SAN ANTONIO — By the 10th grade, Adam Chitta knew he wanted to be a music education teacher.
But when his mother sought advice from a regional music director about how he could pursue his dream, the director discouraged the teen.
“He shouldn’t do it because of his hearing loss,” the director said.
The comment hit Chitta hard. He had dealt with hearing loss and started wearing a hearing aid at age 7.
Still, he refused to be deterred.
Despite wearing hearing aids because of hearing loss, Adam Chitta is assistant band director at Wood Middle School. He works with trombone students on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Billy Calzada / Staff photographer“The word ‘no’ fuels the fire to want me to work even harder,” Chitta, 35, said. “That’s just going to push me even harder to reach my goals.”
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Chitta recently recalled the moment after teaching his fifth-period beginning trombone class at Wood Middle School, where he’s the assistant music director.
He has taught music in the North East Independent School District for 12 years. He’s an advocate for the inclusion of deaf and hard-of-hearing students and children of all abilities in school music programs.
In 2010, Chitta received a Bachelor of Music degree from Sam Houston State University. In 2021, he received a Master of Music Education from Texas State University.
Retired educator and consultant Monica Ruiz-Mills, a band director for 22 years, worked with Chitta in NEISD. She said he addresses the strategies educators need to learn to include everyone.
Adam Chitta is assistant band director at Wood Middle School. He works with trombone students on Thursday, Feb. 16. He wears hearing aids.
Billy Calzada / Staff photographer“Music isn’t just an elitist activity. It’s for all learners,” Ruiz-Mills, 55, said. “His work is very important, especially as we enter this stage in education with how do we keep all of our students engaged and learning. And how do we change our practices to include everyone? That’s what he’s doing — it’s phenomenal.”
Chitta has presented seminars about deaf and hard-of-hearing children playing music since 2021. In February, he was on a panel at the 2023 Texas Music Educators Association Convention at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
Past presentations include talks at Cambridge University Press Accessibility Champions Virtual, Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) Virtual University Press Redux, Colorado Music Educators Association Clinic and Conference and the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic and Conference.
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Despite wearing hearing aids because of hearing loss, Adam Chitta is assistant band director at Wood Middle School. He works with trombone students on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Billy Calzada / Staff photographerGrowing up, Chitta attended mainstream classes when there wasn’t much understanding of hearing aids and hearing loss. Some students made fun of him because he didn’t say words like other people. Though hard to deal with, he had support from his twin brother, Stephen, who stood up for him.
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They played the same instrument, the euphonium, in band class, and Chitta flourished in the Boy Scouts, achieving the highest rank of Eagle Scout. From 2004-2008, Chitta, a Seguin High School graduate, marched with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps as a brass performer.
Recently, Chitta went over lessons with beginning trombone students. He stood before six boys sitting in a semi-circle with sheet music propped on music stands. Chitta clicked the TonalEnergy Tuner app on his iPad, setting a tick-tock tempo on a metronome that blared from a speaker. The boys tapped their feet by trombone cases between their chairs.
He raised a trombone and demonstrated how to play the notes of the song “Sound and Silence.” They followed his lead. Chitta had them say each note out loud and then play it with the instrument.
“You have to know what the next note is before you play it,” Chitta said. “You guys are doing well.”
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In 2016, Chitta met Alice-Ann Darrow, 71, Irving Cooper professor emeritus at the College of Music Florida State University. She’s the one who encouraged Chitta to advocate not only on behalf of others but himself.
“What’s bonded our friendship is dedication and passion in providing music to students and making sure they’re not left at the back of the class, the exact opposite of where they should be,” Darrow said.
She said Chitta and others are dispelling myths that students with hearing loss can’t play music. He’s partnered on presentations with Edward Ercilla, one of Darrow’s former students with hearing loss and teaches at Doral Academy Preparatory in Miami.
“They provide that authentic voice,” Darrow said. “It’s fabulous what they are doing. It’s so much more powerful when someone gives presentations who has hearing loss.”
Darrow said most talents reside in the brain and sometimes other senses are required. She mentioned Dame Evelyn Glennie, a solo percussionist with hearing loss who uses vibrations and visual connections in her performances.
Chitta said he’s happy to share information with music teachers who want to learn more about teaching music to deaf students. He’s also a source for parents of deaf children, offering resources like the certificate of deafness for tuition waiver program offered by Texas Health and Human Services.
His goal is to continue talking to educators and residents about his passion — teaching music from the deaf perspective.
“I’m now at the level of my life where I’m very comfortable saying that I’m deaf and a music educator,” Chitta said. “There are more people out there, and they need to know it is possible to follow their dreams and not give up.”
vtdavis@express-news.net