Midwest Clinic Blog
Mr. De Stefano will be participating in the Midwest Clinic Blogs. Several directors will be writing about the Midwest experience as they prepare for and reflect upon their performance next December.
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Posted: April 15, 2006 | PermaLink
The Letter
“Enjoy one of the best feelings you will ever have! No pressure yet, just the honor!” ~ Don Shupe (Libertyville High School)
The room erupted when I read the letter. I’ve never quite seen anything like it…at least not in my classroom. I was completely caught off guard by the reaction. My response earlier that morning was quite different, more of a stunned silence. It’s remarkable that our little school band can receive such an honor. It’s amazingly humbling and exciting every time I read Kelly’s letter.
My only sadness, and I’m sure many of my colleagues will have similar thoughts, is for the students who are graduating and won’t be performing with us next December. This particular class of 8th graders has been particularly special. In this class we have kids who have performed in demonstration groups at two Midwests, performed at three Illinois All-States, the MENC North-Central in Ann Arbor, three performances at the Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festival…and now a Midwest Clinic invitation to perform. They have really set the bar very high for future McCracken students and have left an extremely positive and substantial mark on our program. To top it off, they are genuinely excited about our school’s invitation in spite of the fact that they are disappointed they won’t be performing with us. Great kids.
It’s funny how rehearsals have kicked up a notch since the invitation. We have a significant performance three weeks from today at the University of Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festival. They’ve really allowed me to push them harder than ever in our preparations. I don’t know if they are reflecting me or are truly more focused and driven. It doesn’t matter. As long as it continues I think the end of this year could be remarkable one for the Symphonic Band.
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Posted: April 14, 2006 | PermaLink
Midwest Clinic Performers Announced
The Midwest Clinic has formally announced the performers for the 2006 60th Anniversary Conference.
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Posted: April 13, 2006 | PermaLink
Our School and Our Band
McCracken is a great school. It is filled with talented and creative teachers. Our administrators are smart, strong leaders, who truly want what is best for the students of our schools. The community is extremely supportive. Our students excel both academically and artistically. McCracken Middle School was recognized as a National School of Excellence by the Blue Ribbon School Program in 2001.
Skokie School District 73.5 (Yes, you read that right…Seventy-three and a half!) is a K-8 district with approximately 100 - 125 kids per grade. Skokie has several different elementary school districts which all feed the high school district that serves the township. We work in a wonderful community that places a high value on arts education. Our population is extremely diverse with nearly half our students being bilingual. All told, almost forty languages are spoken in the homes of our district.
This is my tenth year as the band director at McCracken. I’m actually only the fourth full-time band director in the almost 50 year history of the school. I student taught with my predecessor Don Stahlberg, who taught at McCracken for 33 years. He was a terrific teacher, had wonderful bands, and built the support we enjoy today. Mr. Stahlberg still lives in Skokie and regularly attends our concerts.
Some may be surprised by the schedule and way our band program is set up, although it’s fairly typical for Chicago’s northern suburbs. We have approximately 160 students, in grades 4 through 8, enrolled participating in the Symphonic Band, Concert Band, 5th Grade Band, and Beginner Band.
Our four bands are divided by audition, and yes, I’m the only band director. Rehearsals take place before and after school, with lessons and sectionals occurring through a class pullout program. This year’s Symphonic Band, our top group, has 55 students (8 flutes, 1 oboe, 9 clarinets, 2 bass clarinets, 4 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, 2 baritone saxophones, 6 cornets, 3 horns, 6 trombones, 4 euphoniums, 2 tubas, and 6 percussion). Broken down by grade: 23 eighth graders, 23 seventh graders, and 9 sixth graders.
Auditions for next year’s groups are still a few weeks away. I expect the band playing at Midwest to be slightly smaller, but it really depends on the auditions. The younger kids have really been motivated by the Midwest announcement. They are, for the most part, working very hard.
Our schedule is strange, but it works for us. The Symphonic Band rehearses:
Monday: 7:20 - 7:53
Tuesday: 7:20 - 7:53 and 2:10 - 3:30
Wednesday: 42 minute sectionals (class pullout)
Thursday: 7:20 - 8:00
Friday: 7:20 - 7:53
Concert Band rehearses:
Monday 3:10 - 4:00
Thursday: 15 minute private lessons and 3:10 - 4:00
5th Grade Band rehearses
Monday or Tuesday: 15 minute private lessons
Friday: 3:10 - 4:00
Beginner Band rehearses
Tuesday: 11:30 - 12:00
Friday: 30 minute like instrument group lessons
Not enough contact time, especially with the younger groups. With the Midwest Clinic concert looming, I expect the Symphonic Band’s schedule to change some for next year as well. 85% of the Symphonic Band is taking private lessons. That will need to improve.
We have tremendous administrative support. Not only to they attend all of our performances, but the level of funding has been great as well. Of course it could always be more, but they do work very hard to provide us with what we need.
Our band parents are so wonderful it’s indescribable. We don’t have a formal parent group, but there is not a parent I can’t call to ask for help when we need it. They stretch their budgets to provide lessons and quality instruments for their children. They have bought into what we are trying to do with the band program at McCracken. They are as proud of this Midwest invitation as I am.
Compared to other band rooms in Chicago’s Northern Suburbs, our facilities are terrible. The room is barely large enough to fit the band, is shared with our choirs, and doubles as a classroom during the day. My lessons and sectionals at the middle school take place in the school’s cafeteria. We move WAY too many chairs and music stands everyday! We really need a new room. Maybe that’ll be my next goal!
So we have had to succeed in spite of a few things, but hopefully we’re demonstrating what can be done with a supportive community, good teaching (even if I say so myself), and students who work extremely hard and take pride in what they do.
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Posted: April 9, 2006 | PermaLink
Our Midwest Application
I love performing at conferences. I particularly enjoy preparing for them. There’s something about a high-pressure performance that doesn’t involve competition. I also feel, because of our successes, that it is our responsibility to share as much as we can to the rest of the band community through these performances and clinic sessions. Plus, I won’t lie, I also like the recognition these type of performances bring. They’ve done a lot to help our program establish a statewide and national presence. I’ve also found the audiences to be very supportive and appreciative of our kids’ work.
There is also something intrinsically beneficial to applying to perform at conferences, even if you are not selected. The applications are typically fairly extensive. If done properly, the process can be used to improve your teaching and better the students’ performance. The Midwest Clinic application definitely falls into this category. In a nutshell, the Midwest application includes an application form, CD recording, a video, past programs, student roster, three recommendations, and two photos.
This was our fifth consecutive application. The first year we applied, for the 2002 Midwest, I was a bit surprised by how long it took to compile everything. Since then, things have become streamlined. While the application requirements have evolved a bit the last few years, it’s generally the same from year to year. Most of our application for this year was finished before the end of December. This allowed us to focus on the most important part of the application, the CD, the last several weeks before the deadline.
If you ever consider applying to perform, I strongly recommend attending Mark Kelly’s workshop on applying to perform. I’ve been at least five times! He really cuts to the chase about how the application process works. At least for me, the sessions were very helpful.
I do think this was our strongest application of the five. Here’s what we did:
RECORDING
The quality of the recording is the most important aspect of the application. The committee listens to the recordings anonymously at first. So it doesn’t matter how good your other materials are…if your recording isn’t strong, they won’t even look at the other stuff.
We made our recording at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois about three weeks before the deadline. I told you my administration was great! It’s a tremendous hall, and their recording engineer Jon Schoenoff has unbelievable knowledge about the acoustics in there. He was a huge help during the recording.
The application requires that you submit a march (by one of the composers on the required composers list) and a non-march. We recorded four works:
Rough Riders - Karl King
Whip and Spur - Thomas Allen/Ray Cramer
An Irish Rhapsody - Clare Grundman
Spoon River - Percy Grainger/Glenn Cliffe Bainum
I really wanted to place the two harder works on the tape, but they just weren’t as well played as Irish Rhapsody and Rough Riders.
We’ll save the details of our recording preparation for another post.
VIDEO
We recorded our video at the same time we made the recording. I’ve done them separately some years, but find it’s easier to just tape both at the same time. A parent handled the district’s two video cameras. One was stationary on me, the other panned the ensemble from the front of the group. iMovie made editing the tape and making the DVD very easy.
PROGRAMS
This is pretty self-explanatory. The committee asks for two years of programs. We submitted our normal programs from that time, plus we had three nicely printed programs from the three conference performances we had the last two years.
RECOMMENDATIONS
James Keene (University of Illinois), Steve Peterson (Ithaca College), Don Owens (Northwestern University, retired), and Carolyn Barber (University of Nebraska) were all nice enough to write recommendations for us.
PHOTOS
I should really get a new headshot. Five years and three children later, I’m sure I’m more tired looking now. For the band photo, we usually use a more formal shot, this year we got several nice photos during our session at the Palmer House for Gary Barton’s rehearsal lab at this past Midwest. We used one of those.
Did I think we’d get invited? I was hopeful, but not very optimistic. There was some very nice and expressive playing on our recording with demonstration of strong fundamentals, but I wasn’t sure it was good enough. I had, in my mind at least, started planning for next year’s application and began application packets for both the MENC North-Central Conference in Lincoln, NE and our All-State Conference. For now, though, I’m just happy that I can be stressing about our Midwest performance like it’s next week.
McCracken Middle School Midwest Audition Repertoire
Just in case anyone is interested. I love this type of stuff!
2006 Midwest Application
Rough Riders - Karl King (Barnhouse)
An Irish Rhapsody - Clare Grundman (Boosey and Hawkes)
2005 Midwest Application
Circus Days - Karl King (Barnhouse)
Prelude and Fugue in Bb - J. S. Bach/Roland Moehlmann (Warner Brothers)
2004 Midwest Application
Orange Bowl - Henry Fillmore (Carl Fischer)
Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo - Malcolm Arnold/John Paynter (Carl Fischer)
2003 Midwest Application
Red’s White and Blue March - Red Skelton/Frank Erickson (Sam Fox)
Fantasy on American Sailing Songs - Clare Grundman (Boosey and Hawkes)
2002 Midwest Application
March: Seventeen Come Sunday from English Folk Song Suite - Ralph Vaughan-Williams (Boosey and Hawkes)
Yorkshire Ballad - James Barnes (Southern Music Company)
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Posted: April 9, 2006 | PermaLink
McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band Midwest Performance Blog
So…is it okay if I start by saying how exciting this all is? We received our invitation to perform on Tuesday, and the last few days have been unbelievable. We’ve been flooded with congratulatory emails and phone calls. My mind has been spinning with all the work we have to do in the next 8 months. It’s really hard to think of much else.
When offered the chance to participate in these blogs, I didn’t hesitate. About a year ago, I had actually contemplated doing something similar on our website (http://www.mccrackenband.com). My thought was that documenting our application to perform at Midwest might serve as a nice resource for other band directors.
These first postings will cover information about our program and school, the application process and the early stages of preparation for our performance. I’m open to topic suggestions and questions. Feel free to shoot me an email (cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us).
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Posted: April 8, 2006 | PermaLink
Board of Education Presentation Postponed
Because of an unforseen family commitment that Mr. De Stefano must attend, the Board of Education presentation honoring the Symphonic Band has been postponed until Tuesday, May 9. More information soon.
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Posted: April 8, 2006 | PermaLink
Parent Meeting, Thursday April 6
We need your help! Following the Spring Vocal Concert on Thursday, at approximately 8:15 PM, Mrs. Lehner and I will be having a parent meeting to organize our hosting of the IGSMA State Band, Orchestra, and Choir Contest on April 28 and 29.
No matter how involved (or uninvolved) your schedule allows you to be, we will have many different level of needs for the days of the contest and the weeks leading up to it. Please join us!
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Posted: April 3, 2006 | PermaLink