Instruments of Worship
The Instruments of Worship Podcast, hosted by Casey Rinkenberger, is dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments and their lives. Tune in every Monday for a new episode!
Instruments of Worship
"Sneaky Jesus" In the Classroom with Dr. Kelly Hollingsworth | Ep. 24
Do you ever wonder how you can show off Jesus to your students? Today, we get to learn to do just that from the wonderful, Dr. Kelly Hollingsworth. Known for her investment in students, her engaging teaching style, and love for the Lord, Dr. Hollingsworth will describe what she calls, "the art of teaching," in today's episode. We will also discuss how she has ministered to both elementary students and college music students through her teaching over the years and so much more! Dr. Hollingsworth is definitely someone we can all learn from as we invest and guide future generations of musicians!
Discussion Questions - Try discussing with a friend or in our Facebook Discussion Group
- How can you incorporate “Sneaky Jesus” to your life in music right now?
- How can the way you run your classroom or your private lessons show off Jesus to your students?
- How do you try to balance accurate but encouraging feedback?
- Does how you react to your student’s mistakes reflect Jesus?
- Why do we need Christian music teachers? Why is that an important job?
- What were you most challenged or encouraged by from today’s episode?
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Hi friends, my name is Casey Rinkenberger and I am so excited to welcome you to the Instruments of Worship podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to apply the name of Jesus with their instruments and also their lives. Today we have the awesome opportunity to talk to the one and only Dr. Kelly Hollingsworth. She currently teaches elementary music education in the School of Music at Baylor University. So if you are connected to the Baylor School of Music at all, you probably know know the name dr h she is dearly loved by all her students and colleagues which is evidenced by her being recognized as outstanding faculty and teaching at baylor when i first met dr h i felt so comforted by her warm kind loving presence which was so meaningful as a college student far from home even though i never had dr h as a professor i am so thankful for her christian witness at baylor she is faithful to show off jesus as a teacher and i'm so So thankful that we will get to hear from her wisdom today. Hi, Dr. Hollingsworth. Thank you so much for being willing to come on the show today. Hi,
SPEAKER_00:Casey. It's good to see you again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's so great to see you. I would love if we could just start out by you telling us a little bit about your story. Sure.
SPEAKER_00:I grew up in Mobile, Alabama with a great Christian family. My only A's in high school were band and choir. So I didn't really know what to, I'm a first generation college student. I didn't know what to study. So I didn't know what you would do. with the music degree this is again in the late 90s so I chose music ed is my degree because I thought well at least I can teach and during my student teaching semester I really fell in love with teaching and it was on my very first day of teaching I had eight three-year-olds by myself and I thought you know I teach my training didn't quite prepare me for this I'm gonna figure out and I'm going to teach people how to teach elementary music. So the Lord has always had a line through my life of where I will end up. And my current job is a professor at Baylor teaching people how to teach elementary music. And this may not be my last stop. So we'll see.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love that. That's so exciting. Did you play music all growing up? What was that like?
SPEAKER_00:My very first musical memories are sitting on my mom's lap and she would do little finger plays with me. So while my parents were not musicians, my mom's musicianship certainly was a part of my childhood. And then my parents bought a clarinet for$15 at a yard sale. So in the fifth grade, I joined the band and I played the clarinet. And later on, I also took voice lessons and piano lessons and I felt I just really enjoyed participating in music so that was how it started was just some supportive parents really
SPEAKER_01:yeah that's awesome and then how did you go from that was it pretty clear to you that you wanted to go to school in music or was that hard to decide
SPEAKER_00:it was not hard to decide because again my only A's in high school were band and choir I was far too social in the other classes and just didn't really study. So that gave me clarity. And the Lord has just always been gracious to me to help me find where I'm supposed to be at what time. So,
SPEAKER_01:yeah. Now I would love if you don't mind sharing part of your testimony.
SPEAKER_00:Well, this is interesting because music has always played a part. I was in, I grew up going to church and I was on a youth trip and we were singing the song trust and obey the hymn and I thought you know I'm trusting God but I'm actually really not obedient to all of his commands it was probably a slow dawning to that point but I remember that experience and I went forward and at the time I was a member I grew up in a Church of Christ which is another interesting aspect because in that Your voice is your instrument, and you don't have other instruments to worship God with. And so I was at this youth... retreat and we were baptized and we came back. But I think the other part of my testimony happens in college. So I went to a Baptist university and music again played another part because I thought, why is it that I'm learning how to study music, but I can't use anything except my voice to praise God. So the other part of my testimony is really happened in college when it was this grand awakening that, oh, all things like music are made for the Lord and I can use my clarinet or piano or whatever instrument to still praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01:Was that something that like your college taught you or is that just something that the Lord kind of revealed to you over time?
SPEAKER_00:The Lord revealed, well, it could be a little bit of A and a little bit of B because when you go to a Christian university, you're part of your rep. for your ensembles is Christian music. So that was certainly a part of it, but I do think the Lord revealed it to me personally over the course of that time. Now that was definitely a slower journey to come to that epiphany moment, but I did get there. So it's been a, music's just always been an important part of my life.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. I love hearing that. So now I just kind of like to transition to the topic of teaching because I think it's just an important conversation since pretty much most musicians will either do teaching as their full-time job or at least in some sort of part-time capacity. And what's so cool having you on the show today is that you teach essentially how to teach and so I would love to just talk a little bit more about that. For your students, when they come into your classroom, what are some of the main ideas or principles about teaching that you hope that they would walk away with after being in your classroom.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. One of the courses that I co-teach is Introduction to Music Education. And when you're teaching college students in music, they all loved their high school band, choir, and orchestra experience. And they're quite, they're often dismissive of the elementary music teaching experience. And part of that is because that was over 10 years ago for many of them. It was a long time, so they don't have a lot of memories. Another component is college students are not familiar with children and child development, and their experiences with children are kids running nuts at the Chick-fil-A play place while the parents are just over there eating some chicken nuggets, having a moment of peace. But actually, children in school don't behave like they're out on recess all the time when they're in the classroom, and when there's an adult in charge, they're really kind of like puppies They get excited really quickly, and if you hold up a treat, they'll all suddenly sit and pay attention. So one of the things that I try to teach in the Intro to Music Education course is there's this whole other world to teaching that is valid. It is rigorous. It is musically and academically challenging, and if you can explain concepts to a a college student because you have to adjust your vocabulary and even when you're teaching upper level students you're always going to have someone who doesn't understand something so if you can learn how to explain it to a child then you can help make connections with your older or with the older group so that's one thing that one message that I try to get through another course I teach is it's called music in the elementary school so that is the course where it is elementary specific and the goals are to build students confidence to think i i could do this if i had to this is an important part of a child's education experiences and music education and we need we do need strong music educators if they decide to go into music teaching as an elementary music teacher great but they don't have to but the goal is that they respect that elementary music is important so those are really the goals that I have juggling for kind of the philosophical realm I think another underlying thread is what I like to call actually I got it from Annie F. Downs Sneaky Jesus especially in a public school setting you have to be sneaky with your Jesus so throughout a student's journey as a college student slowly the college students start to realize that classroom management is important and how you run your classroom could be the only Jesus that your students see so are you forgiving every day is a new day even though you have a twerp that comes every day and acts like a twerp can you truly let it go and let's hope that today is a better day when you look at your students do you have compassion on them are you empathetic do you see what's behind just who they are do you see your students as image bearers of God despite if they reciprocate your generosity or your kindness so that's another subtle thread that I certainly try to model but as the student gets closer to actually becoming a teacher, that thread becomes bolder.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love that. We have an opportunity as teachers to really show the love of Jesus, which is sacrificial, and it's not conditional on how we're acting, you know, and so it's really cool that you are modeling that for your college students even, and then of course the elementary kids, and I'm curious, at Baylor, because it is a Christian university, do you feel like you have the freedom to to really talk about those things? And what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00:100%. That is a huge benefit to being a Christian and working in a Christian school that supports that. We call it the integration of faith and learning. And when you leave teaching public school, it's kind of a hard shift because you're so used to being sneaky Jesus.
UNKNOWN:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:But then it is like this, again, this crescendo, to use a musical analogy. You start off small, but as the years go on, you're like, I'm just going to say it. How you run your classroom is a reflection of Jesus. And sure, there are guidelines and boundaries that we should follow. And there's going to be students that don't follow those. But how do you treat those students? And sometimes it's, man, I'm really sorry you made that choice. That was not good. And the consequences are severe, but how do you deliver those consequences? That really matters.
SPEAKER_01:Totally, totally. So in the same vein as the last question, I'm just curious though, are there any practical things that you hope that your students will take, say they do end up being elementary ed teachers or teaching elementary music in school, what are some things that you hope that they might take into their classroom after being your student?
SPEAKER_00:Specifically in the world of elementary music, I hope that they see elementary music is not just popping on a video
SPEAKER_02:and
SPEAKER_00:letting the kids learn through technology. I also hope that students... graduates who become elementary music teachers realize, incorporate just a lot of a variety of activities in their lessons. Instrument playing, singing, moving, creative movement, creating and improvising instruments and creating and improvising on your voice. I also hope that they take away that we're going to teach music for music's sake. The music teacher's job is not to let me help the kindergartners learn their ABCs. I'm here to teach them music. And if I'm not teaching them music, then what am I doing? I'm just babysitting or I'm walking alongside a classroom teacher. So those are things that I hope that content-related issues that I hope that students take into their world as educators. But I don't think that those are things that are necessary exclusive to elementary I think I do want all the students to teach music for music's sake and this is a hard one I don't know if the students actually do this but you don't have to teach the way that you were taught you can use new and better practices to get your point across so one example is elementary music teachers often use the, like, I'm going to sing this song and I'm going to teach it to you phrase by phrase, and then you're going to be singing the song pretty soon. Well, there's a research study that shows you can teach it that way, but if you teach the song using this approach called the whole song approach, the students actually retain the song better using the whole song approach. So we don't have to teach the way we've always taught. We can try new things. and sometimes they are better things
SPEAKER_01:yeah that's really good I and I think with the elementary music what's so cool is that you get to introduce this to kids at such a young age where maybe they haven't before and I know that like I've been trained a little bit in the Suzuki method and just how the importance of teaching young young kids music is so important I'm curious for you you talked a little bit a while back about just the child development and why Why is music maybe important when they are so young?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's a deep question. And your Suzuki friends will 100% agree. But when children are born, you know, they're born with the ability to learn any language. And they're just receptors of sound. So they're learning constantly through listening. And when we go through life, life is it has patterns and it has patterns of sound and it has rhythms. So music just enhances all of those things, all of those other aspects of living. But I do think without music, life would be pretty boring.
SPEAKER_02:For
SPEAKER_00:sure. So
SPEAKER_01:moving on, I've heard that you've said that teaching is an art. And so I'm just wondering if you could explain a little bit what you mean by that And then how does one go about learning that art?
SPEAKER_00:Well, the art of teaching, there's lesson delivery, but the art of teaching is how you deliver the content. Are you always presenting it in the same way, which has benefits, or are you able to, the art of teaching also involves a reading of the room. Are you able to look around and see whose on task? Who needs redirecting? I'm going to keep teaching and walking, but I'm going to come over here. I think another element to teaching as an art does go back to getting your vocabulary to match the cognitive level of your students. So you can't talk to college students like they're kindergartners, but it's okay to sometimes use the same vocabulary, but I have to tweak the phrasing to match their cognitive level. level so cognitive matching is definitely an art I think another art of teaching is lesson pacing how quickly you move on from subject to subject or activity to activity but that involves reading the room and knowing okay we're not we're just not going to get it today we need to move on or oh they're they're really exceeding I need to go faster so lesson pacing cognitive matching I think being encouraged yet clear with your feedback so you can still give accurate feedback like friends that was not really that great however we're going to work on this one thing we're going to at least start and stop together and then we can build on there that's way more encouraging than that was awful do it again so I think how you give feedback is another art but again that kind of goes into reading the room but in order to read the room you can't be in your own head you have to know the material and your students well enough to be able to see out so i think that those are some elements of teaching it as an art now how you get to the art of teaching that just comes with time and experience it's real clunky at first and that's normal and your students don't know it's going to be fine you You'll get through it, but you will get better over time. The thing about elementary music, which is probably similar to applied lesson teaching, you're doing the same thing multiple days in a row and sometimes multiple classes in a row. So your Monday class may be clunky, but by Wednesday, you are rolling. And on Friday, you're having to pull extra activities because you figured out your wording and you've seen where the students struggle Monday through Thursday so you know okay I got to really slow down and explain this part and then they're going to get it more successfully on Friday so I think that awareness is also another part of the art of teaching but it just comes with the experience
SPEAKER_01:and I love just how everything that you're describing really can be said about private teaching also it's just on a more one-on-one basis
SPEAKER_00:yes
SPEAKER_01:I love how you talked about sneaky Jesus earlier and you are I already gave some examples of just how you can love your elementary students in the classroom by just being forgiving and having compassion towards them. But I would just, if there's anything else you want to say regarding that of how maybe Christians, we are going to teach differently than the rest of the world.
SPEAKER_00:We should teach differently than the rest of the world, and we certainly hope that we should. I just think if I didn't have hope, teaching would be quite exhausting. and just depleting. My colleague always says, you can't pour from an empty cup. So part of being an educator, you're pouring all day into your students. But as a Christian educator, I know I have an eternal source to fill my cup from whence I can then pour into others. And I just don't know how non-believers do it. Where do they get their source from? What fills their cup? I'm just curious because without my eternal source, my cup would dry out really quickly and it would stay pretty dry or only refill just a little. Maybe I got enough sleep, but that's not going to last me very long.
SPEAKER_01:That's really good. We've talked about why knowing the art of teaching and all of that is important, but I also think there's a side of just relationship. And this also kind of ties in like being a Christian of what is the role of relationship with your students? when it comes to teaching and why is that important?
SPEAKER_00:Well, again, if we look to Jesus as the model, it really was all about relationships. There's a saying, trust is built in consistency. And you can have good relationships with others when you are consistent because they can trust you. And certainly as an educator, you're in a position of power and authority. And so how do you react to that? when students break something do you blow up or are you like man that's okay or how do you react when there's a disagreement or a scuffle and you you need to be the trustworthy and consistent figure and you can have relationships with people that you trust but you can't have relationships you can't have healthy relationships with people that you don't trust, and it's their inconsistency in their actions and in their words that give you the discernment, I can trust this person or I can't trust this person. So as a Christian, being a consistent, trustworthy individual is going to help you build the relationships that you want with your students, but you also look at Jesus. He was really trustworthy and consistent. Even when the disciples You know, we're afraid of the storm or we're, you know, I can't heal the people. What's up? And he's like, oh, ye of little faith. He didn't yell at them or, you know, belittle them. I'm sure it was just a moment of, man, I'm rooting for you. You've got so much to
SPEAKER_01:do. Okay, so now I'd love to transition to what's so unique about you is that you've had several years teaching elementary music, but you also now now teach at the collegiate level and have for a pretty long time, right? Yeah, I'm going into year
SPEAKER_00:nine. I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_01:It's so exciting. That's awesome. So comparing the two, I'm just curious, what do you like about both the elementary music side, but also then teaching college students?
SPEAKER_00:What I like about elementary is the puppy dog effect. You can see on their faces really clearly, this is amazing. You get a lot of positive affirmation. You get a lot of hugs just for showing up to work and they're like hey Ms. H you know you get a lot of positive affirmation that okay yeah they must like what's happening in music because they're excited about it and you can just like whisper something and you'll draw them in and you're like friends this is the best thing ever today we're going to use the scarves and they're like yeah you know so I really like that Whereas college students, my intro to music ed class is at 8 a.m. And it's like, okay, friends, we're going to do it. We're going to use the scars today. And this is the look. Totally. I get no feedback. I'll say like a pun or a deadpan joke. Nothing. No feedback. And so it's like, okay, we've got a tough crowd today. Moving on. They don't even laugh at that. Or I'll mess up and it's like, all right. Take two. Let's try again. They're just expressionless with their faces and their body language. Doesn't give me any clues. So what I like about college students is that I can leave them alone in a classroom and go to the bathroom and they're still going to be alive when I come back. Yes. They have better control over their body functions. There's a lot less blurting out their impulsivity is a lot better when we do movement activities no one i don't have to keep a side eye on anybody because they get too wound up they got they figured out how to be a human a lot better than kids that are you know four to ten years old totally and they they respect each other better and there's no beefs or you know and then You don't have to hear about MPE. It's like ruined their day. College students can kind of, they're better at emotional regulation. Yes. So there are some strengths. Now, something that I, again, but I do really like the littles because the affirmation that, okay, I'm on the right track. You're loving this. And the joy that they experience when they realize, oh, we've put this whole piece together and we're on different instruments. and we're doing it. That's really fun. That's probably pretty rewarding. It is really rewarding.
SPEAKER_01:That's sweet. So I don't think I've ever really heard your story of how did you transition from being elementary music to then. How did you get to Baylor and all of that?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I like to learn. And my husband, who is still my husband, he was going to say at the time, but it wouldn't make sense. No, my still husband. When we lived in Auburn, he worked at Auburn, and one of the perks was I could get half tuition as a dependent. So I was just going to audit a class, and my husband wisely said, Kelly, at least enroll in the program. In case this comes to something, then you can get all these credits. And I was like, okay, sure. So in the summers, I just took music ed electives, whatever was offered, because I wanted something to do. and I thought it was fun. And then after several years, it's like, oh, you know, if I would just take these statistics and research courses and do a research study, I could actually finish. So my mind shifted to actually finishing the degree instead of taking classes for fun. I never went to grad school as a full-time grad student. I was always a teacher. So I think that helped me because I could immediately apply what I was learning and my classes into my teaching. And after I did finish my PhD, I just kept teaching. I was quite content. Shortly after that though, I don't know, I start, it's like, you know, I figured this out. I was a little, becoming a little restless, like, oh, okay. I know how to teach elementary music and I can do it pretty well. And so then I started checking for jobs And I applied for this job at Kansas State, and I got an interview. I got off the plane, and it was 26 inches of snow. And as someone who's grown up in Alabama, in South Alabama my whole life, I'd never seen that much snow. And I got off the plane, and I was like, I can't live here. So what I learned through that experience, I still had to go through the interview. I learned a lot. But I learned I can't live anywhere in the U.S. I need to make my circumference smaller
SPEAKER_02:so
SPEAKER_00:i need to be able to drive home in a day and i need not 26 inches of snow i don't need to live where i need to buy a snow blower for my driveway or a snow shovel those places are just out i'm sorry
SPEAKER_01:so wake us waco's thrown you for a curveball the last couple years right
SPEAKER_00:we've had
SPEAKER_01:four seasons
SPEAKER_00:we've had flurries or ice storms it's like okay but it's short lived. I still don't need the snow shovel. Yep. Yeah. So, um, I just kept looking for jobs and then the Baylor job popped open. I really liked that it was at a Christian school and they wanted someone like you had to express in your application, your faith. And I was like, Oh, okay. So I applied and I came for the interview and I was offered the position. So I took it. It was a great job. It still is a Yeah, so what's
SPEAKER_01:your
SPEAKER_00:experience been like since then at Baylor? And Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are real fluid. And that has taken some time, I think, because I've been in school really from the age of five till I was almost 40. So that was a shift. But I've adjusted nicely and I'm doing okay. I also like that I have more energy and more time that I can spend toward exercise. Because as an elementary teacher, I got up really early, came home early in the afternoon, but I was kind of tired. So my schedule's a little more like probably normal people. So I do have the time to exercise. So that's been really nice. I also like the level of relationships that I'm able to have with the college students. And this may be just something about Baylor because it is a smaller school and I only work with undergraduates and so I do and I do know my students by first and last name because they've all come through intro and over time I do feel that I have a strong relationship with many of them so I like that I'm able to go deeper in relationships at the college
SPEAKER_01:level so what would you say if you had to describe your teaching style at the college level to somebody what would you say because I know what I would probably say just from a bystander but I'm curious what you would say
SPEAKER_00:I would
SPEAKER_01:say engaging I'll just go with engaging yeah is there any specific way like you're thinking in terms of relationships or in the classroom
SPEAKER_00:in the classroom my students are not sitting in their desk all the time there is an element of movement in every class and there is I think in terms of relationships I I am conscious to engage with students and find out something about their personal lives and, you know, like, oh, how did that, how did your oboe solo audition go or whatever. But I also work on building relationships or letting the students, having opportunities for them to build relationships with each other.
SPEAKER_02:So
SPEAKER_00:we engage like an intro to music ed, we have a meet and greet where they have to greet every other student in the classroom with a different greeting so some days it might be with an air guitar hello Casey or you know maybe you're doing a swimming move so it's a little outside your comfort zone but everybody's doing it and we don't have assigned seats we sit in a different order every day and we have a share time so that's that allows opportunities for the students to get to know each other and certainly in like my elementary methods class. I model the elementary lesson. And then after we kind of break it down and discuss whatever the lecture topic is. So I'm just going to stick with engaging. But I'm curious, what would you say?
SPEAKER_01:Well, again, I've never had you as a professor just being a violin performance major. Right. But I would hear almost just the sweetness of what it seems like your classroom was like because of some of that, like, you when you get to college and you're going through the rigor of the day, and I know it might be an 8 AM class, but I think I would hear about some of the fun things that you would do that might emulate like a elementary music classroom. And so that just brought like a, not so much the stress or the pressure of just life as a college student. And so I think that was really just refreshing and just sweet, but also hearing just how you are relational Even with me not being a student, you know, just caring about my life and those sorts of things. I even, Jillian Extran, I think she had told me, was it after a final one time, you guys went and got cheesecake as a class and went and came back and played games or something? Like, so many fun things that just are super above and beyond intentional.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think my students are my children. I don't have biological children, Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sure. And I just think that's so refreshing. And again, it sets you apart as a teacher that they have to associate that joy, you know, from somewhere. And so I just want to encourage you in all of that.
SPEAKER_00:Well, thanks, Casey. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:yeah. So at Baylor, you're also a part of the Oso Musical, right? Yes. Or whatever that's like. Could you explain a little bit what that is? And just for people who don't know?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Oso Musical is a free weekly music class for K-12 children with disabilities and we meet about six times in the semester and what's unique is a lot of these students with disabilities the disabilities could be cognitive they could be physical they could be behavioral emotional but when these students are in their classrooms they're in classrooms with at least 20 other children and the teacher is always going to teach to the majority because that's going to help with behavior management and the teachers I'm sure also customizing some elements of the music instruction for these students with different disabilities however our class we're able to customize the the music learning for each individual student and his or her need so if we need to slow it down because you have maybe some cognitive processing or physical disability it's totally fine and we're all really supportive additionally each child student has a Baylor student that serves as a buddy so every child has an aide basically that can help with whatever the task is so I'm the teacher and I'm teaching the content again reading the room seeing where checking on the pacing seeing okay who's struggling with what but because each child student has a Baylor buddy, we're able to kind of keep it at a pretty close pace. I do think our overall like unit pacing is probably slower than an elementary music classroom because we want to have time for depth of knowledge versus breadth of knowledge and experiences. So that is something that makes us unique. The children students who participate, their confidence booms by the end of these six weeks and the children students are actually leading different teaching segments and I'm not sure that these students with disabilities have the courage and the confidence and the time to grow their leadership skills in their classrooms and in their music classes at their schools because the teacher has to move on with the pacing. I totally understand. But because we don't have an end goal performance or we don't have standards that we must accomplish by the end of the year, we're really able to go at the pace of the student. One benefit in addition to the student's confidence and musical skills growing is the parents have created a little community but the parents really feel i think they also experience joy because they'll be over there on their cell phones smiling and watching their child succeed whereas i'm not sure that the parents get a lot of opportunities in a class environment to see their child thrive so that's a benefit the baylor students who volunteer they have been called it, It's an Hour of Joy Each Week. It fills their bucket so much that they're sad when it ends. That's what they're talking about in the halls at school. Oh, Charlie, he really made some progress. Or, whoa, we found our singing voice. This is really good. So they're able to celebrate the students' victories. And the Baylor students build their confidence in working with children with disabilities instead of being afraid of well they're different I don't want to break them I don't know how to I'm just hesitant so there's a lot of benefits oh so musical it's a clunky and a zoo like class because you have wheelchairs people like children with their little computers that say the words for them or you have some you know other disabilities and they may be slow or maybe they just want to sit and wear their headphones. And it is a little zoo-like. But after about two classes, it's like, okay, we're in the groove and we all know each other better and we can celebrate each other. And I know how to better structure the lesson.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that is so cool. Is that something that you inherited coming to Baylor or you started?
SPEAKER_00:No, I did inherit it. So there was a girl who came and she was working on her master's and she wanted to she saw a need so she kind of made this little grassroots effort and there was another teacher who would come and she would teach the classes it was and so yeah I became the faculty advisor we had to put it to bed for a little bit during COVID because we were dealing with the vulnerable population and then graciously the church music program had a grant to help us restart oh so musical So that was really nice. Great.
SPEAKER_01:That is awesome to hear. Last I heard, you were doing some research, I believe. Is that still happening? Or what was that on?
SPEAKER_00:The research is still happening. I currently, my personal research agenda is partnering with undergrad students who are interested in research. And I have, so it's students who will enroll in an independent study. And once student, she's really interested in, we're going to go really nerdy, vowel modification for choirs, and I don't know that much about it, but she does, and so she's done a, we call it a literature review, which is where you look at everything that's out there and you synthesize it, and so we're moving toward a survey. She's going to survey choir directors, and she's going to survey choir members of on sayings or phrases that the choir directors say or the choir members have heard. So we're going to go down that road. I have another student, and she's interested in the seven areas of rest. She's personally sad to see teachers retire because of burnout, and she found this book called Sacred Rest by Sandra Dalton Smith, and there are seven types of rest. This has been revolutionary. So there's like mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, social, sensory, and creative rest. Wow. And so when you say you're tired, the next question is what kind of tired are you? Because tired doesn't have to mean I'm just sleepy. It could mean like I just have a lot going on emotionally or my to-do list is so long I'm mentally tired. So she surveyed teachers and college students on their rest deficits, on what areas they feel most rested or least rested. And she's going to move forward with another study comparing mental and physical rest practices between in-service teachers and pre-service teachers. So she's moving along with that. I had another student who just graduated and she was into vocal health practices for college students and high school students. And we surveyed a lot of people there. So we just submitted an article for that. Yeah. So I, my research joy is dabbling in whatever my students want to dabble in. And so I do the, the nerdy stat part and I teach them how to research it and set up the study. So It's fun because it's always changing. Wow. That seven areas of rest sounds fascinating. This is the seven areas of rest. It has truly been life changing because I'm able to better assess what kind of tired am I? And then I can zone in on how to rest from that type of tired. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. That is so cool. So lastly, to just close us out here, I would be curious what you would tell a Christian who is thinking about maybe either going into music or like music teaching, whether that's private or public, and how you might encourage them in that.
SPEAKER_00:I will again share that how you run your classroom or your studio is a reflection of Jesus, and it may be the only Jesus that your students see. So that... doesn't mean no rules, no boundaries. We know that we have rules and boundaries because Jesus loves us and he wants to protect us. And so when we deliver our consequences, we need to make sure that we deliver them with empathy. We're not blowing up. We're not throwing the music off the stand because we're frustrated. We're able to model some emotional regulation so that our students can have a trustworthy and consistent adult to model that. And I love the sneaky Jesus. That is sneaky Jesus right there. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:totally. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Hollingsworth, for being willing to come today and just share your wisdom. Yeah, it's been such a joy. It's been fun. Well, thank you so much for spending part of your day with me today. Please feel free to check out the description for discussion questions that you can reflect on by yourself or with a group. We actually have a Facebook page that you can join where we talk about these discussion questions and we answer them and we can encourage and equip one another as we walk this road of being a Christian in the classical music world. Thank you so much to Dr. Hollingsworth for joining me. I'm sure you enjoyed our conversation. Please feel free to leave a five-star review if you liked this episode and I will See you next Monday.