Page 9 - Newsletter_Spring_2020

Music Department

NEWS FROM THE MUSIC ROOM

By Kevin Mania, HHS Music Faculty

Greetings Shiretowners!

As cooler air moved in, the band and chorus had some changes happening in the fall. We changed up our normal concert schedules and
put in a new model of performances. This year we decided to set performances that coincided with our grading periods. This would give
our students more opportunity to perform more music and hopefully more concerts to give the kids some great experiences.
On October 22, we had our first Halloween inspired concert. All band and chorus groups put on this early concert in our auditorium
that was decorated for the season. Cobwebs, bats, and skeletons were all over the room to help set the mood. We had a great turn out and
everyone was buzzing about our new type of concert.

Shortly after our first concert we shifted gears and started getting ready for our November Musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This
year we had about thirty-five students join us onstage, in the pit, and backstage making the magic happen. We put on four performances to
great reviews from our community.
Houlton hosted the All Aroostook Chorus the first weekend of December. We had over 180 students from all over the county join us for
the two-day event that brought back Dr. Andrew Poulopoulos to our school. It was great to have him back working within our walls with
our students again. He said he had many fond memories of Houlton High School and was happy to see things were still going well.

Our quarter two concerts focused on community outreach. The bands shifted their gears to play for basketball and hockey games while
the chorus started working with their new chorus teacher on music for their nursing home concert, celebrating music for the holidays. The
band also put on a concert right before Christmas for the Southside School. We had kids up on stage directing the band, onstage dancing,
and all throughout the auditorium… it was like a rock concert with kids cheering and dancing for the whole hour. We made some great
memories for the kids in the band and audience.
Third quarter is where things got interesting… for everyone… everywhere….

As we started hearing rumblings of Covid-19 we were ramping up our Jazz Bands and Show Choirs. We were getting ready for our first
weekend of state festivals in South Portland for the High School Jazz Competition. Wednesday morning, we received an email that said
we were still on and ready to go… Wednesday afternoon we received an email that said, with sadness we must announce that the festival
must be canceled. It was heart-breaking to say the least for the High School jazz band, as it was full of seniors that have been with the
program since middle school. Then the call came in about school being canceled for a few weeks… we thought. This meant of course all
jazz festivals were being canceled. Shock was an understatement. We did not get to have our Night of Jazz concert either… no celebration
of our students long hard work. I think that was the hardest part of the beginning of this pandemic. Moving on, school was staying closed,
so we lost all our other concerts as well. We are no different from other schools that worked so hard, but still stings none the less. We have
twelve seniors in our music program graduating this year, all of them have been with us since middle school. Our saddest realization is that
we did not get to have our final celebrated performances that we always have… No senior recognition on stage. We really cherish having
that performance, it is closure for all of us… seven years with the kids and watching them grow into young adults, you get attached to
them, and then it stopped so quickly… I think that is our hardest part to swallow.
Let us have some good news, shall we? I said earlier that we have a new chorus teacher. He is a familiar face to many of you, Nicholas
Foster is an alumnus of the Houlton High School, Class of 2006, where he was an active participant in the music department. He earned
a BM in Voice Performance at Boston University and a MM in Vocal Pedagogy at Boston Conservatory. He has directed and performed
with professional theater in the greater Boston area since 2012. Nick is happy to be back home, working with the future generation of
performing artists in Houlton. He is a great fit for our program and the students are enjoying their new music teacher.

We are looking forward to getting back to normal, or whatever our new normal is going to look like. This has been a trying time for all
on so many levels, but we will get through it and rebuild on our grit and perseverance. We are a proud community and we will rock again
soon. As always keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.

Best wishes,
Musically,
Kevin Mania, VPA Chair
kevin.mania@rsu29.org • 207-538-3860
#shirefire

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