http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/WarstlerFTR.mp3
The new movie "The King's Speech" about an unwilling predecessor to the British throne has shown a new light on the debilitating effects of stuttering. The film looks at the relationship between King George VI and his speech therapist. A Northern Michigan man, John Warstler, has never been embarrassed to talk about his stuttering problem.
In fact, he says his speech disorder fueled his love of music, and he released a Christmas album this year. Here is a look at the man, and a sample of the music.
At Rogers City Elementary School, musician John Warstler is known as "Mr. John." He's one of two part-time speech pathologists in the Rogers City school district.
Unlike other speech pathologists, Warstler brings his guitar to work. He signs with his students as they wrestle with speech.
Warstler himself has had stuttering problems as long as he can remember. He recalls, as a child, stamping his foot to try to make words come out.
"I had speech therapy for articulation, that's producing sounds, not saying my words clearly," he says. "I didn't get much help. That's why I wanted to go in to my chosen field, because I didn't get much help."
He has degrees in speech pathology from Central and Northern Michigan University.
Now he's using music to help prevent kids from being labeled learning disabled, when they really only have a speech problem:
"I wrote a grant to help develop phonemic awareness -which is teaching reading without the printed word, so it's rhyming and things like that," he says. "We do rhyming.We do blending. We do all sorts of things.
"It's no accident the A-B-C song was put to music. Music really helps kids retain," he says.
"It's great. The kids look forward to his visits," says Kindergarten Teacher Paula Streich. "They're excited he's teaching them songs. The kids say they're learning the music, but they're really learning syllables and phonics. They're getting more than they realize."
One of the kids in Warstler's class who's five years old describes what she likes most about Warstler's visits:
"Singing the duck song!," and Taylor demonstrates. "Five little ducks went to play over the hills and far away. Mother duck said quack quack quack quack!"
Warstler has played the guitar and written songs from the time he was very young.
"I think I was obsessed with the instrument. At first, I played everyday. For ten or fifteen years, I probably missed only ten days of playing," he says.
In 2006, he recorded a CD at his home in Horton Bay, mostly hymns. This year, he recorded a Christmas CD at a studio. It's called "Solace for the Season."
Most of the cuts are Warstler's renditions of traditional Christmas songs. One song is an original Christmas tune. Warstler had one of his guitars modified from a six string to a seven string guitar to give depth to the composition.
"I always thought it sounded like a hymn and uplifting," he says. "I've gotten great compliments on it. That's the first cut on the CD.
"I call it 'New Morning.'"
Play the audio story above for a sample. Interlochen instructor Crispin Campbell plays Cello on Solace for the Season and John Cotton from Remus plays the upright Bass.