Photos by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
Brian Cocke will always remember his teaching days.
Gwin Elementary music teacher Erica Russell spoke almost in a whisper, and the room bent toward her. Twenty children on the carpet, sneakers tucked under knees, every pair of eyes on her. Near the door, Brian Cocke watched, grateful, the way you are grateful for something you can no longer do yourself.
That is the part of the job Cocke will not give up — standing in the back of somebody’s classroom. The rest of it has no ordinary Tuesday, which is part of why he took it.
Photos by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
Brian Cocke enjoys a lighter moment at Gwin Elementary School.
As Hoover City Schools’ fine arts specialist, a position most school systems do not have at all, Cocke supports music, visual art, theater, band and choir programs across 16 schools, working with more than 65 fine arts teachers. On a given day, he might chase down a grant, untangle a scheduling problem, sit in on an elementary art class, schedule professional development or meet with administrators about what a program needs.
“A big part of the job is connecting pieces that otherwise might operate independently,” Cocke said. “I get to look at fine arts across the entire district and ask, ‘What can we do better together?’”
The position was not created because something was broken, he said. Hoover’s programs had grown to include band, choir, theater, dance, visual art and a district performing arts center. Someone needed to look at fine arts strategically, from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Cocke came to the work sideways. He played piano by ear as a child but never took lessons until he was 16. He entered college set on computer science, got bumped from a course and landed in Music Appreciation instead. After he performed a piece for a composer report, the professor asked whether he had considered applying for a music scholarship.
He got the scholarship, changed his major and spent 23 years teaching elementary music and drama before moving to the district office.
“Being in the classroom for 23 years influences almost every decision I make,” he said. “I know what it feels like when someone at the district level creates one more thing for a teacher to do. So I try to ask, ‘Is this actually going to help teachers and students?’”
Teachers say the support is overdue. An arts teacher is often the only one of their kind in a building.
“We need an advocate for students, for curriculum, for professional development,” Erica Russell said. “The arts are an outlet for students to understand other people and themselves, and to become better social beings.”
Will Hornsby, a drama teacher new to education, said the professional development matters the most.
“Making connections is difficult when you’re starting out,” Hornsby said. “Spending time with other arts educators, hearing another perspective on teaching drama, that’s how you develop and become a better teacher.”
Cocke is blunt about the argument he refuses to make. Arts programs are usually defended on test scores and behavior.
“We don’t teach math because it might make students better musicians. We teach math because mathematics is important,” he said. “The arts deserve the same consideration.”
To a parent who considers band and art class extras, he offers an invitation.
“Come watch a band rehearsal where 100 students have to listen to one another and make hundreds of individual decisions work toward one result,” he said. “Those aren’t extra experiences. They’re educational experiences.”
Back in the music room, the whisper had become sound — twenty voices, ragged at the edges, finding the shape of the same phrase. Cocke stayed by the door until the last note went out of the air. Just children leaning toward a soft voice, learning to make something together.
