Musicians Raise the Bar This Year at SHS
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What a year this has been for musicians in the Scarsdale School District! During the 2009-2010 school year, Scarsdale student musicians of all genres have played at world-renowned performance halls in New York City. In previous years, individual SHS ensembles have performed at prestigious venues in Manhattan, but this is the first time that all major SHS performance ensembles have consecutively performed at the world’s greatest concert halls.
On March 7, the Scarsdale High School Wind Ensemble played at Carnege Hall; on March 11, the SHS Chamber Choir performed at Carnegie Hall; on March 24, the SHS Symphonic Orchestra Played at Avery Fisher Hall; and on April 21, all jazz ensembles in the district performed on the plaza at Lincoln Center. The Scarsdale district jazz performers at the Lincoln Center jazz extravaganza consisted of the Scarsdale All-District Elementary Jazz Ensemble, the SMS Jazz Ensemble, and the SHS Jazz Ensemble. “It beame a festival, and it was a really unique event that we liked very much,” said Dr. Craig Sherman, District Coordinator of Performing Arts, of the jazz performance at Lincoln Center.
Scarsdale’s young musicians had the unique opportunity this year to play individually with their own respective ensembles and under their own conductors. The Wind Ensemble is conducted by Jason Noble, the Chamber Choir by John Cuk, and the Symphonic Orchestra by Amedee Williams. Noble is also the conductor of the High School Jazz Ensemble, Jessica Slotwinski is the conductor of the All-District Elementary Jazz Ensemble, and Nick Lieto is the conductor of the Middle School Jazz Ensemble. The conductors of the high school ensembles lead classes with their musicians in school and have rehearsal up to four times per week.
At SHS, the Tri-M club is a music honor society; its members are musicians who commit to academic excellence, community service, and school involvement. Cuk is the faculty advisor of the club. Sherman emphasized, “Tri-M’s designation as an honor society is very important for us as a department. A large part of the significance of the group is its community service aspect.” In order to serve their community and promote music education, this year members of Tri-M at SHS ushered at peers’ concerts, supported younger musicians, arranged and performed a benefit concert to contribute funds to Haiti, and performed for patients at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, NY. They also helped SHS host the two-day NYSSMA festival.
On Friday and Saturday, May 21 and 22, the halls of Scarsdale High School were resonant with timbres of all instruments. Scarsdale hosted the NYSSMA solo and small ensemble audition festival, an annual event that is hosted by a different local school each year. Scarsdale’s last instance hosting the event was in the late 1990s. This year, 2056 student musicians from Westchester came to Scarsdale High School to perform solos ranging from level one, beginner, through level six, expert. Approximately 50 professional musicians judged the performances during the two-day festival.
Scarsdale was recently recognized as one of the best communities for music education in the country for the second year in a row. The music program in the Scarsdale School District is a collaborative operation of the experienced musical professionals that lead it, and its dedicated students and parents. Over the past year, many Scarsdale music students had the special opportunity to perform at world-renowned venues because of the high standards, support, and persistence of their dedicated teachers.
Next year, the major SHS ensembles will continue their international performance tour schedules. The Orchestra and Chorus will travel to and perform in Italy; the Wind Ensemble will travel to and perform in Spain.
Sherman credited others around him for supporting the distinguished music program in Scarsdale. “We could not pursue all that we do without the support of the administration and the faculty,” said Sherman. “I feel very fortunate to have the people around me in the district.”
Scarsdale musicians and other artists are also bolstered by Friends of Music and the Arts in the Scarsdale Schools (FMA). FMA is a community organization led mainly by Scarsdale parents that actively raises funds to contribute to music and art education in the Scarsdale Schools. FMA plays an invaluable role towards supporting the artistic and musical pursuits and achievenments of students in the Scarsdale School District. For more information on the Friends of Music and the Arts and how to donate, visit http://scarsdalearts.org/Home/tabid/37/Default.aspx.
Grease the Musical This Weekend at SHS
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The Scarsdale High School Senior Class is producing the musical Grease on Friday and Saturday, June 4 and 5 at 7:30pm. Prices are $10 for students and seniors, and $15 for adults. Tickets may be purchased at the door or may be reserved via email at [email protected].
Grease is a musical set in the 1950s that follows the experiences of different groups of teens at Rydell High School. The musical is directed by SHS Seniors Lucie Fink and Margaret Gandolfo. The principals roles are as follows:
Danny Zuko: Thomas Evans
Sandy Dumbrowski: Julianna Haubner
Betty Rizzo: Amanda Somekh
Frenchy: Hayley Nerenberg
Marty: Gigi Rawunduzy
Jan: Rachel Reingold
Kenickie: Jeff Kosofsky
Doody: David Hyman
Roger: David Bougard
Sonny LaTierri: Harry Roth
Patty Simcox: Caroline Simon
Cha-Cha DiGregorio: Melissa Siverbush
Eugene Florczyk: Ben Spiegelman
Vince Fontaine: John Peruski
Johnny Casino: Kevin Zecchini
Teen Angel: Peter Kentros
Miss Lynch: Soozy Adelman
Junior Olympics Cancelled at SHS
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Junior Olympics has been a tradition in Scarsdale High School since the 1980s. It is meant to be a friendly, competitive event for juniors towards the end of the school year in which they have fun and celebrate the end of the academic year and the approach of summer. There are games such as kick ball, tug-of-war, trivia, an obstacle course race, and a pie-eating contest. Juniors team up with their Scarsdale elementary schools and dress up in the elementary school colors for the event, evoking nostalgia and renewing old friendships in the much-anticipated event each year. However, on May 3, Scarsdale High School Principal John Klemme canceled the event for the juniors, the Class of 2011, following an unruly human gridlock in the hallways that took place on April 28.
Over the past few years, Klemme came to reevaluate Junior Olympics due to dangerous and illegal behavior students displayed the night before the event, including speeding, vandalizing and drinking. After the SHS newspaper Maroon published an editorial in the fall regarding the possible cancellation of Junior Olympics, the junior class advisors and the junior class government officers met with Klemme to be sure their grade could continue the tradition. Klemme did not cancel the event earlier this year, hoping to give the junior class a chance to prove they were more responsible than previous classes. The administration apparently warned the junior class government that a misbehavior, such as participating in a dangerous gridlock, would lead to the cancellation of Junior Olympics, but the message was not passed along to the rest of the class.
On the first day of finals for seniors, during which juniors sense their newfound seniority, approximately 50 juniors gathered for a gridlock, although the administration says around 70 students were present. Juniors chanted obscenities and hoisted students into the air. Moreoever, a few members of the junior class government were present at the gridlock. This rowdy gridlock convinced Klemme that the junior class was not responsible enough to have Junior Olympics.
Many juniors were enraged that Junior Olympics was cancelled and argued that the cancellation, based on the actions of just a fraction of the class, was unjust. Students tried to organize protests and even created a Facebook group to rally against the cancellation of the event. The juniors who controlled the Facebook group deleted it after one night, though, because they thought discussions in the group were getting out of hand; for example, juniors compared the cancellation to violations of the Constitution and proposed protests inspired by the Civil Rights Movement.
Klemme has received mixed responses from parents, but the faculty seems to fully support the decision to cancel Junior Olympics.
The existence of Junior Olympics will remain conditional for future classes. By cancelling the event for this year's junior class, the administration proved they will not let the misconduct of students go unpunished. Klemme hopes future classes will "police" themselves.
Tenure for Scarsdale Teachers Announced
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The Scarsdale School Board met on Monday night May 23 and welcomed new members Lew Leone and Suzanne Seiden. Leone, who filled the seat vacated by Joel Gurin immediately took his place at the Board table, while Seiden observed from the audience and will take Blatt’s seat after his last meeting in June.
School Board President Barbara Kemp expressed her thanks that the 2010-2011 School Budget was passed and assured the community that their sentiments about spending and tax rates would be considered.
On the agenda was a .25 per hour salary increase for seasonal grounds workers who maintain the grounds but do not receive benefits. This passed by a vote of 6-1 with Blatt objecting to the raise.
Representatives from STEP, the Scarsdale Student Transfer Education Plan made their annual presentation to the Board. Village Historian Eric Rothschild provided a history of the program , that brings a high school student from a disadvantaged area to Scarsdale for their Junior and Senior years. He told the group about Queen Esther Booker, one of the earliest students to come here in the 1960’s. She was the daughter of sharecroppers in Georgia and the first in her family to get a higher education. She was an excellent student who volunteered to tutor other students in the Math Center at SHS. She went onto Harvard and the Wharton School of Business and still maintains her ties with Mr. Rothschild and the community.
David Bougard, the current Scarsdale STEP student from Memphis addressed the Board. For the past two years he has been living with the Hunerson family and has done well in school and played on the Scarsdale Basketball team. His experience here gave him a greater appreciation for education and has empowered him and his family. He thanked everyone and told the group that he has been admitted to Lehigh on a full scholarship.
Keith Martinez a Lakota Indian from the Pine Ridge Reservation has been selected as the next STEP student and the organization is currently looking for a host family. If you are interested, please email Michelle Lichtenberg at [email protected]
Gerald Crisci the District Director of Technology gave a wonderful and informative look at the district’s use of technology and how it enables student learning and a Scarsdale education for the future.
Those receiving tenure are as follows:
| Teacher | Subject |
|---|---|
| Enrique Orengo | Music |
| Heather Zuckerman | Elementary Pre K-6 |
| Nancy VanCamp | Special Education |
| Kimberly Malley | Special Education |
| Monica Vilca | Special Education |
| Georgia Garay | Mathematics |
| Malula Gonzalez | ESL and Foreign Language |
| Stephen Jackson | Foreign Language |
| James Serafin | Mathematics |
| Chris Sipe | Science |
| Kendra Claussen | Social Studies |
| Nelson DaSilva | Science |
| Donald DiDomenico | Foreign Language |
| Eve Eisenstadt | Art |
| Devin Hoover | Physical Education |
| John Neering | Science |
| Jason Noble | Music |
| Francisco Ormazabal-Orta | Foreign Language |
| Adam Singer | Special Education |
| Lauren Tallevi | Social Studies |
| Jennifer Kiley | Elementary Pre K-6 |
Preschool Music Program Open House at Hoff
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Hoff-Barthelson Music School invites parents of children from newborn to five years to attend an Open House for its Preschool Music Programs on Tuesday, June 8, 10 am – Noon at the Music School, 25 School Lane, Scarsdale. This is an excellent opportunity to meet with Hoff-Barthelson’s extraordinary early childhood faculty, parents of current youngsters, and parents of students who have moved on from the Preschool Programs to music lessons and classes at the School.
The Journey of Musical Growth begins at an early age at Hoff-Barthelson Music School, a premier community music school that has been one of Westchester’s most cherished cultural resources since 1944. The faculty strives to instill a life-long love of music in their young students. HBMS preschools acquire a diversity of skills through music: the ability to focus and concentrate, to listen and observe keenly, and to become interested in watching and taking turns with their peers. Nurturing teachers develop their skills in music-making and help children to learn to love and appreciate music.
The HBMS preschool classes are designed to introduce young children to the elements of music in preparation for more formal study. Classes range from parent(or caregiver)/child classes for infants, toddlers, two and three year olds to Getting to Know You: Exploring the Instruments for kindergarteners and recorder and Suzuki lessons and classes for 5-6 year olds.
HBMS also offers Spanish for Preschools taught through the most universal language of all, music, and a Mandarin Chinese Music & Movement Class. Three-year-olds can attend Parent/Child classes; Four’s attend a Drop-Off class.
The Hoff-Barthelson Preschool Center program for three and four year olds provides a safe, nurturing environment which promotes the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of young children. Experienced teachers meet each child's developmental needs and build toward readiness for kindergarten. Children are involved through play in a full curriculum, with a special emphasis on music and art, which introduces numbers and language arts, science and nature, and dramatic play, cooking, sand and water play, and outdoor play. The children attend twice weekly music and movement classes in Dalcroze eurhythmics.
For more information about the Open House and/or Preschool Programs; Jocelyn Kenner, 914-723-1169 and [email protected]
