Every day, Diane Miller’s Community Music class begins the same: a welcome song. The students sit in a circle, each with their own drum and bucket of instruments. They start the class by singing and playing an instrument of choice.
It was by luck and by accident that Diane Miller started teaching Community Music at West High, beginning a new era of music education for special education students.
Miller previously taught various elementary school music classes before quitting to become a full-time mom. “[Being a full-time mom] was not for me. I needed to be out with adults still teaching music so I started part-time two days a week with two classes,” Miller said.
And so her West High career began. The class did not always have a designated space. It was held in the small theater green room and stayed that way for several years. When she started, they only had a piano and a couple of instruments, but unlike instructors of the past, Miller stayed. Now, their collection of instruments has grown, and the class takes place in the Music Theory room. Miller has been teaching the class for 22 years.
When walking past the class, one may hear any kind of music. From traditional African music to Bruno Mars, they listen to what students want. “[The students] really want to be treated like teenage high schoolers who can make decisions, verbal or nonverbal. They always get a choice. Always, always, always, and that’s why you hear all that different kind of music,” Miller said.
Because her students’ abilities are so diverse, Miller changes the songs to adapt to them, adding different parts based on what her students can play. “I adapt to each level of wherever the student is at. So if they can play sticks, we put a stick part in; if they can shake a shaker we put a shaker part in,” she said.
Tressy Ntumba ’27, a student enrolled in this class, can be seen singing along to Bruno Mars, tapping her wooden sticks against the drums or smiling while listening to her peers. She enjoys singing the welcome song at the beginning of class and has recently been practicing “Count on me” by Bruno Mars.
Members of the class are not only special education students; regular education students also participate. Gwendoline Gonzalez ’24 and Ben Vogel ’24 both regularly attend the class. “I passed by every day when I was going to the bathroom. And then I saw [Miller] during AFT, and she said you can always come in,” Vogel said. He began to take community music class during his sixth period, and since then, he’s never missed a day.
Both students plan on pursuing music education next year, and the class has allowed them to delve further into that interest. “I knew that I was going to go to college for some music ed stuff, but it made me realize that there’s a whole other side of music that isn’t, you know, band or orchestra or choir,” Vogel said.
Gonzalez and Vogel agree that this class offers a stress-free environment filled with fun and is often the best part of their day. “It’s the highlight of my day. Like I’ve had really hard days and I leave this class with a smile,” said Gonzalez. The combination of the students and staff has culminated in a welcoming atmosphere. Vogel adds, “It is like a family in a lot of ways…no matter what happens in that class I know that everybody’s going to be super understanding.”
Every year, some of the students participate in a talent show that allows them to showcase their musical talent. The lively event has quite the backstory. It was an idea of Steve Merkle, one of West’s special education teachers. “One of my visions was to create a talent show, and I called it a talent show and family night.” Merkle adds, “the whole concept is that it would be just an opportunity for the students to build on their anxieties of being in front of people, maybe learning more communication skills, by singing, talking, making a joke or doing some kind of a magic trick.”
JoJo Miller, Diane Miller’s daughter, has witnessed the talent show throughout her life. “It’s magical. I can see the crowd, I can see the parents start to tear up most of the time and just [from] seeing their kid on stage and you’re like, ‘I didn’t know he could sing like that.’ But truly it does feel like magic happens. Especially [when] non verbal people [who] are super shy, get up and display a talent that they never had an opportunity to get to show,” she said.
Be sure to attend the talent show on April 18 in the North Band room to watch these talented students perform.
