Niles West Junior High School Orchestra Clinic

On December 4th, Niles West High School hosted the 

The Annual Niles West Junior High School Orchestra Clinic!  

It was an amazing experience to see

 gifted conductors work with junior high school students. 

Here are some pictures....

Driving up from Champaign-Urbana at 7:00am!  It was Freezing!!!

ASTA students diligently taking notes during one of the sessions!

Here are some notes that we gathered 

from the guest conductors...

Joliet Junior High – Clifford Hunt/Melissa Schoonover

When?	Who?	How Many?	What Repertoire?	Clinician
10:30am	Joliet Junior High – Clifford Hunt/Melissa Schoonover	37 students	Contrasts in E minor – Francis Dee Shenandoah – arr. By David Shaffer Sweet Jazz Suite – Ken Kuening	Jack Ranney

Pointers/Comments

Rehearsal Goal*	Excerpt	How	Did it work?
Contrasts in E Minor – Francis Dee
Intonation	6	Confidence in the note	Yes
Balance	6	“Who has the melody?”	Sort of
Musicality	D	Analogy	Yes
Rhythm	D	Listening – no conductor	Yes
Shenendoah – arr. By David Shaffer
Entrances	Beginning	Modeling – Singing	Yes
Musicality	Beginning	Analogy	Yes
Bow Distribution	C	Analogy – “Bow = Breath”	A little
Sweet Jazz Suite – Ken Kuening
Review	Beginning	Singing = Modeling	Yes
Dynamics	Beginning	Reviewing/Talking	yes

Old Orchard Junior High School

When?	Who?	How Many?	What Repertoire?	Clinician
11:00am	Old Orchard Junior High School	@45 students	Brandenburg Concerto #5 – J.S. Bach/Issac Mantras – Richard Meyer Sea Chantey	Ray Ostwald

Pointers/Comments

Rehearsal Goal*	Excerpt	How	Did it work?
Brandenburg Concerto #5 – J.S. Bach/Issac
Musicality	Beg	Singing	Yes
Sea Chantey
Shaping Phrases	4	Singing	Yes
Dynamics	4	Chunking	Yes
Bow Distribution	4	“Concentrate on whole bows”	Yes
Musicality	4	Singing	Yes
Sea Chantey
Musicality	132	“Basses….smile!!!”	Sort of

Avery Coonley School – John Seger

When?	Who?	How Many?	What Repertoire?	Clinician
11:30am	Avery Coonley School – John Seger	@50 students	Santa at the Symphony – arr. By Mark Williams Siyahamba – arr. By Douglas Wagner Glorioso – by Robert W. Smith	Frank Lestina

Pointers/Comments

Rehearsal Goal*	Excerpt	How	Did it work?
Santa at the Symphony – arr. By Mark Williams
Contextual info	Beg	Is it Eine kleine Nachtmusik?	yes
Listening	Beg	“non-Mozart people play”	Yes
Technique/Bow	Jingle Bells excerpt	Modeling	Yes
Style	Diminished Chord	Modeling/Call + Response	Yes
Release		Singing
Pezz/Style	2nd Variation	Modeling -> Triangle Player	Yes

Daniel Wright Junior High School

When?	Who?	How Many?	What Repertoire?	Clinician
12:00pm	Daniel Wright Junior High School	70-80 Students	Trepak – By Tschaikowsky/Dackow Christmas Concerto – by corelli/Dackow Symphony #12, 1st mvt – by Mozart/Dackow	Jack Ranney

Pointers/Comments

Rehearsal Goal*	Excerpt	How	Did it work?
Trepak – By Tschaikowsky/Dackow
Interest/contrast	Beg	Discussion	yes
Christmas Concerto – by corelli/Dackow
Imagery	Beg-Melody	“Melody is a musical tear” - Itzhak Perlman	Yes
Syle	3rdmeasure	“Breathy”	Sort of
Style - melody		Singing - Modeling	yes