Band, Chorus, or Orchestra?

Band, Chorus, or Orchestra?

Through the thriving Middle School music program, students are immersed in choral singing and instrument study at the beginning of their school days

Any visitor passing the Middle School Theater and the Music Rooms at 8:15 a.m. might hear violins. Or violas, cellos, alto saxophones, tenor saxophones, trombones, baritones, flutes, clarinets, trumpets, bass or orchestral percussion instruments from the xylophone to the timpani to castanets. On another morning, there may be singing, in harmony, drifting out of Room 004.

This is Band, Chorus and Orchestra (BCO), and this is how many CGPS Middle Schoolers begin their day: making music together. The BCO initiative is in addition to the comprehensive General Music program run by Kary Haddad, the Middle School’s music coordinator, who said, “The program prepares students for the Prep School music program where they can join a wide variety of ensembles.” With the combination of BCO and the General Music program, Dr. Haddad said, “every student in Middle School is getting substantive and creative music-making experiences.” Students can choose chorus, band or orchestra—or chorus and band or orchestra. Band and orchestra each meet twice a cycle, with one period reserved for full orchestra or band practice, and the other for small group or even individual instrument instruction. Chorus meets once a cycle. Including General Music classes, that could mean music education all six cycle days.

One morning, sixth and seventh grade orchestra members were practicing for the spring concert. Ardith Collins, orchestra teacher and nationally-recognized Orff instrument educator, reminded the students about dynamics and articulation. The students were practicing a challenging piece: the finale from Stravinsky’s Firebird, with Ms. Collins on piano. Around measure 21, things got bumpy. Ms. Collins raised her hands to stop the playing and encouraged her players. They started again, this time finishing successfully. Afterwards, one of her students explained, “There are many complicated parts to Firebird. The tempo changes three times, so counting gets difficult.” Ms. Collins asked the children to talk about what makes them proud about their playing. Many students had been playing their instrument since third grade—but one sixth grader had just picked up

a violin for the first time two weeks before. “Music is a skill that can be learned by anyone, and at any age,” Ms. Collins said.

Next door, band and music teacher Renee Duncan’s students are arrayed in a semi-circle by the stage in the Middle School Theater. Ms. Duncan, an Australian transplant currently pursuing her PhD in Music Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, says her band members should be “playing their independent part among others—it’s hard!—and playing across a wide range of notes with technical proficiency.”

Maddie Franklin has taught music and chorus at CGPS for fifteen years, and is an expert on the Kodály method, a philosophy where music is taught first through voice, rhythms and traditional songs. “We work as a team. Lessons kids learn about sportsmanship on teams apply in chorus. When we’re all singing, we need to listen to one another so we can blend. When we first sing in harmony, students can tend to cover their ears to hear themselves and then can’t hear the other parts—but it’s important to hear all parts to make sure that we’re balanced.”

All of the Middle School music groups come together for concerts twice a year—and the fifth grade band and orchestra perform at the winter concert, just months into their BCO training. By seventh grade, their hard work has prepared them to assimilate into the Prep School music ensembles and has other benefits, too. Ms. Duncan says her students “learn a strong work ethic. They develop a sense of working with other students. They learn that they have a place in the ensemble—that there will be a moment to shine, a moment to be supportive of the others and a moment where they all work together.” That’s beautiful music, indeed.

The Big Band Theory

7:15 a.m. is the new 8:15 a.m. Band teacher Renee Duncan had a sneaking suspicion that, for some Middle Schoolers, there was no such thing as enough music, and approached the administration about offering an extracurricular extension ensemble. “They said, ‘Sure—and good luck!’” Ms. Duncan laughed, “and Big Band was born.” Now 18 kids join in bright and early on Fridays, with a group including electric guitar, piano, flutes, clarinets and a real drum kit, among other instruments. Big Band votes on the music it plays and has grooved to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge and the theme to “Hawaii 5-0.”