A BERLIN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT OPEN FORUM SINCE 1924
The
Red‘n’Green
222 Memorial Drive Berlin, WI 54923
VOLUME 49, ISSUE 5
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
Jazz band breaks into separate bands by
James Hinton
The Berlin High School Jazz Band, in response to new challenges this year, has decided to split into two different bands. “The two groups are entirely unique entities. They get their own literature, have their own people in them,” Jazz Band Director Ben Ruetten said. The groups are called Jazz One and Jazz Two, respectively. The biggest difference between the two is skill and experience. “Jazz One is the top group, and the one with the most experience with jazz. They also have the more challenging pieces. Jazz Two is the beginner group, and deals more with the basics,” Ruetten said. There were two distinct reasons for the split into two groups, according to Ruetten. The first was the lack of a group to teach those fundamentals, which Jazz Two now does. The second was a problem unique to this year. “The biggest issue this year was size. We had a lot of new people coming into the band, and not a lot going out. You just can’t have a jazz group with almost 50 people in it,” Ruetten said. The creation of the two groups helps solve these two issues, and provides a way to teach musicians about the fundamentals of jazz. “Jazz is a very different style than what we play in the classroom,” Ruetten said. “The style has more of an
Band Director Ben Ruetten instructs members of Jazz One during early morning Jazz meets. Photo: J. Hinton emphasis on individual playing. The harmonic structure, and even what instruments are used, are all different.” Ruetten also explained that jazz involves more improvisation, which is music that is created and played on the fly by the player. “Jazz is centered around improvisation, due to its rooting in blues,” Ruetten said. “Improv is just not done in a formal band.” The change in style from regular band to jazz band is another factor that makes jazz band attractive for players. “Jazz is a lot like regular music, but you don’t have an exact rhythm to keep. You kind of get to play around
with it more,” freshman Sam Piper said. Junior Joseph Schmidt, who plays in Jazz One, also went on to say that the creation of the two bands really has not affected the way they play much. “There really isn’t much of a difference at all from our perspective. I guess we haven’t really gotten as many new players since they went to Jazz Two, but I have not really noticed much,” Schmidt said. Students in jazz say they think that the creation of the two bands is a good thing for the jazz program, and music program as a whole. “It’s smart to get a less experienced group to teach them the ropes. I re-
member last year it was difficult finding music for both new and experienced players,” Schmidt said. Many younger players also agree that this new system is beneficial. “It is really good that experienced people can go as far as they want to, and not have to be dragged down by those just learning the basics,” Piper said. Looking where they are now, Ruetten reflected on how the jazz band has developed over the years. “When I first got here, there was no jazz band at all, and now we’ve gotten enough people to need two groups. It’s really great to have these opportunities for students to experience this kind of music,” Ruetten said.
Mall evacuation close call for seniors by
Angie Evans
Some Berlin High School seniors had a close call during winter break at the Fox River Mall. On December 27, around 6 p.m. the intercom screamed out to the shoppers that there was a lockdown happening. “The loud speakers came on and told us that Scheels had been locked down and that we needed to seek shelter in the basement,” senior Emma Rucks said. Before the lock down announcement some BHS students were doing what shoppers do, walking around in the food court or shopping in various stores. “Honestly, I thought it was part of a song that was playing in the mall,” senior Devin Taylor said. Once they realized the announcement was real, BHS students had to follow safety instructions from store clerks. “Sales clerks began rushing us through the doors,” Rucks said. “We waited in a small conference room in the basement.” Shoppers had to take shelter anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Some hiding places for the shoppers were in the basement, conference rooms, bathrooms or even a lingerie store. “We were told to leave the store which was Spencer’s,” Taylor said. “When we got out of the store we were told by the police that we needed to go inside Aerie.” During this whole evacuation, people had mixed feelings about the experience.
“For the most part everyone was relaxed,” Rucks said. “ There were some that looked nervous and some that looked irritated to be stranded in a basement without cell-phone connection, but no chaos.” Some were not as calm. “Everyone in Aerie was frightened and scared since they were mostly all girls,” Taylor said. Senior Whitney Wojtowicz was shopping just an hour and a half before the incident. “I found out by some of my friends from Neenah,” Wojtowicz said. “They posted stuff on social media because some were in lockdown.” Even though she was not there when the lockdown happened she said she was thankful she and her friend did not go with their original plan. “I was scared but also thankful that we went earlier before dinner,” Wojtowicz said. “Our original plan was to go through after dinner.” Rucks realized that anything like this can happen to anyone, even if it is a false alarm. “I alway see stories on the news about shootings and other tragedies,” Rucks said. “It is heartbreaking to see, and at the same time it is hard to believe that these things actually happen. Being in this situation made me realize how real these tragedies are and how it can happen to anyone.” According to Fox 6 Now, on the night of the scene two of the three men had guns and were caught at the scene. The third man was found a couple days later in Minnesota. All of them will face conduct charges.
“We were told to leave the store which was Spencer’s,” Taylor said. “When we got out of the store we were told by the police that we needed to go inside Aerie.”
in This
Issue
-In her own words, pg. 3 -Cancer survivors, pg. 5
-Dance improvement, pg. 8
Newsbriefs ‘Edge of Reality’, Party at the PAC make impact on students
“Edge of Reality,” a video about drinking and driving, along with a talk by officer Strahan, took place on Friday, Jan. 13. Sophomore Samantha Deppe reflected on what she learned after watching this video and listening to Strahan’s speech. “It was very eye opening about what actually happens in a drinking and driving car accidents,” Deppe said. There was one main thing that she liked about this video, which was made by Neenah High School students seven years ago. “I really liked that the video was realistic,” Deppe said. This video related to Party at the PAC, an event sponsored by Theda Care that the sophomores attended in October. “It connected to Party at the PAC really well,” Deppe said. “They both showed realistic things that could happen while in the car after somebody has been drinking.”
Sanderfoot installs new Weatherbug Science teacher Ben Sanderfoot recently installed a new Weatherbug. “It is a weather station that gets installed on the roof,” Sanderfoot said. This device measures and collects several different elements. “It collects wind speed, temperature, pressure and precipitation from this area,” Sanderfoot said. By gathering these aspects of weather, people can then access it from several different places. “It reports to my room, the district office and the Weatherbug station,” Sanderfoot said. “Other news stations can then pull this information from the Weatherbug.” There were a few different reasons Sanderfoot decided to install a new Weatherbug. “The one that we had was around 25 years old, so we decided it was time to replace it,” Sanderfoot said. “Rather than buying a cheap one, we bought a nicer one that benefits everybody.”