Music Moves Us! by The Calhoun School

Music Moves o us!

w h at m ov es yo u?

By JIM BYRNE

(Clockwise from top) Music teacher Dan Stein ’07, Michael Fortunato ’16, Jack Gulielmetti ’14, and Sacha Rogosin ‘16

hile the economic climate has led h many schools across the country to man shutter their music programs or, at best, relegate them to the endangered species list, the approach at Calhoun has been exactly the opposite. Simply put, the music program here has exploded. Today, students can choose from a variety of music classes in strings, brass, wind instruments, chorus and chamber music as well as in percussion, keyboard, jazz improvisation and lyric writing. In fact, there are more than 20 music electives in the Upper School; in Middle School, in addition to chorus, instrumental (winds/brass) and strings, students can opt for classes like Electronic Music Lab or the newest offering, Introduction to Jazz Improvisation. The tremendous growth in the music program has been spurred in part by scientific evidence that proves the enormous impact the study of music can have on brain development. But it is also reflective of Calhoun’s historic dedication to integrating the arts seamlessly into academic studies. Plus, teachers and student musicians alike point to the collaborative nature of music performance, the discipline it instills, and, not insignificant, the sheer joy and fun that music brings. Head of School Steve Nelson, a serious violinist who once served as president of Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies, Institute of Music and Dance, says his experience with and passion for music was probably why he was hired. “Certainly I was clear in my intentions when I came to Calhoun that music is an important part of overall education of kids and adults and just of humanity in general.”

Teachers and student musicians alike point to the collaborative nature of music performance, the discipline it instills, and, not insigniﬁcant, the sheer joy and fun that music brings.

Shortly after arriving at Calhoun in 1998, Steve teamed with Lower School Director Kathleen Clinesmith and her husband, music teacher Ben Clinesmith who had come to Calhoun in the early ‘90s after running youth orchestras and working in music education to plan a strings program. Their first hire for the fledgling strings program, launched in 2002, was violin and piano virtuoso Victor Lin, who, as fate would have it, met Steve while both were Rollerblading in Central Park. “The only reason I stopped to talk to him was I needed to know who this dude with the silver hair was who had rocketed past me,” says Victor. Music teacher Brian Coogan recalls Mus that there music at all” ere was “hardly any mus when he joined oined the school in 1990 as the sole instrumental ntal teacher and band cconductor. “There d her were re some recorders and appreciation course,’ whatever a ‘music apprec recalls Brian. “We started that means,” rec with five clarinets and continued to grow over ver the years.” Today, there are cclose to 200 stuT dentss in the Middle and Upper School instrumental in the mental program, performing pe all-school orchestra, Comm Community Orchestra, chamber ensemble, ban band, percussion ensemble, wind and brass ens ensembles, and one of seven jazz ensembles…not …n to mention another 80 in choral groups. Brian says the growth of the instrumental program really kicked in when the 81st Street building almost doubled in size, in time for the 2004–05 school year. The expanded building included the addition of four new floors providing several music rehearsal rooms and a new performing arts center. Teachers like Brian, who had worked in the basement (or “down in the dungeon,” as he referred to it), suddenly had their own space…and

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Our program has developed O this sort of specialization, which is simply remarkable for a music program in a school that isn’t a conservatory. ry.

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— Steve Nelson, Head of School

with that extra room came increased ﬂexibility for more small-group instruction, more rehearsal space and an increased performance schedule. The physical expansion of the school also opened the door for the music program to add electives and hire additional music teachers, including adjuncts who could provide specialization sometimes one-on-one. “Our program has developed this sort of specialization, which is simply remarkable for a music program in a school that isn’t a conservatory,” says Steve. Aside from the professional music faculty, the school is populated by an unusual number of academic teachers who happen to be talented musicians. In the Lower School alone, math teacher Anthony Yacobellis is also a punk-rock musician and concert promoter; math teacher Austin Applegate is an accomplished guitarist who also gives after-school music lessons; and kindergarten teacher Tina LoGuidice moonlights as g the lead singer in a rock band.

Sixth grader Noelani Wilkinson

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[Mu [Music] helps the children understand the world better, and assists with issues of diversity and anti-racism by allowing for a better standing of someone lifestyle. e. — Debbie b Morenzi, LS74 Music Specialist

Fourth graders Axel Fonseca and Isabella Ulfelder

Ben Clinesmith (left) and a younger Noah Krauss ’15 performing with the Community Orchestra, an ensemble of musicians ranging from beginners to professionals.

A Community of Musicians Calhoun’ss Community Orchestra is perhaps Calhoun the best example of the democratic impulses of progressive education. It is a unique ensemble of Middle and Upper School students performing together with Calhoun’s professional music faculty as well as other staff and parents. In two concerts each year, the Community Orchestra performs ﬁrst as a small group and then with the school’s full orchestra of student musicians, ranging in skill from beginner to advanced. The result is astounding and inspiring for musicians and audiences alike. “The adults don’t see this as a groaning duty, but as an incredibly joyful opportunity to just make music with other human beings,” says Head of School Steve Nelson of the orchestra. “Doesn’t make a difference if you’re technically accomplished or just a beginner—the quality and feeling behind a simple musical phrase is the same thing. This kind of democratic commonality with music at its center is a real hallmark of our school.” The Calhoun Community Orchestra dates back to 2001, when Lower School Director Kathleen Clinesmith traveled with CoDirector Alison Rothschild ’85 and learning specialist Hamida Butt to the International

School of Brussels for a conference on early childhood education. While there, they enjoyed a concert performed by the school orchestra, a group that coincidentally happened to play a piece written and arranged by Calhoun music teacher Ben Clinesmith. It was decided then that Calhoun would have its very own strings program, which in turn led to the creation of the Community Orchestra. “I felt that we might be able to do something more interesting and reﬂective of Calhoun by creating an orchestra made up of students, parents, teachers and anyone loosely afﬁliated with the community,” recalls Kathleen. “It meant offering free lessons to our teachers and staff—some of whom would be beginners or who only played in their younger years—along with the several parents and teachers who were pre-eminent professional players and willing to join.” Since its humble beginnings, the Community Orchestra has held relaxed rehearsals each week during the school year, which makes for a comfortable and pleasant experience for the amateurs while providing professionals the opportunity to solo or try

out an arrangement rr or comp composition of their own. The linchpin of the group has been Ben Clinesmith, thanks to his ability to compose arrangements for a range of players, from beginners on up. But, ultimately, what makes it all work is the democratic environment that allows its members, ranging from the 10-year-old who just learned “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to the 35-year-old who just last week played at Carnegie Hall, to perform the same music side by side, with each voice equally important. Noah Krauss ’15 has performed with the Community Orchestra since he came to Calhoun in ﬁfth grade, and says there is nothing like it. “I can look to my right and see Ben Clinesmith, who is a fantastic cellist, and I can glance left and see a ﬁfth grader trying his or her hardest. It’s such a strange thing to see, but the results we get are pretty amazing. It’s such an inspiring experience to see all of these people just playing their hearts out.” Watch video excerpts form Community Orchestra concerts at www.calhoun.org/music

“In some cases, we didn’t even know they were musicians at the time they were hired,” says Steve. But because he believes in “hiring interesting human beings who can do more than just teach within their discipline,” he says he’s not surprised that Calhoun ends up with a disproportionately high number of teachers who are also musicians. The best part is, their passion for music frequently finds its way into the classroom, so students get exposed to music all the time—both inside and outside of the music program. Music as Interdisciplinary Partner Music is, in fact, interwoven with curriculum in all divisions, reflecting Calhoun’s mission to seamlessly integrate the arts with other academic studies. Debbie Morenzi, who incorporates world music into her work with Calhoun’s youngest as the LS74 music specialist, notes that music is a wonderful resource for teaching social studies. “It helps the children understand the world better, and assists with issues of diversity and antiracism by allowing for a better understanding of someone else’s lifestyle,” she says. Ben Clinesmith’s “Sing It, Say It” program, which he debuted at Calhoun in 1993, uses music to help teach and reinforce reading, writing and math skills to first graders. Simple songs are broken down into measures and beats, and the vibrations that make up actual sound can be counted mathematically and charted in terms of waves on a graph. An increasing body of scientific evidence supports Ben’s approach, that the study of music is actually related to the acquisition of math skills as well as reading, says Steve, who points to recent research that shows that parts of the brain developed by music actually have to do with linguistics and mastering both oral and written language.

Students get exposed to music all the time— both inside and outside of the music program.

First graders record songs they wrote with direction from LS music specialist Dustin LeVasseur.

Itt’s crazy It’s c to think that there isn’t more experiential learning with music happening like this on a larger level. — Dustin LeVasseur, First grade music specialist

Ben’s curriculum continues today at Little Calhoun under the auspices of ﬁrst grade music specialist Dustin LeVasseur, who embraces music as the core of the Calhoun experience. “The arts have the ability to stand alone, but can also be woven into many aspects of learning,” he says. “For me, it means having a curriculum based in creativity, where I’m able to intertwine music with any aspect of the students’ lives. It’s crazy to think that there isn’t more experiential learning with music happening like this on a larger level vel elsewhere.” As students progress through the Lower School, their class time continues es to include song, movement, music apprereciation and percussion instruments. In second grade, they begin their ﬁrst formal mal instrumental lessons with recorders, and nd then in Middle School, each student can n choose to sing in the chorus or pick an

Adjunct music teacher John Romeri provides a one-on-one lesson to Celia Goodman ‘18.

instrument to learn. By eighth grade, students can opt out of music, but more than half continue on in choir or instrumental music. Cynthia Wuco, Middle/Upper School chorus teacher, likens her position in the middle grades to something of a life coach. “It’s a time that can be emotional and tumultuous and ﬁlled with personal struggle,” she says, noting that “singing, or any type of music instruction, gives a student who might feel as if nothing is going right just one great thing they are able to do.” Victor Lin, director of the

Upper School jazz program, agrees that music gives students an opportunity to express and better understand themselves. “They need it to process all the things that are happening to them,” says Victor.

All That Jazz It may come as a surprise that the beginnings of Calhoun’s jazz program can be traced back to what many consider the lowest form of music: the type that’s played in elevators. Well, sort of. The program literally got its start in the 81st Street elevators, as an unofﬁcial class taught by Victor Lin with one “enrolled” student. That student, Dan Stein ’07, began playing the upright bass as an eighth grader in 2002, when Calhoun added a strings program. Dan started studying the bass in the context of classical music, but he also absorbed a lot more that Victor had to offer. “As I got a little better and more excited, Victor just started teaching me all kinds of music—pop, funk and jazz—and we’d ride up and down the elevator, playing for whoever would listen whenever the door opened. That was the beginning of the jazz program.” Today, Calhoun’s Upper School jazz program—headed by Victor—boasts more than 30 students performing in seven ensembles, coached by an extended adjunct faculty composed of some of the most promising jazz artists in America. It’s even trickled down to the Middle School, where a jazz program began this year in the eighth grade under the leadership Kevin Farrell. The success of the program has been astounding in terms of both student enthusiasm and the talent that has emerged. In the la ast two years, Victor has taken his more advanced jazz students in the “730 for the time they practice Band”—named ” each morning—to the prestigious Berklee Colleg ge High School Jazz Festival in Boston, where e they’ve placed in the upper echelon of winne ers from mostly top conservatories. Jack Gulielmetti ’14, who has performed J in both competitions and last year earned Most Accomplished Player at the e festival, says, “The biggest difference between us and the groups from other schools is that some of those kids are literallly majoring in music in high school. We don’t have a major here, but if it’s something

(L-R) Victor Lin, head of Calhoun’s jazz program, and adjunct music teacher Dan Stein ‘07 re-create the “elevator music” that started it all in 2003.

you take seriously enough, you can take advantage of the resources we have.” Steve Nelson believes that students have gravitated toward the program because, at its core, “jazz is sort of cool,” observing that most of, if not all, popular music has its roots in jazz—and thus students are intuitively attracted to the form. “It’s pretty easy to take kids from the milieu of popular music that they have on their iPods and other devices and draw them from that into jazz, which I think is much more complex, richer and interesting intellectually,” says Steve. When it comes to explaining his approach to teaching, Victor says there is “no recipe,” but the key is individual attention for each student. “It’s not even about what they achieve,” he notes. “It’s about cultivating relationships and piquing their curiosity.” Still, he believes that the jazz program would not be where it is today without his “remarkable” original student. “I remember saying to Dan, ‘If we’re going to show that this can work, you’re going to be the big example.’ I literally threw everything I knew into him, and told him that by the time

he graduated I wanted to be gigging with him, and that when he graduated college I’d be hiring him professionally for my trio.” All of that came true. Dan went on to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with honors, and is now completing his master’s degree in jazz studies at Juilliard. He’s also back at Calhoun, teaching the subject he loves. “It’s incredible for me to see how the jazz program has developed,” he says. “The year after I graduated was the ﬁrst year of actual jazz classes, and that was kind of a bittersweet thing for me, because I would have loved to have had those classes while I was here. But I was still happy that Calhoun was embracing this art form that I knew other students would be really excited about. And now the fact that it’s such a big program with enormous excitement around it? It’s astounding. It makes me so happy, and I’m so glad that I can come back and be a part of it.” See video interviews with Steve Nelson, Dan Stein ’07, Jack Gulielmetti ’14 and other musicians at www.calhoun.org/music.

Karina Rajchman '12

Conﬁdence and Collaboration Karina Rajchman ’12, who currently attends NYU and plays in three bands with fellow alum Josh Musto ’12, acknowledges that the music program at Calhoun did wonders for her self-esteem. “Learning new pieces of music, as well as performing live, instilled a great deal of discipline and conﬁdence in me from a rather early age,” says Karina. “I quickly learned there is no feeling quite like the moment after playing a great gig, or transcribing a tough solo. When you have those skills and moments under your belt, the way you approach life each day takes on a different meaning. I truly believe music, or any kind of artistic passion, gives people a certain lust for life that you

simply can’t ﬁnd elsewhere.” Karina calls Victor Lin and Ben Clinesmith “unbelievably inspiring teachers,” whose approach to teaching music is far more than a series of notes and scales that should be memorized. Collaboration is key to the way Calhoun’s music faculty approaches instruction. “Our mantra here is that every student has a job, and that job is to make everyone else in his or her band or orchestra better,” says Victor. “It’s not about looking good or getting your solo in the spotlight. The best person isn’t any better than the newest musician. Musicmaking isn’t supposed to be a spectacle. It’s something that people should want to participate in.” Although the objective of the music program isn’t isn’ to churn out professional musicians, Calhoun is indeed home to C some serious talent. Pianist Tiffany Poon, a senior this year, came to the United States from Hong Kong at the age of 10 to attend the Juilliard School while concurJ

Noah Krauss '15

Learning new pieces of music, as well as performing live, instilled a great deal of discipline and conﬁdence in me from a rather early age. — Karina Rajchman '12

rently enrolled at Calhoun. She has since played in numerous international venues, from Australia and Russia to Montreal and across the United States, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Steinway Hall. Most recently, she won ﬁrst prize and Best Performance of Concerto Award at the VIII Moscow International Fredrick Chopin Competition for Young Pianists. Junior Noah Krauss has also earned countless accolades including the New York Music Competition, ﬁrst on cello and second on piano. But what both Noah and Tiffany also have in common is that they chose not to take the traditional route of conservatories. “I never really had any interest in leaving Calhoun,” says Noah. “You get individual attention here, which is so great. It’s really student-based.” Noah recalls his earlier years at Calhoun, beginning in Middle School. “It was very inspiring to see high-caliber musicians come in and play with us,” he says. He had the option of auditioning for a music school when he was 14, but opted to stay. Instead, Noah who performs with the school’s Community Orchestra, all-school orchestra and in various ensembles decided he wanted to be a positive role model for Calhoun’s younger students. “I’m just trying to show them the greatness of this program and what you can do with it if you work hard and if you have a real love for music. And I think this program really does [encourage that], because you get to play pieces that aren’t necessarily common in high school orchestras. We play pop songs, movie themes and all the really great classical works, so it’s a really wide spectrum. I just love it.” Jack Gulielmetti ’14, a talented guitarist who attends Juilliard’s pre-college program, studies composition and has actually composed for the New York Philharmonic, is another student who

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I have friends who go to [music] schools but don’t have the same access to practice rooms, instruments or faculty; I think that sets Calhoun apart. — Jack Gulielmetti ’14

Practice time for eighth graders Michael Nelkin, Ethan Lichtenstein, Jake Rosenthal and Noah Copperman in Ben Baron’s instrumental class.

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ﬁrmly believes in Calhoun’s approach to music education. “I have friends who go to [music] schools but don’t have the same access to practice rooms, instruments or faculty; I think that sets Calhoun apart,” he says. “I also think you need to be a well-rounded person to play music. You can’t just get inspiration from music itself; that would get old after a while and you would end up sounding like the people you listen to. You have to bring in ideas from what you read or what you do in math or something you learned in biology.” What’s been most noticeable about the music evolution at Calhoun is how quickly it bonds students and faculty.

Says Meighan Stoops, Director of Music, “The ﬁrst level of music education is listening together as a group, and then it’s on to playing music together. But the third level, when you’re in front of people performing that’s when the experience is ratcheted up to an entirely different intensity. You learn that you have to take care and look out for one another. And that’s something that can translate to any other scenario in life.” Concludes Noah, “Calhoun is such a great environment for musicians, artists and…I really can’t picture myself anyplace else…it’s one of my favorite places to be.”

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