The master becomes the student: Juan Diego concert features faculty members

Friday, Dec. 19, 2014

By Emily Salinas

This year’s holiday band and orchestra concerts at Juan Diego Catholic High School featured more musicians on stage than usual, and they were not all students.

Band teachers invited all Juan Diego Catholic High School and Saint John the Baptist Middle School faculty members to play an instrument of their choice for one song in the holiday music concerts.  The band concert took place Dec. 8; the orchestra concert was Dec. 15.

Fiona McGowan, the band director, says the idea to invite all faculty to play in the concert came to her and Jed Blodgett, who directs the orchestra and percussion ensembles, over the summer, when all faculty members met before school started.

McGowan hopes this experience will help spread music awareness and get people more involved with the music programs in general. 

“We have a lot to offer, but a lot of people don’t know that we exist, so we’re hoping this will help spread awareness and spread the fun,” McGowan said. 

It was unnecessary for the faculty members to have previous knowledge of or ability to play the instruments they chose. High school music students gave their teachers lessons over several weeks to prepare them for the piece. 

Maureen Mullen, a sophomore who plays percussion instruments, taught three faculty members how to play bells and cymbals, and found it to be a positive experience. 

 “I think that inviting the faculty to play with us made them more aware of the band program and how enthusiastic the students are to be a part of it,” Mullen said. 

 In all, 27 faculty members signed up to play instruments alongside their students. 

Holly Ricklefs, a library assistant,  played bells in the concert. Her youngest son, Sam Ricklefs, played percussion at JDCHS before graduating in 2012. Ricklefs decided she could play the vibraphone because the one that her son used to practice on was sitting in her basement. It turned out that the band did not need any vibraphone players, so she played the bells instead. 

Ricklefs had never played an instrument before and said the experience was challenging and stimulating. 

“Learning to read music is almost like learning another language, because your brain has to go to a place that it’s not familiar and it has to translate these little dots into something you’re actually hitting or playing,” Ricklefs said. 

Three official practice times were scheduled for the faculty musicians to take their playing lessons from the students. If they felt the need for more time to practice, they could ask for additional practices with their student teachers.  

All instruments played by the teachers who did not already own one were provided by Summerhays Music Center in Murray.

McGowan and Blodgett hope to continue to offer this performance opportunity to JDCHS staff members and students in future concerts.