No singing? No problem.
Oak Forest music teacher pivots to sign language for elementary school performance
“I didn’t know sign language before this. But it’s not hard. I learned it in about an hour.” — Student Tommy Kruswicki
When Lynn Kingsbury was an eighth grader living in California, she wanted to impress her aunt, Jean Hauser, whowas visiting from Wisconsin.
Aunt Jean was a celebrated member of the family who in 1965 became the first deaf pilot in Wisconsin and later was inducted into Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame
Kingsbury, whose maiden name is Mattaliano, was a soloist for the Santa Barbra Symphony at age 13, and was proud of her piano-playing abilities.
“Aunt Jean wanted the experience of music,” Kingsbury said. “I was concerned that she couldn’t hear the music.
“She put her hand on the piano and felt the vibration. I saw this big, huge smile come to her face. I was taken aback. I knew that she could experience music.”
The encounter helped shape a major part of Kingsbury’s outlook on life. That moment and that smile helped connect the dots for Kingsbury, who has two other deaf aunts, that even those without hearing can still enjoy music.
Decades later, Kingsbury is an educator at St. Damian Elementary School in Oak Forest and she still is connecting music and the hearing-impaired, a skill that has helped her adapt to teaching during the pandemic.
Experts say that the coronavirus can spread through singing. So through the pandemic, health officials suggest singing be eliminated in schools.
A music class without singing?
What should have been a huge problem for a music teacher turned into an opportunity for Kingsbury to educate her students on learning sign language to complement the music.
The longtime teacher and two of her first grade music classes put on performances of the hymn “Jesus Loves Me” last week at the school. The first performance was outdoors and the second in a classroom where those students who stayed at home because of COVID-19 concerns could watch and either sign along or sing along.
So, with a speaker playing a
version of this 1860s hymn that has been recorded by everyone from Alabama to Whitney Houston to Destiny’s Child, the St. Damian children enthusiastically signed the lyrics.
After the outdoor performance, student Tommy Kruswicki said he had fun signing the song.
“I didn’t know sign language before this,” he said. “But it’s not hard. I learned it in about an hour.”
He said his favorite word he learned to sign is “family.”
Kingsbury is not surprised the students picked up sign language so easily.
“The kids are like sponges — they love it,” Kingsbury said. “They are so good about learning about American Sign Language and about people in the deaf community. It’s been a lot of fun. Later on in the year, we will sign Christmas songs because we can’t miss out on Christmas music. We’ll be signing ‘Silent Night,’ ‘Away in a Manger, ‘ Joy to the World’ and some other fun Christmas songs.”
She added that this semester, junior high-aged student will be signing the “Hail Mary” prayer and preschoolers will learn to sign the rhyme “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.”
Kingsbury and her husband, Tom, have lived in Oak Forest more than a quarter century. Lynn lived in Wisconsin, California and Indiana before calling Oak Forest home.
Tom was a star football player at Purdue University who earned the nickname “Kamikaze” and Lynn was a cheerleader at the West Lafayette Indiana school. The couple marries and had four children, Tom, Jr., Janine, Max, and Katherine, go through St. Damian and attend either Marist, Brother Rice or Mother McAuley High Schools. Athletics and music were huge for the family while the children were growing up and Christmastime in the Kingsbury home is usually filled with music.
Hauser, the pioneering aviator, is 92 and a few years ago had two hip surgeries.
While she was recovering, she had plenty of reading material as Kingsbury had her fifth grade class write letters to her asking about her career and about the challenges of being deaf.
“I hope the students are developing an appreciation for and understand the deaf community,” Kingsbury said. “We are inclusive here and they are compassionate for the deaf community. They understand the deaf community etiquette a little bit and what’s it’s like to have that and they are appreciative of the gifts that they have.”