Date: Fri 07-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-music-concerts

Full Text:

Middle School Music

Reaches Crescendo In March

The four music teachers at Newtown Middle School are, from left, Walter

Mamlok, Liz Cook, Jonathan Pope and Keith Hedin.

- Photos, Courtesy of Dennis Hyde

The string students take a break from rehearsing for the Fairfield County

String Festival next Saturday, March 15, at WestConn. Bottom row, left, Lauren

Bonacci, Drew Carleton, Christopher Thibdeau, James Dellasala and Sheila

O'Connor. Top row, left, Tiffany Wolfe, Christina Bennett, Lauren Thibdeau,

Deirdre Dougherty, Lesley Janutolo and Christina Palmer. Missing from photo:

Morgan Eve Swain.

Success down the road: Yale Band director, professor Thomas Duffy (left),

served as career mentor for Newtown High School senior band student Chris

Bassett.

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

March is "Music In The Schools" month, but there are four Newtown Middle

School music teachers who are so busy preparing their students for upcoming

performances, they barely have time to celebrate.

Actually, the teachers prefer to applaud the accomplishments of their choral,

string, band and orchestra students -and their enthusiasm is infectious.

Walter Mamlok is seventh-grade band and jazz band instructor. Liz Cook is

sixth- and eighth-grade band instructor. Jonathan Pope is choral director for

grades six through eight, and Keith Hedin is the teacher of sixth- through

eighth-grade orchestras.

"It's a very active music program here," said Ms Cook during a recent

interview.

She added that all middle school music teachers are responsible for general

music classes as well as music lab, which she described as a "hands-on, small

group sectional class for non-performers."

In fact, Ms Cook estimated that one way or another, the four of them see

almost every one of the more than 900 middle school students during the

students' three-year stay in the building.

"Between the four of us, we see them all at least twice a week," echoed Keith

Hedin.

Impressive List Of Gigs

A brief glance at Newtown music students' upcoming performance schedule helps

prove the point that the middle school music program is thriving.

Sunday, March 9, the middle school Jazz Project, consisting of students from

all three grades, will perform at Newtown Congregational Church in concert

with a professional jazz band called Strictly Swing. The concert will start at

3:30 pm.

Saturday, March 15, selected string students will perform in the annual

Fairfield County String Festival. The concert will be at 3 pm at the Ives

Auditorium on the campus of Western Connecticut State University.

Friday, March 21, five, sixth grade band students will perform with the

Westport Community Band at Weston High School at 7:30 pm.

Saturday, March 22, four Newtown Middle School choral students will sing in

the Connecticut Music Educators' Association (CMEA) Western Regional Chorus

Festival at 3 pm on the WestConn campus in Danbury.

Also on Saturday, March 22, four seventh-grade and ten eighth-grade band

students will perform at the CMEA Western Region Middle School Festival at

WestConn at 3:30 pm, following the choral concert.

Friday, April 4, at 3:45 pm, the middle school Jazz Project will give a

concert together with the Newtown High School Jazz Band under the direction of

Jack Zamary.

An April performance is also scheduled for eighth-grade band students at the

State Music Educators Convention in Stamford at the Sheraton Hotel, a

selection which Ms Cook termed "quite an honor."

Continuity

Throughout Program

When you consider that string instruction at Newtown starts in the fourth

grade and band instruction by elementary school band director Dennis Hyde

begins in the fifth grade, it is clear that many students are coming to middle

school already prepared to participate in its extensive music program.

The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade years, therefore, become increasingly

important in the development of skills and enthusiasm, not to mention the

continuity of the program as it feeds into high school.

As a result, many students enter ninth grade choosing to continue in chorus,

orchestra, band and string music programs under the direction of Newtown High

School music staff Ann Doyle, Michele Hiscavich and Jack Zamary.

In many cases, the school system is therefore able to nurture dedicated

musicians who continue their music study into college and beyond.

Chris Bassett,

A Case In Point

This fact was borne out recently at the Honors Mentorship Open House February

24 and 26, where seniors at Newtown High School described their job-shadowing

projects and thanked the professional mentors who helped them gain a taste of

real-world expertise.

Newtown High School senior Chris Bassett, who had played saxophone throughout

his years in the Newtown music program and who had taken music theory at

Newtown High, was able to compose and fully orchestrate a 30-page instrumental

piece.

His composition was played in rehearsal by the Yale Concert Band under the

direction of professor Thomas Duffy, director of Yale Bands, Yale School of

Music. Mr Duffy had also served this past semester as Chris's mentor for the

honors project, and he was present at the Mentorship Open House to comment

upon the collaborative experience.

"Obviously, Chris was well-prepared by Jack and the school system here," he

said.