Creating Independent Musicians

One of my goals as a music educator is to foster musical independence. In other words, when my students graduate and no longer have the benefit of a music teacher to guide them, I want them to still be able to make music and enjoy it as part of their adult lives. To that end, I try to incoporate student projects from time to time that develop the skills necessary to become independent musicians who can perform, arrange, and compose their own music. These past two weeks have been full of such actitivities.

Last week, the Wind Ensemble students performed in the District 113 Solo and Ensemble Festival, along with our friends from Highland Park High School. Back in December, each band member was assigned to a chamber group of 2-7 musicians. They chose a piece of music to rehearse, and then once a week during class, they worked together to rehearse and perfect their performances. Instead of just being performers, they also had to critique themselves, manage their time, and solve musical problems on their own. The unit culminated last Friday with ten wonderful performances that were adjudicated by local music educators who also provided input and suggestions.

This week, the music theory students are presenting their latest compositions. Their assignment was to write any kind of music they like, provided they used four different seventh chords, which he had been studying in class. Their work has run the gamut from jazz vocals to classical piano to rock music and many other genres in between.

The DHS Jazz Band has been meeting as two smaller combos to arrange and perform "standards." In the early years of jazz, musicians would often take songs from Tin Pan Alley or Broadway like "I Got Rhythm" or "All of Me" and play them in a jazzy style with improvised solos. Over the past 20 years, musicians have begun to mine other sources to define new "standards." In February, the band played a Beatles tune, "She's Leaving Home," as interpreted by pianist Brad Mehldau in the 2000s. Now the students chose their own "new standards" and performed them in the front hallway before school. One group did their own version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," while the other combo did Sufjan Stevens' "Casimir Pulaski Day." Both ensembles were very creative with their renditions.

The Symphonic Band has been playing Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite and discussing the original songs that he used as his melodic material. We learned the melodies and read the lyrics and talked about how these timeless tunes were the basis for his work. Then, the students worked on four Anglo-American folk songs, "Clementine," "Barbara Allen," "Skip to My Lou," and "Billy Boy." They gathered in groups of about ten and created their own arrangements, just like Vaughan Williams did. As you can see from the pictures below, we spread out all over the fine arts wing, and the students did a great job of staying focused and coming up with very creative ways to play them. Here are the finished products, after only two and a half periods of work.


Woodwinds and horns playing "Clementine"




A mixed ensemble playing "Skip to My Lou" in a quasi-reggae beat




Another mixed ensemble playing "Billy Boy" in a canon




Sophomore boys playing a medley




The percussion section playing "Skip to My Lou"

Solo and Ensemble Festival

I sent an email to all students involved in the festival on Friday, March 19, listing all of your assigned times. Please check your school account for this message, make sure the time works, and then notify your accompanist, if necessary.

On Monday, I will send out a second email with some important details. For now, make sure you have an original copy of the music for the judge (WE ensembles, I will take care of this unless you supplied your own piece). You need to number each measure neatly in pencil. Place the numbers under each bar. As far as apparel, this isn't concert dress, but you should be in better-than-school clothes, no jeans or sneakers.

Email me with any questions, and keep practicing!

From the Archives...

This is the first in an occasional series of pictures from the DHS Band archives. Next fall, we at Deerfield High School will be celebrating our 50th anniversary as a school, so I thought it would be fun to look at some of our past history. Our first picture, from April 1971, is a great one for many reasons (besides all of the Marcia Brady hairdos):

(click on the image to see full size)

First, the conductor is Al Spriester, who was the Director of Bands (and orchestras for a time) from the early 1960s until his retirement in 1986. He built this program and nurtured it through its early years, initiating series of guest artist performances and even taking the band to Springfield to play for the inauguration of the governor in 1974.

Second, the picture shows the first band room, M106, our home from 1960 to 2002. The walls here are a dark color, brown I would guess, but by the time I arrived in 1988, they were an institutional beige. Those open shelved storage areas were a problem because not only did they look sloppy, but they encouraged theft. We lost more than a few mouthpieces and small instruments before the school had them gutted in favor of individual lockers. By the time we moved out, they were starting to fall apart.

You can also see that the room was tiered. The percussion area on the top was famously crowded, and it was difficult moving instruments on and off the risers. When we had just two bands, the Symphonic Band got to be about 75-strong, and it was so packed that we split the band into two separate groups in 1998, creating the Wind Ensemble. Once we got the new room in 2002, it was no longer an issue, but all three bands were averaging 40-55 players, so there was no reason to go back to two ensembles.

I'm pretty sure the floor was still tile. The room had a low ceiling, and it must have been dangerously loud in there, especially for marching band rehearsals. It was carpeted in 1987, and since the students used to eat lunch during band class, there were a number of spectacular drink spills that created enough stains that I banned colored drinks from the room. When we learned the carpet was going to be removed for asbestos abatement over the summer, I lifted the ban on the first day of fourth quarter. I very ceremoniously opened a can of Pepsi in front of the band, took a long sip, and then carefully poured a healthy amount on the carpet. It was a joyous day for all.

M106 and the choir room just opposite are now a study hall/detention rooms. The office suite and K116 (the old music theory/jazz band room) were made into part of the bookstore, and our beloved tuba room and uniform room became theatre storage. I love our current spaces in R-hall, but it's fun to reminisce about the funky areas that housed DHS music for 40 years!