By Jet Burnham | [email protected]

To celebrate Black History Month, students studied Aretha Franklin’s music and learned a rhythm stick routine to her song “Respect.” They also learned about other African American musicians such as 1900s composer Margaret Bond, jazz great Louis Armstrong and Old School rappers Snoop Dogg and Run DMC.

Butterfield Canyon Elementary School music specialist Emily Ryskamp wants her students to appreciate music of all kinds.

“If they know where music comes from—all types of music—they can have more of an understanding of how the world works,” she said. “It may not be music you love but these artists are still doing the same thing as musicians you do love.”

Ryskamp uses a baby book about the history of rap music to introduce her students to the genre.

“I have to, first of all, break that stigma,” she said. “Using a children's book really helped because they realize rap doesn't have to be about all these bad things. It can be just like any other type of music—an opportunity to express what's inside of you.”

Ryskamp used rap music to help younger students learn about the different kinds of beats and the basics of rhyming. She had the older students work together to write a rap about winter.

Ryskamp believes being exposed to and learning to appreciate a variety of music styles leads to tolerance for people who are different.

“I want the kids to understand that you don't have to like it to appreciate who did it or the work that they put into it,” she said.

She strives to create a classroom that is a safe place, where students don’t have to be embarrassed that they like music that their friends don’t like. She uses another children’s picture book to instill this lesson. It features an African American boy who loves playing the violin as much as he loves playing sports.

“I really want my kids to be able to see diversity and that, yes, you can do music and sports and be whoever you are,” she said.

To engage students in learning music theory, Ryskamp incorporates popular music—such as songs by Grammy Award winning Taylor Swift. Recently she has used music by Lin-Manuel Miranda from the popular movie “Encanto.”

“I try my best to make it modern and something that's important to them as well,” she said.

Even if students don’t like a particular song, they learn to recognize music elements such as timber, dynamics and tempo.

Ryskamp makes music accessible to all kinds of learners, incorporating activities for students to relate to music by sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

Students love to get physically involved in music and Ryskamp provides a variety of instruments—tambourines, drums, blocks, cymbals, maracas, sticks, boomwhackers, recorders and ukuleles—to explore music.

As a music specialist, Ryskamp coordinates with teachers to create lessons that reinforce their academic lessons. She also involves teachers in music appreciation.

“We’ve had her come a couple times to our faculty meetings,” Principal Michelle Peterson said. “She brought the boomwhackers and teachers had a blast. Sometimes it's just to lighten the mood and have fun.”