Orchestrating Success: OCSD Teacher Susan Boyle's Harmonious Impact on Music Education and Community Unity

When Susan Boyle decided to pick up the baton as a high school orchestra teacher, little did she know her story would strike a chord with so many. Our latest episode strings together the melody of her journey from a Kansas native to a beacon of musical hope in the Olean City School District. Immerse yourself in Susan's narrative, where the harmony of small group sessions and the crescendo of large ensemble rehearsals craft a symphony of educational excellence. Feel the pulse of anticipation as we anticipate the grand performance of Susan's students on June 5th, where the high school auditorium will resonate with their refined talent and collective passion for music.

Striking a different note, we also take a moment to applaud the rhythm of community support that amplifies the impact of music education in our local schools. With the baton in hand, we conduct a tribute to the symbiotic masterpiece composed of generous hearts and nurtured talent. Special applause is reserved for Susan Boyle, whose dedication orchestrates a difference in the Olean schools. Her contributions sing volumes, fostering a chorus of support for our future maestros. Tune in to witness how the power of music can transform not just a classroom but an entire community.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Well, thank you so much for joining me on the next
Husky Huddle podcast.
I am so happy to be joined bySusan Boyle, a teacher here in
Old Hanson School District, andI'm so happy to welcome you.
Hi, hi, thank you for joiningme.
So why don't you tell us alittle bit about yourself, and

(00:30):
then we'll?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
just talk.
Well, my name is Susan Boyle.
My students know me as MixBoyle and I teach high school
orchestra, but every once in awhile I'm down at the middle
school giving fourth graderssome string lessons Awesome.
And yeah, we also do somerehearsals during school, so we
get both small group lessons anda nice big ensemble rehearsal

(00:51):
too.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Awesome, my mom was a music teacher.
Oh, oh yeah, yes, she was anorchestra.
She was orchestra Nice.
Seven instruments.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Whoa, that's a lot, yeah, More than I play.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
I don't play one very well, but I could just say that
I did go through some pianolessons, and not to keep her
happy.
So, yeah, yeah.
So what brings you in the HuskyHuddle?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
today.
Oh well, I was invited by you,which is so, so nice of you, and
I figured you know I'm stillkind of new to the district.
This is actually my first yearteaching.
So not just being new to Oliam,but being new to teaching, it's
awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
And why did you enter teaching?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh goodness.
Well, I had a lot of really,really wonderful orchestra
teachers growing up and theyreally inspired me to be an
orchestra teacher.
It was also just the classroomthat I had the most fun in and I
really enjoyed myself, and Isaw myself in years down the
line being in the same placethat my orchestrators were in,

(01:54):
and I'm very happy to say thatI'm there now.
It's awesome.
I'm accomplishing my dreams.
It's fantastic.
Yeah, and are you from Oliam,not originally?
No, I actually grew up inKansas.
Wow, yeah, wow.
So what brought you here?
It was actually school.
I really wanted to go to theKorean School of Music for its
SUNY Potsdam.

(02:15):
They have a really awesomemusic education program and,
along with a couple of otherreasons but that was the biggest
one was that I really wanted togo to school there.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, and what's the biggest difference between
Kansas and Oliam?

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, within the schools, at least in Kansas, we
didn't have our small grouplessons.
We only had orchestrarehearsals.
So every class that you were inyou were with all of the other
different instruments.
But here in it's not even justin Oliam most New York schools

(02:55):
they have both a rehearsal and asmall group lesson.
So I really think that's a bigbenefit that New York has of
being able to work as a big teamwith everybody and getting to
make music on a big scale, likein our ensemble rehearsals.
But then we also get to diveinto the nitty-gritty details in

(03:17):
our small group lessons.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, yeah.
And what is your favorite thingso far?
You're what.
What is your favorite thing?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
I honestly think it really is just making music with
students and that moment wherethey really get a passage
correct and they're so happy andecstatic about it.
They love to compare music tosports and it's that same
feeling that you get when youshoot a basket into the or you

(03:47):
shoot a ball into the basket, orwhen you score a touchdown.
It's that same joyous feelingthat erupts in your body.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah yeah, that's awesome.
Do you teach your students howto read music or do they come
already?

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Some of them do.
I mean you can start playing amusical instrument in high
school.
You don't have to have theprior experience, so you can
join orchestra even in yoursenior year if you want to.
It does have its challenges,obviously, but it's definitely
doable and the majority of kidsdo come in learning or having

(04:26):
learned music reading already,because we start that pretty
early with fourth graders, evenhave them reading music right
away.
But we do every once in a while, and I have even taught my
orchestra a couple of songsorally by the year, so I play a
passage and they're able to playit back without having a paper

(04:48):
in front of them telling themwhat to do.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
That's very talented.
That takes a lot to be able topick that up.
It is a hard scale.
I can't translate it through aninstrument.
Yeah, Okay.
And your students?
What is their favorite thingyou think about orchestra?

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think it would be the same thing as mine just
making music and getting to thatperformance ready level of
starting completely from scratch.
And you have this piece ofpaper in front of you and we
listen to an audio recording ofan ensemble performing it and we

(05:27):
say, all right, we got to getthere some way, somehow, let's
dive into it.
And it's a long process, but wehave multiple months to work on
it, so we give them plenty oftime to learn and right now my
orchestra is working on fourdifferent pieces.
Where are they?

Speaker 1 (05:46):
going to perform.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's going to be actually in our high school
auditorium.
Our concert is June 5th, onWednesday at 6.30.
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Were you part of the all county that just went on.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
I was not, because unfortunately in our county
Olean is one of the only schoolsthat has an orchestra program
and because the surroundingschools don't have orchestra
programs, it's not enough toparticipate in our all county
but we do have our vocalstudents and our band students

(06:23):
performing in that we had a lotof Olean students in that all
county and all of them did sucha wonderful job.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
All right, so June 5th, that's when the orchestra
is going to show all this hardwork.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, along with our band and choruses.
Oh, that's wonderful.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, definitely have to make sure I get that on my
account.
Oh, yes, so I can get it aswell that would be awesome.
I'm so excited.
So what are some things thatpeople can look forward to at
this June 5th one day?

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, I can tell you that my orchestra is planning on
performing some movie music.
So we have a piece from theHunger Games, we have another
piece from Tangled, which is aDisney movie.
I don't want to give too muchmore away.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, I'm going to be there.
That's awesome, and it'll be inthe Olean High School
Auditorium Okay, awesome.
So what do you think you shouldshare with your students and
the Olean community to helpcultivate a love of music like

(07:30):
you have?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well, one of the things that I wanted to do was
actually start a Irish fiddleclub.
When I was in college I took anIrish fiddle class and we got
to learn a whole bunch ofdifferent Irish tunes which
traditionally you learn orallyby the ear.
So I kind of have given mystudents a bit of a taste of

(07:53):
that Fantastic, and for them itwouldn't just be Irish fiddle
players, but we would alsoinvite all of our band students,
because there's Irish tinwhistle, which is kind of like a
recorder, so not ashigh-pitched, and then there's
also an Irish drum for ourpercussion players if they're

(08:16):
interested in joining.
And then there's, of course, abunch of Irish tunes that have
words and lyrics, if any of ourchorus students wanted to join.
And that's a club that I wouldreally like to get together
because it brings in all of ourmusic students.
It's not just orchestra, justband or just chorus, but
everybody can get involved fromthe music department.

(08:38):
And that's what I really lovedthe most about music making is
when I got to play in all ofthese different ensembles of
just a couple of differentstring players, or in a symphony
orchestra where you have bandand orchestra, or even the big
trios, of having all threetogether in those really massive
symphony works and we don'tnecessarily have the time to put

(09:02):
that together right now for ourconcerts, but having an extra
opportunity for them toexperience something like that
would be amazing to bring toOliam.
That sounds like a great idea.
And have you had a lot ofinterest so far in that I have,
I'm going to be putting in forthe beginning and for the
reminder of the train, the club.

(09:22):
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna beputting in for next year so that
we can get it started.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
I can't wait to see that cross my desk so we can get
up and ready.
And this year were you able todo your first musical.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I did play in the musical.
I played violin and we actuallyhad some of our other students
participate in the pit and thatmusic was very, very challenging
.
Yeah, so I really have to handit to our student players on
that, because that music is alot more challenging than what
we do in our schools and theyhandle that very, very well.

(09:56):
And then, of course, all of ourperformers on stage that ranged
from all the way down to ourfourth graders to our seniors up
at the high school and goteverybody involved, which is
something I haven't really seenbefore.
In all honesty, it's the greatthing about Olean.
We're so, so close to ourmiddle school that we can do
these really big collaborationsacross a whole bunch of grade

(10:18):
levels and doing one big project.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, and they had great reviews.
Oh yes, everybody I talked towas so pleased with this year,
so that was fantastic as well.
Well, is there anything elsethat you want to make sure that
we share, to show the excitementand the awesomeness that's just
coming from our musicdepartment here at Olean?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, we're very, very excited to be ending the
school year with our concert,but going into next year we're
hoping to add on someperformances with the Irish
Fiddle Club and then hopefully,with our extra jazz ensembles we
can get extra performancesthere and really getting out

(11:01):
into the community, that's thebig thing I'd like to do.
I'd really like to schedulesome events, maybe at Lincoln
Park or, if we could, if wecould get into one of the local
Irish pubs and do a little Irishfiddle session with them.
But really getting out into thecommunity and not necessarily

(11:22):
having the community come to theschool, but the opposite and
getting a reach out with them.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, yeah.
And the great thing about Oleanis its community name.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Oh, yes that everybody is so supportive of
the schools and our students andwhat we're doing, and it's so
tight in it, everybody knowswhat's going on.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
They do, they do.
But the good thing is you can.
It's kind of like a paying backof your music.
Yes, you're able to give back,exactly, and our students are so
good and generous that I thinkthat would be real well received
.
Oh, yes, I agree, okay.
Well, this has been amazing.
I appreciate you coming up.

(12:01):
Thanks for inviting me Doingthis amazing interview and
everybody, please keep an eyeout for our wonderful Tisha Suze
Susan Boyle, who is doingamazing things with music in all
the Ant City schools.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.