If the height of Brian Jackson Fetzer's eyebrows are an indicator of fun, he was having the time of his life sharing songs and stories with 40 or so elementary schoolers last week in Salt Lake City.
He donned a top hat and a long wool coat — standard fare for his favorite character, the "Professor of Pretend."
"Do you think you have a great imagination?" he asked the children in summer school at Bennion Elementary while they clapped in unison. "Your imagination is a great thing if you use if for great things," he cheered over the sound their little hands made.
Fetzer is a lover of mathematics, music and all things imaginative, and he has produced a series of CDs, DVDs and assembly acts that he brings to schools throughout Utah. He has taught math at Salt Lake Community College, BYU and the University of Utah, but he has more recently dedicated his time to making school appearances. Last year, he said, he performed 165 assemblies for about 20,000 students.
This summer, he's offering music classes for children through the University of Utah's continuing education office. "The Music of Math," offered in July, and "Pleasantly Spooky Tales," in August are weeklong workshops for 8- to 12-year-olds.
Fetzer's philosophy on math can be summed up by the mantra he had the children repeat after him: "Mathematics is our good friend."
A personal believer that math is an art form as well as a science, Fetzer finds that many people are so dismissive of the subject that they're likely to overlook its value. He hopes that teaching kids the creative side of math early, and by helping them see the math all around them, fewer will be intimidated by it.
"Many people (are) so frightened of mathematics," he said. "The attitude about mathematics (gets) in the way of them understanding it."
Fetzer uses songs to help children see the correlation between musical notes and numbers. The children in the small assembly at Bennion Elementary were probably still using their fingers to count, yet Fetzer taught them a song about pi, assigning a different note to each number. Not knowing or caring the calculation from which pi derives, the children excitedly sang along, "Three, point one four, one five nine two." The ditty even brought a boy in the front row to his feet.
"When I see numbers," Fetzer tells them, "I can see a melody. ... Numbers are a great part of musical ideas."
In addition to math, Fetzer teaches kids that their imaginations are wonderful when used correctly. He gave a sampling of a spooky story about a wild goblin, which left the kids laughing rather than fretting, and he told them not to worry about fears that aren't real.
The classes are offered at two U. campuses: the Bountiful Continuing Education Center, 75 E., 200 South; and the main campus, Milton Bennion Hall, 1705 Campus Center Drive. Tuition for the courses is $85, plus a special fee of $14, for a total of $99. "The Music of Math," (ages 9 to 12) — July 12-16, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in Bountiful, 1:30-3:30 p.m. in Salt Lake City; "Pleasantly Spooky Tales" (ages 8 to 12) — Aug. 9-13, 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. in Bountiful, 1:30-3:30 p.m. in Salt Lake City.
For more information and to register, visit www.youth.utah.edu or call 801-581-6984. Tuition assistance is also available.
e-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com