Editor’s Note: The Underground Workshop is a collaborative network of student journalists from across Vermont. Registration is now open for our major project this Spring: “A Climate Report Card for our Schools.” We are also eager to publish more stories like this one, promoting the arts: reviews of student performances, profiles of distinguished student artists, photostories, etc. For more information, please contact the Workshop’s editor, Ben Heintz, at ben@vtdigger.org.
“A little bright spot in a very dark time” : Music at Mill River
by Morgan Manley and Annika Heintz, Mill River Union High School
Throughout the winter of 2020 and early spring of 2021, Mill River vocalists gathered at 7:00 a.m., an hour before other students set foot in the school, to practice outdoors, six feet apart. They bundled up with gloves, boots, hand warmers, jackets and scarves. If someone’s sheet music got blown away by the winter wind, no one else could touch it. Their voices were muffled by masks and distance.
When Mill River was completely remote, in September and October of 2020, students still auditioned for the three vocal honor ensembles. Each morning, students would join a Google Meet before their other remote classes from their living rooms, basements and bedrooms. While the students and teachers alike were grateful for the opportunity to continue making music at all, going virtual posed a unique set of challenges.
Kristin Cimonetti came to Mill River in the fall of 2010 as the Choral Music Director. This year, she took on the additional role of Fine Arts Coordinator for the Mill River Union United School District. According to Cimonetti, students suffered both emotionally and physically during remote learning.
“They lost a support system and sense of belonging,” she said, as well as “the power of an audience to leverage excellence.” She said it has also been difficult for students to be excited about opportunities because so much has been canceled with little warning.
Physically, students suffered from technique and muscle atrophy. Posture and vowel shape slipped without Mrs. Cimonetti and other students there to model good technique. When the students were able to sing together again, their tone and vocal maturity had regressed.
On Nov. 2, 2020, Mill River switched to a hybrid schedule. Students, divided into A and B groups, attended two days of in-person school and one remote day per week. Limited by state and school mandates, student musicians were only allowed to practice outside, masked, and 6 feet apart.
Facing the Vermont winter, the students and Mrs. Cimonetti arrived at school an hour before it opened to rehearse in small honor ensembles as many as three days of the week.
Like vocal ensembles, instrumental honors ensembles were only permitted to play outside. Having to practice outside is detrimental to the sound quality of many instruments. PPE for instruments included bell covers, which limits the sound and prevents some instruments from being fully functional.
In the face of all of these challenges, how did Mill River’s music program maintain a level of excellence?
One of Mill River’s core values is that academics, athletics and the arts are of equal importance, encouraging a multi-faceted student body. Although they are held outside of the academic day, the honors ensembles are graded courses. The coaches of sports teams understand that these classes come before practice. Conversely, it is understood that games override rehearsal. Avoiding conflicts between games, important academic dates and concerts is a priority.
Peter Roach, the band director at Mill River, is also the Boys Varsity Soccer coach. He believes that, as part of a Mill River education, “our job is to educate the whole person, not just a part of them.”
Students like senior Malori Carlson take advantage of this opportunity. Malori is involved in Senior Band, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, National Honor Society, Tri-M and three sports.
Cimonetti said this balance is one of the things that has kept her at the school for over a decade. She refers to her students as “vocal-athletes” and incorporates foreign language instruction into the music, teaching songs in a variety of languages and discussing the translations. Last year, she attended pre-calculus classes and spoke about how trigonometry and sound waves are related. As a Rowland Fellow, Cimonetti is currently working to bring performance-based assessment and student leadership to other sectors of the school.
The ensemble opportunities at every level scaffold students and prime the elite groups for success. In middle school, students can audition for Vivace, a treble ensemble, and Cantiamo, a changing voice ensemble. Middle school students can also participate in the open Jazz Lab ensemble. Once in high school, treble voices can audition for Tempo Tantrums and changing voices can audition for Clef Hangers. High school students on any voice part can audition for Chamber Singers, the most elite vocal ensemble in the school. Instrumental students can audition for Jazz Band or continue in Jazz Lab. From the Jazz Band audition process, students are selected to play in Jazz Combo as well.
Miguel Levy, a sophomore at Mill River, is a member of Chamber Singers, Jazz Band, Jazz Lab, Jazz Combo, Clef Hangers, and Senior Band and Chorus. Miguel relishes the three hours of music that he has on an average school day.
“The fun I have…helps me to keep a positive attitude in the classes I don’t like as much,” he says. Miguel said that making music, even in the remote or outdoors settings, helped him through the pandemic: “It was a little bright spot in a very dark time.”
Miguel is also a member of the Mill River Tri-M Honor Society. Members of Tri-M dedicate their time to music-specific volunteering both at the school and in the community. Students apply and are approved by the existing members. In the past, the group has volunteered at concerts, organized music, and raised money for charities like the Ronald Mcdonald House.
Josh Bowen, a senior and the president of the Tri-M chapter at Mill River, describes the group as “a group of highly talented musicians who want to better our music department, school, and community.” This past semester, the group focused on organizing sheet music for Mr. Roach and facilitating a coat drive for the community.
The mentorship that occurs in the Mill River music department is critical to its success. Starting in seventh grade, students are not only taught by their teachers; they are also mentored by older students in the Vivace, Cantiamo and Jazz Lab ensembles. These groups, which are primarily made up of middle school students, often have high school students as mentoring members. They model good vocal technique, work ethic and camaraderie.
Andrew Loose, a new member of the Mill River music faculty this year, said that small ensembles provide the right environment for natural mentorship. “It brings new students into the culture,” he said. In Jazz Lab, members of the more elite groups lead sectionals, small workshops focused on a specific part, within that group.
Miguel Levy said that one of the biggest experiences he and younger students missed out on in the pandemic was being able to play with upperclassmen members. In 8th grade, he had the opportunity to play with then-senior Daniel Graves, who Miguel describes as “an amazing trumpet player.”
Miguel worries about the students younger than him. “They are in 8th grade and have never gotten the opportunity to play with a Daniel Graves.” Mentorship is a key part of the Mill River music program that is being rebuilt after remote learning.
The 2021 school environment has had fewer restrictions for musicians. While masks and bell covers are still in place, students are allowed to practice inside and attend school five days a week. As Omicron surges, auditions for the Allstate and New England ensembles are by video submission, as opposed to the traditional in-person auditions, but Mill River’s musicians are still preparing for early spring performances.
Mill River has successfully hosted three concerts, with COVID measures in place for both the performers and the audience. In December, Mill River held two separate winter concerts, one for vocal musicians and the other for instrumentalists, and the Showcase Concert in October featured one song by every musical group. As part of COVID-safe protocols, the show was performed in two parts. The middle school ensembles performed first and then the audience left and was replaced by the audience for the high school segment.
The energy was palpable. “Everyone wanted to be there,” said Mr. Loose.
Mrs. Cimonetti described turning around after the final song, a performance of Earth Song by the Senior Chorus: “I said, ‘Mill River music is back,’ and the crowd started hooting and hollering.”
