THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Last year a Grade 10 student at Paul William Kaeser School took Kelsey Smith aside and played her the theme from Lord of the Rings on trombone.

Kelsey Smith is the music teacher at Paul William Kaeser High School in Fort Smith. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Smith is a high school music teacher, and it's moments like these she points to as some of the most rewarding aspects of her job, which she's been doing for five years.

"(It's) like flipping the light bulb on with kids when they kind of get the right sound and they go, 'Oh yeah, I can really play this thing,'" she said. "And then when it starts to encourage them and they take it home, and they come back and say, 'Hey, listen to this song I learned online.'"

The 29-year-old is living a dream she conceived when she was just a young teen. In fact, she can remember when she decided to become a music teacher.

"I, in Grade 8, decided I wanted to become a band teacher," she said.

Originally from Vancouver Island, Smith recalled her father strongly supported music, so she has been taking lessons and has been involved in choirs at least from the time she was five-years old.

"I was always doing music, and then when I got into junior high and band was an option, I'd never had any experience with band before that, but I loved it," she said. "It was my element. And I had really good, inspiring teachers all the way along.

"In Grade 7, I started on the trumpet and I was terrible, and my teacher suggested I switch to another instrument," she recalled with a laugh.

Her mother also enrolled her in piano lessons, but she couldn't stand it. It was in university where she learned to play a variety of musical instruments.

Smith taught music for one year in Calgary just after she finished university, where she earned a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Education.

"When you go through your university degree, they make you learn everything, but you have to have specialties, too," she explained. "So my Bachelor of Music degree was in flute performance, and so that's kind of my key instrument. But I also took secondary instrument in classical guitar and they make you take a couple of courses in piano, too. I'm really a terrible piano player, but I'm a half-decent guitar and flute player, and I dabble with a little cello on the side."

As a teacher - and a private instructor of mainly guitar and flute - Smith believes some people definitely have a gift for music.

"It comes easier for some people," she said, comparing the study to learning a new language. "You can take it in small baby steps and anyone can learn it, especially things like playing the guitar or piano at a basic level. It doesn't require any special skills."

She said learning music mainly requires a bit of determination and a willingness to stick with it.

Smith has a number of goals as music teacher at Paul William Kaeser, where she instructs members of concert bands in some classes and offers more general music lessons for students.

"I want them to be able to read music, I want them to be able to have a basic grasp of the theory, and have an enjoyment for it and want to continue on on their own," she said, adding she is not trying to turn the 100 or so students she teaches into professional orchestra musicians.

"But I do want them to realize that they could pursue it if they want to, and as a hobby more than anything," she said. "Just to enjoy music and appreciate what they hear."

Smith noted there are many benefits to studying music, with one being it helps students with other courses, such as math. "I find that kids who do well in music and stay in it, socially speaking they seem to do better," she added. "It's like being on a sports team. You have to be able to interact with people and you have to rely on the person you're playing with."

Her concert band program consists of woodwind ensembles in different grades, and sometimes the more keen players are combined into one band for special concerts several times a year.

Junior high students have a choice between the flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. At the high school level, students have the opportunity to graduate to the drums, piano, voice and guitar in general music classes.

On top of music, Smith also also teaches other subjects, such as drama and science, at Paul William Kaeser School.