Want to learn about the RMS orchestras?
Read the following "bio"!
As a professional violinist and middle school orchestra director, I enjoy providing my orchestra students with experiences they would not get in most middle school orchestra programs so that I can continue to teach my students with enthusiasm and skill. I believe the key to having a rich and fulfilling life is to have unique experiences from which an individual will be able to draw upon and find meaning later in life.
The orchestra students have participated in a variety of field trips and activities throughout the years, including performances at malls, the DePaul Music Mart, Music in the Parks Festivals, IMEA and solo and ensemble contests, restaurants, receptions, and were the original "Street Musicians" founders in Batavia. Students have also cruised on Lake Michigan, gone to Great America, bowled, ice-skated, and done many more things!
During the 1999-2000 school year, the BMS 7th and 8th grade orchestra students and I composed a symphony entitled, Symphony No. 1, "The Pillars of Mars." They were the only students involved in the Mars project to compose a piece. Each movement of the symphony is an auditory representation of a journey to Mars: I. Into Space, II. Reflections of Earth, III. The Journey Forward, IV. The Mystery of Mars. This program piece describes the journey from the viewpoint of an astronaut on a mission to colonize Mars.
After the symphony was composed, the orchestra students recorded it on the BMS Music Department's first CD, performed it at the Batavia All-City Orchestra Festival and at The Adler Planetarium's opening of the Mars 2030 project. Part of the first movement of the symphony was played during a special tribute to the "possibilities of the next millennium" at the end of the Batavia Fireworks on July 4th, 2000. The American Symphony Orchestra League has a recording of parts of the symphony available for listening on the their website at www.playmusic.org under "composers" icon.
And so the orchestra students received a commendation from the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Richard W. Riley for their participation in the Mars Millennium Project: An Arts, Sciences and Technology Education Initiative during the school year 1999-2000. The Mars Millennium Project empowered teams of students to imagine and design a new community for 100 humans on Mars in the year 2030. The project was a collaborative effort between the White House Millennium Council, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
The orchestra program was also presented with a grant from the "Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence" to purchase “Encore,” a composing software that the music students at Batavia Middle School utilized in class.
During the 2000-01 school year, the 7th and 8th grade orchestra students, Dan Makula (class of 2001), and I composed a second symphony in conjunction with the Adler Planetarium’s theme of “black holes and gravity.” Symphony No. 2, “Secrets of the Universe,” continued the previous years’ story line, beginning by the astronauts experimenting with gravity on Mars, with each of the four movements: I. The Force of Gravity, II. Star Gazing, III. Hawking’s Matrix, IV. Black Hole Sightings. The students again recorded it on the BMS Music Department's second CD and performed it at the Batavia All-City Orchestra Festival and at the Adler Planetarium.
The orchestra students also have marched in two parades. In May 2001, we turned two trailers into “blazing” haystacks and performed a specially arranged version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” In May 1999, we turned a trailer into the “Bat-mobile” for the cello and bass students while the violin and viola students marched behind.
After attending “Concerts For A Cause” in May 2001 featuring Lee Murdock and the Blue Water Band, I was inspired by this local group and approached Lee Murdock about having my orchestras perform with the band. I thought that it would be a rare opportunity to give students time to rehearse and perform with professional musicians. I knew my students would especially enjoy working with the double bassist and right-handed violinist.
The BMS 6-8 grade orchestras spent from September through November of 2001 composing string orchestra music that would accompany the band’s music. The students arranged “Low Bridge, Everybody Down,” “The Mermaid of Ontario,” “Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie,” and “The Crack Schooner Moonlight.” Members of the Batavia Youth String Ensemble at Batavia Middle School will be specially featured on “The Returning” and “St. Martin Island.”
These are just a few examples of what the orchestra students have accomplished at Batavia Middle School, now Rotolo Middle School of Batavia. I enjoy teaching children and hope that you can appreciate the endless creative possibilities for orchestra students.
Rita K. Feuerborn