PSHS Club Teaches Students With Disabilities To Play Music

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield South High School musicians are mentoring students with special needs, teaching them the joy of learning to play an instrument, as part of a new club called United Sound, school officials say.

"United Sound joins students with and without disabilities to learn and perform in the band together," said assistant band director Jenna Wojdula in a video posted to the school district's Facebook page.

The school is currently the only one in Illinois to run a chapter of the national club. Band director Jerrod Cook said he first learned about the program about a year ago and knew Plainfield South High School needed a chapter.

"In December of 2017, I was at the Midwest band and orchestra clinic in downtown Chicago and attended a concert by the Coast Guard Band, and they had a chapter of United Sound performing with them," Cook said. "And it resonated with me immediately, and I knew we needed to start one here at Plainfield South."

Cook said the school's special education teachers were as excited as he was about the program's potential. The club currently has 13 mentor musicians with four students learning to play percussion, saxophone and flute.

In December, the ensemble performed at the school's Collage Concert and at the international clinic for band and orchestra directors in Chicago later that same month.

"More than anything else, what we're both seeing is friendships and bonding between the groups of musicians and their mentors," Wojdula said. "They're really starting to love the prospect of band and playing together as a group. And really it's a social thing for them. It's awesome."

Image via District 202