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Published on 04/28/1997 All articles from this issue

Music to their ears

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By Bruce Barton

Town Crier Staff Writer

Youth, parent interest in local programs at an all-time high

Candice Shih doesn't lack for musical gratification. The Los Altos High School senior was rated the best flute player for the California All-State Honor Band this year.

She's been in band all four years of high school, plays in a woodwind quintet at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, performs with the El Camino Youth Symphony orchestra, and has taken up singing in the school concert choir.

Erik Mann, also a Los Altos High senior, is one of the most outstanding musicians performing in the California Youth Symphony. He will solo on violin in two symphony concerts next month. Trained at the prestigious St. Mary's School of Music in Scotland, Mann was concert master for the 1996 state honors orchestra.

Students like these are not unusual in the Los Altos area. In fact, talented musicians abound and are flourishing in an environment that encourages and nurtures musical endeavors.

The increased success of the music programs at Mountain View and Los Altos high schools and the number of Los Altos-area students populating local symphony orchestras appear to reflect enthusiasm brought on by inspiring instruction.

"There's a lot of quality teachers here," Mann said. "They bring out the best in the kids."

Don Miller, in his seventh year as director of the Los Altos High instrumental music program, said he's seen a dramatic rise in the number of students - from 72 when he first started to about 250 now.

The marching band took home 15 trophies, the most in 15 years, during three competitions last year. The jazz band scored a "superior" rating with judges at the Folsom Jazz Festival in January.

Shih, Jinsue Choi and David Elliott were selected as participants in the 1997 California All-State Honor Band, held in conjunction with the California Band Directors Association convention in February. Students Eric Basart, Shih, Elliott, Choi, Gilbert Hwang and Sharon Park were accepted into the California Orchestra Directors Association All-State Honor Orchestra.

"We're kind of a small school - it's unheard of for a small school to have such a strong program," Miller said.

Miller also had high praise for the school's wind ensemble, which he said is handling college-level material.

"I have a philosophy that kids gravitate to quality programs," he said. "I was lucky in that I had a lot of great teachers. I'm the compilation of a lot of great teachers. We try to give them quality literature and adopt a curriculum that addresses their needs."

With the instrumental music department growing by leaps and bounds, Miller has had to enlist the help of an assistant, Vicki Christensen, who has added to the quality instruction. The department takes part in more than 50 performances a year. Miller noted 117 students played in marching band this past year.

Upcoming concerts include a wind ensemble performance May 5 at the United Methodist Church in Los Altos, and a jazz band performance 3 p.m. May 17 for the Rotary Art in the Park celebration.

Mark Shaull, director of choral activities at Los Altos High, also noted a "a very large department" of 180 singers. The most notable group, the Main Street Singers, have toured the globe every year the past 13 years Shaull has led the department.

"Music is such an international thing," he said. "It's a unique opportunity to validate that."

Department curriculum allows for a diversity of cultures, with music performed ranging from gospels to Hebrew songs and the music of South America. "It's a pretty ambitious department," Shaull noted.

The approximately 30-member group got back two weeks ago from an 18-day tour of the Czech republic, Poland and Germany. Highlights included performances at Auchwitz and the site of the Berlin Wall. When students participate in a Main Street tour, they're "on a non-stop history lesson," Shaull said.

The Main Street Singers will visit the Orient next year, he said.

The group performs more than 100 community concerts yearly. Main Street next performs May 17 at Palo Alto Methodist Church and June 6 at Los Altos United Methodist Church.

Mountain View High School also benefits from a good music program, said music director Robin Kramer. Kramer, in her 19th year as head of the program, said the marching band did "exceedingly well" this past year, taking the Perpetual Sweepstakes trophy, known as "The Lady," this past November in Lodi.

She noted approximately 550 out of 1,300 students at the high school involved in some kind of music program. Kramer added 170 are already signed up for marching band next year, along with 60 signed into the symphony orchestra. When she first started in 1978, approximately 75 students were in the Mountain View High program. Like Miller, Kramer has had to hire an assistant to keep up with the demand.

Kramer said the Mountain View program is built on "extensive student leadership. It's not about winning trophies or best band. Kids drive themselves - our role is to guide them and put good information in front of them."

She is also feels strongly that music teaches vital life experiences. "When kids feel valued, they're successful - when they know they have ownership in it, they have lots to say," Kramer said. So being part of a team and setting a collective goal becomes important for many music students, she noted.

Students also learn valuable lessons in problem solving. "When you get a piece of music that's almost insurmountable (to learn), you break it apart and work on one section at a time," Kramer said. "If you break down huge problems into small problems - that's important," she said.

Among this year's crop of outstanding musicians from Mountain View High are trumpet player Brad McMinn, cello players Stanley Park and Aparna Sridhar, and flutist Betsy Cameron.

Top-notch instruction exists not only through the schools, but through local institutions like the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View and Music For Minors, which offer students to explore a variety of music at a young age.

There's several choral and symphonic groups from which students can also choose to participate. The California Youth Symphony, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Schola Cantorum and El Camino Youth Symphony all benefit from heavy Los Altos-area participation.

That the Los Altos area is so rich with music education contrasts the gloomy outlook statewide. Last month, Delaine Eastin, state superintendent of public education, complained about California ranking last among 50 states in music teachers per student. Eastin announced March 28 the creation a task force to spur more arts education in the classroom.

Miller noted music funding is a problem every year - in fact, he noted the department is at the same funding level it was in 1974. But "when you have a bunch of kids who are interested, you can't ignore that."

He noted parents have made the difference at the Los Altos program. For instance, a parents group contributed $7,500 to help fund his assistant's position. Band members also engage in several fund-raising efforts for additional funds.

Shaull, in the choral department, seeks financial support from local businesses and corporations. He is helping to organize a Performing Arts Association, for instance, to establish support from parents of performing arts students.

"There is a genuine interest in the arts here among families," said Nicholas Isaacs, music director at the Community School for Music and Arts. "When school districts cut down on the arts, they looked to us to make up the difference."

With the philosophy, "the door is open to anyone who wants to learn," the school offers music education for students as young as one year of age, and its curriculum runs the gauntlet from guitar classes, to chamber music ensembles and jazz combos. The school, Isaacs said, also makes an effort to expose youth to music from a variety of cultures.

The importance of music on life, Isaacs noted, should not be underestimated.

"There is no aspect of life in which music education doesn't play an invaluable part," he said. Discipline, problem-solving and teamwork are among the inherit qualities learned through playing music, Isaacs said.

Approximately one-third of the school's estimated 500 students reside in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills.

Los Altos was the founding community for Music For Minors, an organization that provides outreach music education for some 4,500 students a year. The organization, started by Los Altos resident Grace Johnston, has expanded over its 22-year history to cover an area spanning San Bruno to south San Jose and portions of the East Bay. The group has some 30 docents, or volunteer music educators, from Los Altos and Music For Minors makes appearances in seven Los Altos schools.

Candy Pelissero of Los Altos, executive director for Music For Minors, said music interest in the area is "pretty extraordinary, in my mind, considering the size of Los Altos."

She said many schools these days are putting on their own spring concerts and that demand for more Music For Minors docents has risen as the Los Altos School District lowered class sizes this year in grades K-3.

If the growth trends at the local schools are of any indication, music may well continue to be a major pastime, even a main focus, for many Los Altos students - no matter what national trends may reveal.

Parents often play a major role in children taking up instruments. But keeping them playing and improving to the point of concert-level playing is a matter of "personal motivation," as one student described.

Chris Lin, 14, an Egan Intermediate School eighth grader who plays bassoon with California Youth Symphony, summed up his interest in making music this way: "It's fun to play because you get involved in it and it sounds good."