Fasten Your Seatbelt! A Journey of Risk and Reward, begun in the UMASS CCT Program

Kathleen Walsh Wooten

"I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seatbelt. The most remarkable things follow." Julia Cameron

Who?

• Kathleen Walsh Wooten, 2004 graduate of CCT, currently employed as an instrumental music specialist in Scituate, MA
• Dr. Thomas C Duffy, YALE University, our composer in residence
• The 2008-2009 Scituate Elementary Schools Elementary Honor Band

What? (part one)

• The journey begins: CCT – the dialogue process, Creativity and Criticism in Literature and Art, Synthesis project (creating safe classroom spaces through the dialogue process)
• Texts and influences:
The Artist's Way – Julia Cameron
The Path of Least Resistance – Robert Fritz
Schools That Learn - Senge

What? (part two)

• "Taking the Leap" – Risk Taking at CCT, and in the "real world"
• "The artist's way" – trust and exploration builds the foundation
• "If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?" - following The Path of Least Resistance (Fritz)
• Founding an ensemble, to make my own learning environment
• Commissioning a new work for elementary wind band

Why?

• This was not a "music competition"
• Students could learn at their own pace, and each one of them found a "home" in this project
• Introducing them to the "job" and process of a composer early might give them other ways of looking at music, besides just the performance
• effort and exploration were rewarded
• Taking risks was encouraged within a safe space
• Their input into a "real" and not contrived act, an actual act of creativity with an adult and artist who respected their talents equally as they respected his
• The final performance became a "showcase" of our work for the semester, a sharing with our families and friends of where we happened to be at that moment on our journey of learning

How?

• "The learning curve is straight up" – the world of commissioning music, grant funding, website design, media/press involvement

Various Stuff

Website: http://www.wampatuckbands.com (click on honor band)
Dr. Duffy's website: http://www.duffymusic.com
Grant funding:

• Target corporation community arts grants
• Walmart community grants
• Local Town Cultural Councils
• Local "give back" programs (Banks, etc)

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The Scituate Elementary Honor Band presents:
“Composer Stories”
How Composers Create Musical Pictures
for the Elementary Band
February 25, 2009

Cardiff Castle Mark Williams

• Cardiff Castle is one of Wales' leading heritage attractions and a site of international Cardiff Castle (Welsh: Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Cardiff Castle is one of Wales' leading heritage attractions and a site of international significance. During 2000 years of history, the Castle has been a Roman Garrison, a Norman stronghold and in Victorian times was transformed into a gothic fairytale fantasy.

City Life Brian West

• Life in the city is not always smooth or peaceful! The associated sounds are a mixture of consonance and dissonance. This piece featuers an interplay of simple, repetitive melodies against clashing sounds of semitone intervals in order to create a “tension and release” effect..

Train heading West Timothy Broege

• 1. Prairie Ritual, 2. Rain on The Mountains, 3. Train Heading West
• The evocation of the great outdoors has been a tradition in twentieth-century American music….. the use of open intervals, spare scoring, and powerful elemental tunes has become familiar, not only in symphonic music and band music, but also in film scoring. These three sketches use a “drum” rhythm, “raindrop” rhythm, and “accelerating train” rhythm to create their musical effects.

The Elementary Band Works of Dr. Thomas C. Duffy

• The Little Factory
  • The Little Factory is the first movement of the suite Sally’s Gallery…. Inspiration for each movement of the suite was found in some aspect of the Manahan-Phelps-McCulloch photograph collection of Hillsboro, New Hampshire. Hillsoboro, New Hampshire was the site of many New England mills. Today, the mills sit largely abandoned, victims of the industry’s move to the warmer and less expensive locations in the south. The Little Factory is a setting of the sounds of the mill, machines and factory whistles accompanying mechanized repetitive actions – perhaps machine parts being stamped out of metal sheets.

• March of the Nightcrawlers
  • March of the Nightcrawlers is a musical anecdote that should be manipulated by each band that plays it. The title of the piece refers to children who must be very careful to not step on the nightcrawlers they are hunting. As noted in measure 8; musicians with “ssshhh” on their parts should whisper as noted, as if to hush up the rest of the band. (One must be quiet when sneaking up on nightcrawlers!)

• Little Snakes (in the Lighthouse!)
  • World Premiere- Commssioned by the Honor Band of 2008-2009

• The town of Scituate, Massachusetts, has a wonderful historical lighthouse. It sits on the edge of the coast, facing the sea. A lightkeeper lived there with his two daughters, who were known to have scared off the British Navy by playing fife and drum, which sounded like the Continental Army!
• Imagine a fantasy world where the Scituate coastal lighthouse is the home of these two children and their toys and pets. Imagine that little snakes get loose, and wiggle around the lighthouse! The piece begins with the sounds of water, the two-toned warning peal of the lighthouse and seagulls. Then the snakes worm their way up and down the stairs of this colonial building.