With the new Patagonia music teacher, Nick Botz, taking over the program in January, changes in the form of new philosophies along with reintroduction of some old opportunities are in the works. Just into his first semester of teaching, Botz is already looking forward to building a sequence for students and showcasing what has been happening in his music classroom.
Botz brings a particularly apt background to his new job as a K-12 music teacher. Not only will he receive a Bachelor of Music in music learning this spring from Arizona State University, but he also attended and graduated from Patagonia schools.
Based on his early assessment of students in the program Botz says “everybody was completely at the ground level in terms of music fundamentals, so that is where we are starting.”
And he already sees that foundation forming as he works with students.
Botz uses a student-centered approach that is all about waking up the music in students. “We wake up their singing voices,” he said. “We wake up their attention to beat and rhythm things, just by playing a bunch of games and using interactive activities.”
The teaching philosophy Botz is bringing to students is known as the Kodály Method, which originated in Hungary.
“This is a music education philosophy that says children learn music first with their voices, and with instruments second,” he explained. “They learn music through play. So, with the younger children, it’s almost entirely singing based. I still like introducing instruments around third to fifth grade.”
Botz possesses extensive musical experience and a love of a variety of instruments. Playing stringed instruments is one of his talents. He plays and has taught violin.
“I am majoring in classical guitar. I play piano. I played in steel bands in college. I have been in vocal choirs and a mariachi group, where I played accordion, so I know things with strings, keys, or percussion,” he said. “I can kind of pick up wind instruments, brass and woodwinds. But they are just a different animal.”
When Botz attended Patagonia schools, much more was going on in the program. The bad news is that the program has lost many of its activities, while the good news is that all the instruments – ukuleles, steel drums, band instruments – are still in the classrooms, just waiting to be awakened.
He is enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“That’s kind of the strategy going forward. Once we have the fundamentals this spring, I’d like to keep using string instruments to reinforce fundamentals in the fall semester, and bring steel pans in during the spring semester,” he said, recalling an event called the Field of Steel that Patagonia High School students used to attend.
“All the schools in Southern Arizona learn the same music. They all come together, and it’s like this huge orchestra of percussion instruments,” said Botz, who as been in contact with the organizer. “It’s an amazing experience, so that’s why spring is my target for steel band.”
Botz also has visions of allowing kids to use their own creativity for forming vocal groups, jazz bands or rock bands. He would like to see more connections with all the music expertise that is in our community.
Botz views returning to his old high school as an opportunity to give back to the community. “I still know all the teachers here,” he noted. “The best thing about coming back is coming back to the community where I saw a certain need, and now I have studied enough to start working on fulfilling that need.”
In addition to being a good opportunity, Botz feels this is a good position for him. He likes the advantages of teaching in a place that is not already programmed the way most larger music programs are.
“As a high school student, I thought we had a program at this specific school that offered a lot of agency and independence,” he explained. “Just imagine going to a band program at a huge school that goes to a festival every year. There’s not a lot of agency because everything you do is kind of part of a routine,” he said. “But I recognized as a student here that the music program was kind of unique, because a very small group means that you get to rotate through a lot of different areas of knowledge and refine your learning to whatever your interests are. I thought that was cool.”
When he got to college, he felt music education was not focused on small schools. He believed and accepted that the university was preparing him for a different experience.
Then Patagonia Public Schools Superintendent Kenny Hayes called Botz asking if, since he had graduated from PHS, he would consider a job in Patagonia.
“I had to tell him, ‘No, I haven’t graduated. But I do need to fulfill student teaching hours,'” he recalled. “And so that’s how I got set up here this semester. This is my student teaching, and then I’ll get my certificate at the end of the semester.”
With Hayes as his mentor, Boltz meets with ASU music education faculty members online, along with other students in the program.
“Those are my opportunities to chat with people from the music education world, and then I have all my mentors here from elementary education and Mr. Hayes.”
Hayes is pleased Botz returned as a music teacher.
“We are excited to have Mr. Botz join our staff at the school. He was an exceptionally talented student and musician here in Patagonia. We believe he is a great addition to the Lobo family and our arts program,” Hayes said, adding that “it’s fun and ages me horribly to have another former student return as a colleague.”
The school’s first music concert under Botz’s direction will be May 6. He knows that his first concert may be a bit low key, given their starting point, but he is not worried about what they will produce.
“It is going to be an achievement just having a concert,” he said.