieve in their first year of playing. She says parents are amazed at the progress made between the first concert which usually takes place in November and the last performance. of the year.

This year’s concert schedule is still on hold due to the pandemic, but if you’re a family member of a young Coltrane, Ellington, or YoYo Ma, try doing those shows if you can. he smiles after a few catchy and barely recognizable bars of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that are worth a thousand words.