We reported last month that Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Ill., had been named the National GRAMMY Signature School for 2013.
I asked Charles Staley, fine arts chair at the high school, to select a few students to write about the qualities and traits that make Neuqua Valley’s music programs as successful and enriching for students as they are (this isn’t the first year the school won this national award).
Today I received answers from Andrew Lin, a graduating senior. He plays trumpet in the Wind Ensemble (curricular), Jazz Orchestra (extracurricular), and the Neuqua Valley Symphony Orchestra (extracurricular). Mr Lin is also the captain of the Ultimate Frisbee Club at Neuqua Valley and has taken his strong interest in physics into the school’s QuarkNet Research Group.
Below are his written answers to my questions, describing one of many paths to excellence in music and team performance over the course of a school career.
By ANDREW LIN
How did your classmates and teachers respond to the GRAMMY?
The support from teachers and classmates has been incredible, especially those not involved in the music programs at school.
While it would be easy to dismiss the significance of this award on account of our previous recognition, everyone I know has treated this honor as an incredible source of pride for the school. Most of my non-music teachers have expressed their admiration of the Music Department’s accomplishments, and it’s clear the student body as a whole takes immense pride in having our school recognized nationally. After all, not many people can say their high school won a Grammy.
Why does Neuqua Valley have a high participation rate in music programs?
Our school district has done an excellent job encouraging participation in the arts from elementary school all the way through high school, and the participation rate at Neuqua must be attributed to the hard work of teachers in elementary and middle school music who work tirelessly to inspire students to study music. The impact of these teachers cannot be overstated, because they essentially lay the foundation for what takes place at Neuqua.
Sitting atop this foundation lies the fact that students at Neuqua know how good our music department is on account of the school’s accomplishments and take advantage of the incredible opportunity that exists for them to explore what music has to offer them. Students understand that our school is incredibly fortunate to have the resources it does, which helps motivate them to participate.
Why was it important for you to have music education since elementary school?
Music education allows each of us to tap into the nebulous creative energy that resides within us and channel it into something powerful and artistic. More than anything else, I have always seen music as being essential to feeling and understanding emotion. People find solace in music in a way that is not seen with any other art or activity.
Music touches everyone emotionally in ways that are unique to each person, but is always able to affect how we feel about something. Music education allows us to understand some of the how and why, so that we can determine how music touches us and learn to similarly touch others. Really, then, music education makes us all better, more empathetic people.
After skimming this research article, focus on the section entitled “Theme Two — Co-operative Learning” and evaluate the statement, “Our soccer team is no different than an orchestra.”
It would be hard to describe a sports team and an orchestra in different terms: besides the superficial differences of what each person is doing, the actual type of interaction between members is quite similar.
Each individual in either group is relying on the others on the team or orchestra to do their individual work so that the group as a collective can progress. This ultimately breaks down to the level of trust that members have for one another. When everyone trusts one another’s abilities and is free to focus on only achieving their part, the group’s performance as a whole benefits.
On my sports teams, we have had years where individual members would often make a mistake that would give the other team opportunities to score, which was immensely frustrating. It also meant that while on the field with this player, the other players had to spend effort and energy covering for this one person’s shortcomings and could not focus solely on their own responsibilities.
This year, with a team that was fundamentally sound top to bottom, this worry did not exist, so each of us could devote all of our efforts to our own roles. We as a team experienced much greater success this year than ever before, and I would attribute most of that success to this trust in each other’s abilities. The same clearly applies in a musical setting as well, because while the individual roles are far more specialized, successful performances can come only when members can trust one another to perform their own parts.
Can you imagine what your high school life would be like if you had not developed skills as a musician in elementary and middle school?
The most important skills that I developed as a result of early musical training are discipline and persistence. Personally I have in the past had difficulty with being at times lazy or unmotivated, traits that clearly diminish one’s abilities and achievements in high school and beyond. Music has introduced discipline into my life by forcing me to maintain consistent scheduling in how I approach practice, work, and free time.
The level of success in music that resulted also extended into other endeavors. In a similar sense, developing perseverance when faced with difficulty or failure is what allowed me to find later success, even under pressure.
Without the skills music instilled in me, I would be far less successful academically, musically, and would likely live a more insular life. Music also teaches us to communicate and cooperate, and even though making friends is not necessarily a skill developed because of music, I met many of my friends in the music program. Without music, then, I would lead a very dreary and boring existence.
How have your high school’s music teachers helped develop your skills as a musician?
As a whole, our music program places a great deal of individual responsibility on each student, especially at the higher ensembles. In the Wind Ensemble, we are forced to learn to collaborate with others and communicate, because much of the work is done in student-run sectionals. This is by design: our director intentionally puts the onus on us, because accomplishments are far more valuable when we discover ourselves how to achieve something, and it teaches each member of the section to step up and contribute.
It is often frightening for a new member of the ensemble to speak up in full band discussions, but in the comfort of a small sectional these new members can feel far more at ease. In terms of non-verbal communication, our teachers constantly emphasize the importance of the breath both for playing instruments but also conveying a beat. Our teachers teach us to breathe in time to communicate exactly when to make entrances, so that everyone plays at the exact same time.
A critical aspect of our preparation for performances is listening. To train us to listen critically to the entire band, our director often gives us a single aspect to focus on, such as articulation or tuning, and usually will tell us to listen to specific sections, sometimes only our neighbor. Following this we typically move outward with our listening to encompass more and more of the band. Over time, this develops our ability to listen critically to all aspects of our performances.
Has participation in your high school’s music program made you more or less confident in your abilities as a member of a team?
Participation in my music program has made me more confident in my abilities as a member of a team, because although there have been struggles and the fear of disappointing others, the gratification that comes from successful performances as a band has demonstrably boosted my self-confidence.
Especially this year, as a first trumpet player I had to play important, exposed sections by myself. It is practically impossible to hide as a trumpet, so becoming confident in my ability to perform and complement the sound that the rest of the band created was vital to good performances.
Through repeated practice and multiple performances, I felt as though the rest of the band depended on me, but also trusted me to perform my part ably. This confidence enabled me to improve further, even when I had difficult sections. I did not want to let down the other members of the band, so I was heavily motivated to practice my individual parts so that the entire group could succeed.
My confidence was heavily boosted in our preparation and performance of “Children’s March” by Percy Grainger. My part had many soloistic aspects, but being able to consistently play through those parts over and over again successfully while hearing praise from my peers and director helped me feel comfortable playing my part and not disappointing the others in my band.
