Fall, 2016 Volume 3, Issue 1 Music

Notes

UPCOMING EVENTS:

December 6: Orchestra and Choir Concerts, Taft Mid-dle School, 6:30 p.m. December 8: Choir con-certs, McKinley Middle School, 6th grade 6:00 p.m., 7th grade 6:45 p.m., 8th grade 7:30 p.m. December 8: Choir con-cert, Franklin Middle School, 7:00 p.m. December 8: Band con-certs, Roosevelt Middle School, 7th grade 6:30 p.m., 8th grade 7:30 p.m. December 10: Cocoa and Carols, Kennedy and Washing-ton High Schools (11:00-1:00) December 15: W ashington Band and Orchestra concert, Washington High School, 7:00 p.m. December 15: 7th and 8th grade choir and orchestra con-cert, Wilson Middle School, 7:00 p.m. December 19: Jefferson Holiday Concert, Jefferson High School, 6:00 Bands, 7:30 Orchestras and Choirs December 20: Band and Choir concert, Kennedy High School, 6:00 p.m. January 21: Metro Orches-tra Festival, Paramount Thea-ter, 6:30 p.m. January 23: EIAA w inter class begin January 30: Fab Five, Col-lege Community Concert Hall February 6: Valentine Vo-cal Concert, Jefferson High School

The Mission of the Cedar Rapids Community School District Music

Teachers is to foster lifelong learners and consumers of music by

providing high quality music programs that promote essential opportu-

nities for all students, teach the whole child, develop 21st Century Skills,

and instill a love and joy for music.

.

.

Lesley Fleer

Awarded

Philip Sehmann

Excellence

in Teaching Award

Lesley Fleer, band director at Kennedy High School, was selected to receive the 2016 Philip Sehmann Excellence in Teaching Award. This award was established by the Northeast Iowa Bandmasters Association in 1992 to recognize directors based on the following criteria: years of service in teaching, contributions to the NEIBA and IBA organizations, and providing a quality music education to their students and main-taining a quality band program at their school.

Ms. Fleer is in her seventeenth year teaching at Kennedy High School, where she conducts Symphonic Band, directs Jazz Band Two, conducts the musical pit orchestra, and co-directs the marching band. She is also serves as Artist-Instructor of Oboe at Coe College in Cedar Rap-ids. Lesley received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from In-diana University in Bloomington, IN, and earned her band instrument repair certification from Red Wing Technical College in Red Wing, MN. Bands under her direction have performed in California, Florida, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Dublin, Ireland, and she led the Kennedy flute choir in appearances at the Iowa Bandmasters Association confer-ence in 2010 and 2014. Lesley is currently in her twenty-second year as an instrumental music instructor and previously taught at Vernon Middle School in Marion, IA, and at the Hamilton Southeastern School District in Fishers, IN. In addition to her active schedule as an honor band conductor and music festival adjudicator, she maintains a private oboe studio and is principal oboist in the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band, a professional ensemble that performs eighteen concerts each year. Lesley resides in Robins, Iowa, with Kelly and their 11-year old daughter, Marcelle.

2

All-State Selections

After months of preparation, CRCSD mu-sic students auditioned for All-State Band, Choir, and Orchestra on October 22. CRCSD students were well prepared and represented their school and the dis-trict well. The following students were selected and performed in the All-State Music Festival in Ames this past week-end: Jefferson

Orchestra: Hannah Nguyen, violin

Choir: Sarah Rosales and Alena Brunius, Soprano; Grace Morningstar and Jada Holliday, alto; Andrew Ehler and Addison Armstrong, tenor; Alec DeCapria and Kyle Ennis, bass; Spencer Schmitz, 2nd Alternate, Cesura Whidden, recalled

Kennedy

Orchestra: Jasmine Li and Joyce Lai, violin; Reagan Linder, viola; Tyler Mont-gomery, bass

Band: Noelle O’Brien and Emily Hra-bik, flute; Allyson Kegel, oboe; Joyce Li and Alexis Green, clarinet; Elise Siebels, bass clarinet; Aaron Meppe-link, bari sax; Nathan Langholz, Miles Damaso, and Hance Throck-morton, percussion

Choir: Kennedy Wilson and Alex Young

Washington

Orchestra: Ella Wolle, cello; Anna Kalan, Anna Kolln, and Bailey Ren-fro, violin

Band: Cameron Fristad and Tyler Cruise, clarinet; Rahel Nshimirmana, bass clarinet; John Woodhouse, horn; Libby Gibson, euphonium;

Choir: Thomas Corbett, Scott Griffin, Nathaniel Burke, Peter Nassif, Bren-nan Regan, Paul Linville, Tyler McGuire, Ethan Cooper, Maggie Clair, Devon O'Donnell, Lauren Flo-ry, Emily Nelson, Regan Heying, Courtney Peckosh, Ava Klopfenstein, Alex Haggin, Raegan Martin (first alternate)

Liz Driskell Presented with KCRG

A+ For Education Award

Elizabeth Driskell is in her 21st year of teaching instrumental mu-sic. Since 2005, she has been the band director at McKinley Mid-dle School where she teaches 6th-8th grade band and jazz band.

Mrs. Driskell attended Northwestern University where she earned a bachelor’s degree at the Medill School of Journalism and a mas-ter’s degree in music education. During her tenure, the McKinley Band has grown from 110 to 185 students. McKinley ensembles have performed at the Adventureland Festival of Bands, NEIBA Middle School Large Group Festival and the Coe College Jazz Summit. More than 90% of Band students participate in the All-City Solo and Ensemble festival each year. Mrs. Driskell imple-mented Smart Music into the music curriculum and is a technolo-gy mentor for the Cedar Rapids Community School District. She has also served on the district music curriculum committee and is on the McKinley building leadership team.

This fall she started a volunteer marching band at McKinley which is open to students in grades 6-8. The Mission of the McKinley Marching Band is: To enrich and strengthen children’s lives through music, to provide parents the opportunity to get involved in their children’s activities and provide resources to help their families, and to strengthen the partnership between McKinley Middle School and the community.

The students decided to call themselves "McKinley Marching Madness." Mrs. Driskell set up a gofundme page to earn money for jackets for the group. The project was fully funded and the group will debut their jackets at the Fire and Ice Parade on De-cember 3 at 6:00 p.m.

Iowa Junior Honor Orchestra

The following students performed at the Iowa Junior Honors Or-

chestra this past weekend in Ames:

Josephine Norris, viola and Seth Moore, bass from McKinley Middle School; Amanda Nguyen on violin from Taft; Emma Prostine and Nikalaus Huerter on violin and Leroy Karns and Jalen Peterson on cello from Washington High School; Keegan McRae, violin 1 and Joseph Skittone, cello from Kennedy High School.

Band Karate Motivates Wilson Band Students

The Wilson Band Students are working really hard to earn their next Band Karate belts. Band Karate is designed to mo-tivate kids to practice more and achieve more. Ms. Dunn and Mrs. Bunn started this reward system 2 years ago, and it’s more popular than ever. Different color ribbons are given to wind students to tie on their case handles upon and duct tape is put on percussion sticks as they earn their next belts.

This program was inspired by a presentation from a session at an Iowa Bandmasters convention which CRCSD band di-rectors attend each year in May. For more information, con-tact Mary Bunn or Chelsea Dunn, band directors at Wilson Middle School.

OPUS Honor Choir The following Cedar Rapids Community School District students

were selected for the OPUS Honor Choir. Students are selected

through a recorded audition process and performed at the Iowa

Music Educator’s Association conference in Ames this past week-

end. The OPUS Honor Choir is open to students in grades 5-9.

McKinley: Asle Hagen, Ian Wolverton-Weiss, and Allie Sarchett

Taft: K atie Morton

Jefferson: Emily Hanisch, Ally Olson, Denton Wilson

Washington: Elizabeth Joakim

Jefferson: Emily Hanisch, Ally Olson, Denton Wilson

NEIBA HONOR BAND

The following students were selected amongst approximately 900 nominations to represent the northeast district of the Iowa Bandmas-ters Association in an honor band festival on Saturday December 3.

Franklin: Ella Greenlee and Ella Mortenson, flute; Kira DeBrower, clarinet; Nic Ryan, alto sax; Grant Lapointe, tenor sax; Indica Mutchler and Lyd-ia Mackey, trumpet; Dylan Sines, tuba; Max Luton, percussion Harding: Lily Button, flute; Anna Finley, clarinet; Cece Skittone, alto sax; Casie Meyer, tenor sax; Shallan Luckman, trumpet; Austin Bruns, horn; Simon Jennett, trombone McKinley: K atya K lem an, flute; Laurel Babb, Claudia Gay and Ian Wolverton-Weiss, clarinet; Andrew Freeman, alto sax; Megan Bennett, trumpet; Casey Christensen, percus-sion Roosevelt: Angel Johnson and Camilla Wright, flute; Hannah Mullinex, baritone saxophone; Rylan Peyton, trumpet Taft: Mina Song, flute; Katrina Truitt, clarinet; Amanda Mason, Bass Clarinet; Emily Clemen, Bassoon; Jenna Anderson, alto sax; Jack Goudy and Rachel Robinson, trumpet; Caryn Horning, horn; Aubrey Petersen, Tuba Wilson: Dillon DeFord, trumpet; Damien Foster, tuba Jefferson: Haley Varo and Hailey Everhart, flute ; Tracie Martinson, Elizabeth Moon, clarinet; Camer-on Cox, alto sax; Riley Walton and Koy Orte-ga, trumpet; Shannon Morgan and Halas Wil-son trombone; Jacob Fultz and Alex Nelson, tuba Kennedy: Annette Marsalli, flute; Jacob Green, Rebecca Stevens, and Madison Strait, clarinet; Aspen Geraghty and Kat Hunt, trumpet; Nathan Morton, French horn; Adam Sines and Isaac Ptacek, trombone; Joe Horne, baritone; Livia Throckmorton, percussion Washington: Kendall Stenseth, flute; Logan Stenseth, oboe; Brennan Bell, bassoon; Jaquie Ripoll, Lily Burns, Amanda Bollig, and Maya Chawla, clarinet; Marcellis Gillis, baritone; Joe Jonas-son, percussion

Jennifer Adams and husband Tony

on the birth of their son, Archer Charles,

on October 14, 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20.5 inch-

es. Jenni is the band director at Roosevelt

Middle School. Congratulations Adams

family!

Joel Nagel and Tara (Ely) Nagel on

their wedding November 5. Joel is the

band director at Washington High School.

Congratulations, Joel and Tara!

Natalie Miller, Jefferson Orchestra Number of years teaching: 1- first year!

Education: Iow a State University - Instrumen-tal Music Education

Primary Instrument: Violin

Family: Husband Zach - we got married in June! The rest of my family lives in Indianola/Des

Moines area.

Favorite song: My father piece to play on the violin is Paganini's Cantabile.

In my free time: Spend tim e w ith fr iends and fam ily and w atch Netflix! I also love the outdoors so enjoy riding horses, going on walks, camping, and exploring new places.

John Tyler Jackson and Wright Elementary

Number of years teaching: 4th

Education: Loras College

Primary Instrument: Tuba/Low Brass

Family: W ife-Kate, Daughter-Teresa 4, and Son-Krystian 2

Favorite song: Heartbreak Dream er -Mat Kearney

In my free time: Spend time with my family, spending many hours on the golf course working on my game, and cheering on the UNI Panthers!!!

Sarah Jones Kenwood Leadership Academy Number of years teaching: 12 years teaching

Education: BME at UNI, MME at K U and pursu-ing Ed.S. at the University of Iowa

Primary instruments: Voice and Flute

Family: Husband, daughter 6, son 2

Favorite Song: Over the Rainbow

Free time: I like to run and to read in m y free tim e.

Spotlight on Teachers

Welcome new music teachers!

Amber Hansen on being selected as

a cast member for Studio Cabaret at Thea-

ter Cedar Rapids. Studio Cabaret ran

from the end of September through mid

October. Bravo, Amber!

Lyn A’Hearn on being selected as a

chorus member in the Theater Cedar Rap-

ids production of Sister Act. Sister Act

ran from mid September through mid

October. Bravo, Lyn!

The Wilson Middle School 8th grade band have been asked, for the third year in a row, to perform a concert at St Pat-

rick’s Catholic Church for their Senior Luncheon. This year’s luncheon is on December 1st. These photographs are from their performance last year. The 8th grade band is

under the direction of Mary Bunn.

The Jefferson Marching Band traveled to Indian-

apolis to perform in the Bands of America Super

Regional competition. The band performed at Lu-

cas Oil Stadium on November 5. The Jefferson

Marching band is directed by Thad Driskell and

Chad Allard.

Students from McKinley, Roosevelt, and Wilson

Middle School students were treated to a free

matinee performance of “Alice’s Wonderland”

presented by the Mount Mercy drama depart-

ment. Following the show, students were able to

ask the actors and producer questions about the

show and the process of putting on a play.

Left: All three high school marching bands presented

their marching band shows for every 8th grade band

student at Kingston on October 5. Following the per-

formances, the 8th graders were able to learn more

about high school band and marching band by talk-

ing to the students at the high school they will attend.

Students were even able to learn more about color

guard by spinning the flags.