Enjoyment, concentration and striving to do one’s best were the norm when high school, middle school and a few elementary students from the Tidewater region came together to lead, learn and perform at the Middle School Instrumental Workshop at Catholic High School (CHS), Virginia Beach, March 15.
Thirty-four high school students, primarily from CHS and Peninsula Catholic High School (PCHS), 18 middle schoolers and three elementary pupils from both Catholic and public schools participated in the 12th annual workshop, a day of practice culminating in a concert.
“This was a day to have fun and make music, but we don’t expect perfection,” Teresa Browndorf, CHS instrumental music director, told the audience of approximately 70 family and friends.
The purpose of the workshop was multi-fold: high schoolers expanded their leadership skills as they mentored the younger students, all students learned from more experienced musicians, and middle school students got the chance to see CHS, explained Browndorf.
She hopes the workshop instilled an appreciation of ensemble music, helped them discover what they can achieve “if they stick with their instruments,” and gave them a renewed enthusiasm to take back to their schools.
Leslie Fenter, CHS chorus director, said the goal was to inspire the younger students to continue band or orchestra in high school and beyond, because playing music promotes emotional well-being, helps students develop intellectually and promotes teamwork.
Browndorf explained, “Each member of this ensemble is playing their own part, and you have to take all of these parts, let’s say 30-some parts, and put them together to create the music that you hear. Everybody is relying on the person next to them knowing their music and being able to play their music.”
Although students who registered early received the music so they could practice beforehand, Browndorf said middle school musicians could play the selections without prior rehearsal. At the workshop, students had approximately five hours to practice. All 55 students, along with CHS science teacher Carol Stapanowich and Latin teacher Molly McOscar, performed in the concert which Browndorf conducted.
All of the students first rehearsed the music in sections. Fenter led the strings section; PCHS band director James Stanley, Jr., led the percussion; Amanda McCormick, band director at St. Matthew School, Virginia Beach, guided the woodwinds; and Mike Finn, band director at St. Pius X School, Norfolk, and St. Gregory the Great and Star of the Sea schools, both in Virginia Beach, worked with the brass.
The entire ensemble rehearsed together in the afternoon. Nationally renowned musician Alice Lindsay, a parishioner at St. Bede, Williamsburg, worked with a string quartet to perform a piece during the concert.
The sectional rehearsals gave “the opportunity for some one-on-one work between the high school student and the middle school student that wouldn’t be possible in a large group,” Browndorf said.
CHS senior Noah Vitug, a trombone player who joined the band just this year, said the middle school students helped him learn how to hit high notes, something that he has been struggling with, and he helped them learn to hit low notes.
The student musicians were excited to play in a large group. Most play in small ensembles that lack some instruments and do not have multiple instruments of the same type. For example, the PCHS band has 14 members and the CHS combined orchestra and band has 23 musicians.
“Having a larger band [at the workshop] is nice,” said Morgan Stacks, a CHS senior who plays the saxophone. “I get to hear all the parts. The extra voices in there help to bring out voices that we don’t usually have.”
Jack Anthony, a St. Matthew seventh grader who also plays the saxophone, said “I like the concert because when we all play together, it sounds very good.”
Raul Acevedo, a CHS senior who plays the snare drum, said the larger ensemble was helpful because he learned timing with other players of the same instrument.
Many of the returning participants said they came to reconnect with old friends and make new ones, and some said they attended simply for the fun of it.
“I love playing,” Acevedo said. “I couldn’t think of a better way of spending a … weekend than to come in and bang around on some drums.”