Date: Fri 28-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Middle-school-band

Full Text:

Eighth Grade Band Chosen To Perform For Music Educators

On clarinet are eighth-graders Greg Chion (left), Allyson Themel and Geoff

DiBeneditto.

-Bee Photos, Evans

The brass section shines during rehearsal for the Eighth Grade Concert Band's

Honor Performance at the April 5 CMEA conference.

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

For the second time in two years, the Newtown Middle School Eighth Grade

Concert Band directed by Elizabeth Cook has been chosen to perform during the

Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) conference.

At the same conference, the Newtown Middle School Jazz Project directed by

Walter Mamlok, will be featured following the Concert Band.

The Honors Performances will occur Saturday, April 5, in the Rainbow Room of

the Sheraton Stamford Hotel, with the Concert Band performing at 1:15 pm and

the Jazz Project performing at 3:45 pm.

"We submitted a tape in November and I didn't really think we'd be chosen

again, but they're so good... it happened!" Mrs Cook said recently.

There are 113 students in the Concert Band and they rehearse three times a

week, often having combined rehearsals during their lunch periods.

"But it's not the size or the number, it's the quality - how well they play.

We just expect it of them. These kids are great," Mrs Cook said.

This will be a performance to remember, she added, because the audience will

be filled with music educators, "not just appreciative parents," as is usual

for school concerts.

The CMEA members will "probably even know the music that we're playing," she

added.

Their program features six different pieces, including a medley of songs from

"West Side Story" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa.

Mrs Cook described the schedule April 5 that will include a coach bus ride to

Stamford, leaving the Newtown High School parking lot at 11:15 am.

"I've been scouting out some place for us to have lunch in Stamford. Then

we'll go to the Sheraton ballroom to get ready. Our performance is between

1:15 and 1:45," she said.

The students who aren't also playing in the jazz band will "watch and support"

their friends during the 3:15 jazz band performance, she said.

Then, later in the program, everyone will have an opportunity to hear the

Newtown High School Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Jack Zamary.