The magic of Marvin

When Marvin Cohen entered Jennifer Johnson’s second grade classroom at Spoede Elementary School 21 years ago, he was supposed to tutor one of her students in reading. But every time Cohen came to tutor the student, he started to sing instead.

“He probably spent more time singing to my students than he did tutoring,” jokes Johnson, who is completing her 29^th year as a teacher in the Ladue School District. “At the end of that year, he came to me and said, ‘I’d rather teach the kids to sing than tutor. Would that be OK?’”

And so it began.

For 20 years Cohen, 85, a retired pharmacist, whose nicknames are “The Singing Pharmacist” and “Marvin the Music Man,” has been leading Johnson’s second graders in song.  Two decades ago, he supplied Johnson with 20 or so American standards, and she put together a songbook from which her students could learn. Among the ditties: “Mairzy Doats,” “High Hopes,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover.”

Suffice it to say, many of the tunes are ones popular with the second graders’ grandparents, or great-grandparents, not these 7 and 8 year olds. But by the end of the school year, after 45 minutes of Cohen’s instruction every other week, the second graders in Miss Johnson’s class know each song, word for word. Recently, all 18 demonstrated as much when they practiced for the year-end assembly that was to be attended by their families and the rest of the school.

Second-grader Zoe Mei especially likes singing “High Hopes” because, she explains, “it tells us never to give up. If something seems out of reach, you can do it.”

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It’s a lesson that Johnson says is timeless and repeats itself year after year.

“When Marvin first comes at the beginning of the school year some of the kids are really shy about singing. I’ve had students who have said no way am I singing with Marvin,” says Johnson. “But he makes it so much fun and builds these wonderful relationships with the students that by the end of the year they all love him and look at him like their grandpa.”

Cohen makes sure each child gets a solo, no matter how off-key he or she sings. He says it isn’t about mastering the nuances of a song but rather building confidence and teaching children at an early age to challenge themselves.

“I have a Marvin’s Song Fest T-shirt for each child with all of these notes they wear for the assembly,” says Cohen, who lives at the Brentmoor and has been involved with local performing groups like St. Louis Show Stoppers and Broadway Fantasies. “I credit Jennifer for all of her help and enthusiasm every year. We both put 100 percent into this, and it pays off because the kids seem to really love it.”

Johnson agrees, and has plenty of emails from parents to prove it.

“They email to say how much their child got out of singing with Marvin,” says Johnson. “One said her daughter came home and told her the great thing about Marvin is that he doesn’t judge any of us.

“He has touched so many lives over the past 20 years. My old students come back, some are grown and married, and the first thing they ask is, ‘Does Marvin still come in?’ It’s a really good memory for them.”

Below is a video of Cohen leading Johnson’s second graders in “Marvin Song Fest.”