FeedsEducation, Disney style, awaits students
For more than 160 instrumental music students from John Glenn and Wayne Memorial high schools, cross-town rivalries are passé.
Instead, the students have spent weeks working cooperatively to make beautiful music together when they perform before an international audience at Walt Disney World in Florida in mid-April.
Students have been meeting for an hour and a half after school twice a week since Feb. 5 to practice and, Matt Diroff, director of the Wayne Memorial High School instrumental music program, said, “At the first couple of rehearsals, the kids were almost in shock.”
The surprise of the expanded size of the band waned as students learned how to work together.
The schools will host a free concert at 7 p.m. Monday at Stockmeyer Auditorium, which is located on Glenwood Road next to Wayne Memorial High School. The concert is designed as a prelude to the upcoming shows in Florida.
“We’re doing a mix of traditional concert band music and more contemporary Disney music, music from the Star Wars epics,” said Diroff. “We’d love to have that auditorium packed. To see 900 people in there would be phenomenal.”
After that, students will have about two weeks to make any tweaks necessary before they and their chaperones board three buses after school on April 17 for the 22-hour drive, returning to Michigan April. 22. While in Florida, they will have two opportunities to perform. One batch of students—divided between the two schools—will take the stage in the EPCOT park while the second group will showcase their skills in Downtown Disney.
All of the students will also attend a three-hour long workshop with a Disney professional who will work with the students on what it takes to be a professional musician for Disney—from proficiency on their instruments to time management.
It’s a trip directors hope will help the students grow, not only in terms of their music proficiency but also by opening them to new people, places, and experiences.
“It’s an opportunity for a lot of students who might not ever have the opportunity via their families,” said John Glenn High School Instrumental Music Program Director Scott Cramer. John Glenn students have performed at Disney World about six times since the late 1990s.
“This is the first time Wayne has done a trip like this in a long time,” said Diroff. “It’s been great.”
“We started the entire process in November of 2005,” said Cramer. “The planning is always well in advance of mentioning it to the students.”
From sending demo tapes to Disney World to apply for the opportunity and vetting the proposal with district administrators to working on the details with the tour company and fundraising to help students raise the $730 fee they needed to participate, both directors cheerfully admit that a lot of people—administrators, parents, boosters, and students—had to work hard to make the plan a reality.
Since the fee was too steep for some families to afford, both directors said that they also sought out funding alternatives so that any student who wished to go would be able to do so. About half of the members of the instrumental music programs at the two schools are participating since the hours required from participants in the popular proved to be a challenge for some due to conflicts with jobs or spring sports.
“They’ve given up a lot,” said Diroff.
