3 Days, 5 Musicians, 7 School Districts

Five living and, especially, breathing members of The Weekend of Chamber Music spent three days last week interacting with bands in all seven Sullivan County school districts. The forces they dealt with ranged in numbers from a brass quartet in Fallsburg to the Senior Band in Sullivan West, and the clinicians performed for, conducted, coached and played along with their acolytes in sessions lasting a brief school period each. Typically, the wind quintet, comprising "first-call" New York City freelancers, by way of calling card performed several of György Ligeti's colorful, virtuosic, snappy "Bagatelles"; heard the young players perform a prepared selection; then had them repeat it under the direction of WCM oboist/conductor-for-a-day Matt Sullivan, who polished their achievement, with ad lib kibitzing by the other members of the quintet, either for general consumption or sotto voce to stand partners.

In Liberty High, for instance, Sullivan told director Mike Williams' Honors Band (with the other members of the Symphonic Band auditing) to pay particular attention to the accuracy of shorter rhythms as he clapped them in rapid fire. Moments later, Evan Spritzer, from his seat in the clarinet section, provided the complementary observation, encouraging his section to integrate the shorter rhythms into a longer, more continuous melodic line. Meanwhile, flutist (and WCM Artistic Director) Judith Pearce was quietly informing her stand partner that a previously extreme note would become easily accessible if she adjusted the head joint on her instrument by a notch.

In Sullivan West, the work being coached was Bach's aria "O Come, Sweet Death"; Pearce commented on the fact this was the only slow selection they heard all week, and on what an accomplishment that represented in terms of concentration and control. The students got a sense of their own prowess when, after coaching them, the WCM had them play the selection without a conductor, relying on extreme mutual attentiveness for group cohesion. Band director Patricia Ellmauer reports: "All semester we had stressed leading and following, depending on your part at a given moment. Noting how the quintet did that themselves in their performance of the Bagatelles" reinforced that dramatically, and the band's subsequent performance of the Bach was their peak achievement."

This series of band clinics, underwritten in part by a fund of the Sullivan County Music Educators Association, by a grant from the Louis R. Cappelli Foundation, and by a generous gift from an anonymous donor, was, a first. The WCM, however, has a tradition of ongoing and varied involvement with county schools by now extending many years. It builds on fertile ground tilled by the resident music teachers, who are maintaining thriving music programs at a time when such are rare nationwide; the county places a disproportionate number of students in the upper levels of statewide competition. The benefit of these programs extends far beyond the immediate musical concerns. Says Liberty's Williams: "What we try to do in school is get kids to focus, to follow directions, to get along, and to exercise critical thinking. Band does all of that right there, and also gets them breathing right." He notes that an overwhelming majority of valedictorians and salutatorians year-in-year-out have played in the band.

The other members of the quintet were bassonist Jennifer Rhodes and horn player Anne Ellsworth. Pearce's reaction to the week was, "It seems obvious we're doing some good here; I just wish we could stay longer and come more often."