Story and photos by Julia Leonard ’30
In the Winter Term course, Rock Band, MICDS students in grades 5th through 8th were able to improve their musical skills while being a part of a hardworking and united ensemble. The ultimate goal of this course was to perform the songs Zombie by The Cranberries, Creep by Radiohead, and Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey. On the final day of Winter Term, the group performed their work in Mary Eliot Chapel. Middle School Band Teacher Eric Taylor and Middle School Orchestra Teacher Ethan Forte ran this course.
In this course, students got to experience being in a real rock band by working together to choose songs, work on their sound, and eventually perform a setlist for the final day of Winter Term. An average day in Rock Band began with a warm-up game that helped the band come together to be an ensemble. Then the students practiced their individual instruments with the help of their peers or teachers before rehearsing their songs as a united musical group.
Countless instruments were used in this course, including drums, the electric guitar, trombones, trumpets, and keyboards. Fifth grader Nick Leonard ’33 stated, “I like playing popular songs.” He played the keyboard and enjoyed being able to play the chords to his favorite songs. Trumpet player Elliot Reidy ’33 loved that he could make as much noise as he wanted. Students loved having lots of freedom in this class and enjoyed being creative with various instruments.
Students also had the option to sing with the band. Emma Kay ’32, Aria Coff ’32, and Oliver Aranha ’33 are some of the singers in the band. They chose this course because they loved making music and singing. One of the singers in the band, Oliver Aranha ’33, stated that he enjoyed “the ability and flexibility of having time here.” He thought Rock Band was very fun and loved working with his peers.
Sixth grader Aria Coff ’32 enjoyed collaborating with different people and liked to sing. Similarly, Emma Kay ’32 said, “Rock Band is pretty fun, and I do it with a lot of my friends.” Clearly, students enjoyed working with their friends while improving their musical skills.
Orchestra Teacher Mr. Forte was one of the teachers running Rock Band. He stated that his main goal of his Winter Term course was to immerse students in different ways to make music other than band, orchestra, and choir. He said that Rock Band helped students learn new chords and took their musical skills to another level.
Rock Band encouraged students to go outside of their comfort zone, immerse themselves in different types of music, and work with other people in different grades. During this course, students gained the skills of both being an independent leader and playing collaboratively within the ensemble.
Great performance, Rock Band!