As the fall semester ends attention turns to Chicago. Always a treasure trove of wonderful performances and valuable teaching tips, the 2017 Midwest Clinic looks to be the best one yet. In addition to talented school and community bands, orchestras, jazz ensembles, and chamber groups from across the country and around the world, Doc Severinsen and the United States Coast Guard Band are performing.
One new feature this year is S.H.O.P. Talks. Standing for “short, helpful, on point,” these sessions were inspired by the famous TED Talks and will give attendees a great deal of new ideas and information packed into 20 minutes. The Small School and L.E.A.D. (formerly Title I) tracks are expanded this year, and as always, there are rehearsal labs and reading sessions led by master teachers and performers. Midwest has something for everyone.
A few of the teachers bringing an ensemble to the Midwest Clinic took a short break from their preparations to chat with us. Enjoy these stories about some of the many performing groups headed to Chicago later this month.
Arbor Creek Middle School Honors Band
Carrollton, Texas (pop. 133,168)
Rylon Guidry, Director
Director Rylon Guidry received his invitation to perform at Midwest the night before a UIL performance, but kept the secret from his students until after their performance and after lunch. There are 83 students traveling to Midwest, and on rehearsing a group of that size, Guidry says, “I like to layer lines when rehearsing chunks of pieces. We have a large band, and the best way to check for understanding and teach balance for me is to isolate each line, and add others on in order of importance.”
Carmel Middle School Chamber Orchestra
Carmel, Indiana (pop. 91,065)
Joel Powell, Director
This 31-member ensemble was established in 2015 and has already accrued many awards and wide recognition. Says founder and director Joel Powell, “Preparing for the Midwest Clinic has been an incredibly trying but unbelievably rewarding experience. In one rehearsal, a section was struggling with a particularly difficult rhythmic passage. While working with the section alone, the rest of the orchestra gradually broke out into an improvised rhythmic ostinato in an effort to help their colleagues. This was a great moment of fun and creativity during an intense rehearsal.”
Clovis North Educational Center Wind Ensemble
Fresno, California (pop. 522,053)
David Lesser, Director
The first piece the Clovis North band ever played in public was We Will Rock You, performed for the superintendent. Eleven years later, 54 Clovis North students are heading to Chicago, and roughly half of them were not in the band last year. Twenty-one students from the auditioning group graduated in spring. Says director David Lesser, “Before Thanksgiving we focus on marching band with some concert band sprinkled in. Having to emphasize our wind ensemble while still producing a competitive marching band has allowed our younger students and beginning concert band to grow faster. Because of this, we may alter our approach in the future.”
T.A. Howard Middle School Honor Band
Arlington, Texas (pop. 392,772)
Nathaniel Neugent, Director
Although this 67-member band usually performs only three works on its fall concert, this year they played six of their eight Midwest pieces back to back, to give students practice for Midwest. Says director Nathaniel Neugent, “As we neared our last piece, I could hear endurance started to wane a bit, especially the brass, but they pushed through and finished strong. There were some exhilarated faces when we finished, and the following Mondaystudents went to work at a level I hadn’t seen before in rehearsal.”
Iolani School Orchestra
Honolulu, Hawaii (pop. 390,738)
Katharine Hafner, Director
The 60 students coming to Midwest include string players, percussionists, and dancers. Says director Katharine Hafner, “As representatives of the state of Hawaii, we felt it was important to share hula, the central cultural art form of Hawaii, with our wider audiences, in addition to the rest of our program.” The program also includes a complete reimagining of Bartók’s Rumanian Folk Dances by composer Clarice Assad.
Kell High School Wind Ensemble
Marietta, Georgia (pop. 60,941)
David Roth, Director
A handful of the 52 students traveling to Chicago this month have older siblings who attended in 2010, when the program last performed at Midwest. At the end of the last school year, the Kell Wind Ensemble spent two weeks reading works for their program. Says director David Roth, “As we pieced the program together, the students had spirited debates over which pieces should be on the concert. The process was exciting and inclusive as the students got to have input.”
Lamar Middle School & Fine Arts Academy Symphonic Winds
Austin, Texas (pop. 947,890)
James Hairston, Director
During summer rehearsals, director James Hairston and the 53 students attending Midwest never knew ahead of time whether they would have air conditioning. Students would show up in summer clothes to find the air on full blast, then come dressed in long pants and sweaters the next week only for the air conditioning to be off. Hairston favors planning rehearsals to the minute, saying, “Forcing myself to stay on time keeps the rehearsal flowing, and it also challenges students to perform at their highest levels.”
Martin High School Symphony Orchestra
Arlington, Texas (pop. 392,772)
Jamie Ovalle, Director
During the second week of rehearsals, director Jamie Ovalle and the 83 students discussed the third movement of Scheherazade. “Students imagined an introduction to an innocent and exciting love story, and I told them to portray the story through their instruments. We began to play through the intro again. As the opening theme came to a close, I cut them off and we sat in silence for a few seconds. Something special occurred as each student truly felt why they were playing Scheherazade. We all had goosebumps.”
Plano Senior High School Chamber Orchestra
Plano, Texas (pop. 286,057)
Brian Coatney, Director
A two-year senior high with only juniors and seniors enrolled, Plano Senior High School is combining two classes into a 68-member ensemble for the Midwest Clinic. Says director Brian Coatney, “We were struggling to fit all of the parts together on Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams, but we had a moment in an October rehearsal when everything fit together perfectly. It was the first time the whole group felt really excited about the piece, and we’re now craving more moments like this one on all of our pieces.”
Plano Senior High School Chamber Orchestra
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Riverwatch Middle School Symphonic Band
Suwanee, Georgia (pop. 19,421)
Matt Koperniak, Director
The first ensemble from Georgia’s Forsyth County School System to perform at Midwest, the 79 students traveling to Chicago make up only a small percentage of the Riverwatch band program, which includes more than 650 students in grades 6-8. Riverwatch’s concert will open with a world premiere of Joseph Spaniola’s World of Wonder, a three-section work depicting the core Riverwatch beliefs of a Happy, Healthy, and Hardy school community. Says director Matt Koperniak, “It was amazing to see the students’ faces light up when they saw these markings on their printed music.”
Riverwatch Middle School Symphonic Band
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Vandegrift High School Percussion Ensemble
Austin, Texas (pop. 947,890)
Joe Hobbs, Director
In 2013, Vandegrift director of percussion Joe Hobbs and composer Jim Casella spent time hiking in the Himalayas during monsoon season. When the invitation came for Vandegrift’s Percussion Ensemble to perform at Midwest, Hobbs commissioned Casella to write a piece based on the experience, using instruments the two had purchased in Nepal. Titled Beyond the Clouds, the work is one of two commissions to be performed by the 24-member group at Midwest.
Wylie High School Wind Symphony
Wylie, Texas (pop. 47,701)
Todd Dixon, Director
Wylie High School lead a consortium of schools that commissioned a new piece for wind ensemble by Dan Welcher. The piece is dedicated to director Todd Dixon’s grandparents, Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon, who were great contributors to the arts in Fort Worth. Dixon notes, “My daughter is a member of the 63-member Wind Symphony and will be performing this beautiful and colorful piece dedicated to her great grandparents at The Midwest Clinic.”
