Music program strikes a chord with students

CROSSROADS NORTH

By: Chinenye Okparanta
   Long gone are the days of the band geeks.
   For the students at Crossroads North Middle School, being a member of the band is about being dedicated, being willing to wake up earlier than other kids to make a 7 a.m. rehearsal, and liking music so much that the sacrifice is worth it.
   "Music here has always been very big," said Assistant Principal Kim Bynoe. "Band is very big this year, about half the kids in the school are in band."
   Of the school’s 853 students, almost 400 are a part of the award-winning music program.
   "If you go to one of their concerts and close your eyes, you would never guess it was middle school kids playing," Ms. Bynoe said.
   The Crossroads North music program has taken home medals at a number of music festivals. Last year the groups had superior ratings at the music festival at Hershey Park, Pa., music teacher John Perillo said.
   Eight groups — two jazz ensembles, two choir, two orchestra and two concert bands — attended the 2005 Hershey Park festival. Seven of the eight groups received superior rating awards and one received an excellent.
   On Friday, a small group of pint-sized musicians entered the band room carrying their instruments. Vanessa Perdomo, 10, was smiling.
   "I’m back," she announced, having been in the room earlier that day for morning rehearsal.
   "I’ve been practicing all week. I think I got the 8-measure down," she told music teacher Sergio Fossa.
   She sat down, pulled out her trombone and started to warm up. Nivetha Kannan, 11, and Davaughn Pullun, 10, had already started warming.
   "I just like to play trombone; it’s a very good instrument. I’ve been playing for three years," Nivetha said.
   As the students in the band room rehearsed, Mr. Fossa worked his way from student to student, listening, encouraging and advising. He asked questions and waited for the students to reply, making sure that they understood the music arrangement and the notes that they were playing.
   "It’s not the horn, it’s the player," he said to his musicians.
   The trombone’s loud, demanding sound filled the band room, sometimes chaotic, as the students played different sections of the same music piece.
   As the trombone players drowned the band room in sound, the flute players rehearsing next door in the auditorium filled the room with the soft, lilting sound of the flute.
   Two soft-spoken girls, Gabrielle Mercadl and Elena Shupak, both 11, rehearsed with Mr. Perillo. The only two sixth-graders in the flute section, Gabrielle and Elena, practiced as often as they could, often using their free sixth period from 1 to 1:35 p.m. to rehearse.
   Occasionally the girls played the wrong note and Mr. Perillo pretended to keel over in pain. Then, he would take the girls to the piano and show them the difference between the note they played and they note they were supposed to play. For Elena, who plays the piano, hearing the note played on the piano helped her to know which note was right on the flute.
   "Pretty sound, pretty sound … pretty ugly sound," Mr. Perillo said. The girls giggled, returned to their flutes and corrected their finger placements in order to play the correct note.
   "I played it perfect," Elena said, after playing a particularly difficult section.
   "Really? Perfect?" Mr. Perillo asked.
   "Well, I played all the notes," she said with a smile. Mr. Perillo grimaced in pain before dismissing the girls for seventh period.