Addis Ababa Community Band

When I first was asked to work here at ICS, my principal proposed the idea of a community band during my interview process. If you know me this was music to my ears (no pun intended!) It has always been a dream of mine to have my own symphony orchestra or build a professional community wind and percussion ensemble. Last year was a challenge all on its own with building a secondary music program and getting adjusted to life in Ethiopia. We made some excellent opportunities for our kids and parents which, like all music educators, did not leave me with much time to create another ensemble.
This year I found a way to make it work.

I sent out emails to as many embassies and schools that I could. I really did not know what to expect for the first rehearsal. I did have many responses saying that they would be there, but I try not to get my hopes up too often. When I arrived, an hour and a half before the rehearsal, two students were waited for me from after school. (Talk about dedicated kids; I am so proud) They put up signs showing the direction to the band room on campus and set up the room. These guys are great – and of course they are from my low brass section.

Much my amazement, 27 people of staff, community members, and my students showed up. It was amazing. I was enthused that there was so much interest in wind band here in addis. I ended up with 3 clarinets, 6 flutes, 3 saxes, 1 cello, 2 bassoons, 1 trombone, 2 tubas, 1 euphonium, 6 trumpets and 4 percussionists. It was a fun time. Now, you have to understand that community ensembles have a wide variety of talent levels, it takes time to get everyone on the same page. I have one trumpet player who played horn in the Swedish Army Band and also played trumpet in a Ska Band in London. We also have players who played in high school and have not played since. It is absolutely wonderful to see a group of people with such a high level of multifariousness and our cultures together playing in band.

We have had three rehearsals so far and this last one was a great music making experience. We read down Russian Christmas Music by Alfred Reed and the ensemble got a kick out of it. We are going to attempt to put a concert together in December, but if that does not pan out, we will try one in February. I will keep you posted on the premiere of the Addis Ababa Community Band.

What a blessing

Nairobi and the GRE

Last week I traveled to the beautiful Nairobi, Kenya . I will do my best to describe what I saw, however, most of the time I was finding myself in awe and my understanding ineffable. Nairobi is like a smaller version of New York City. The many tall buildings coupled with historic architecture produced a city skyline that was very familiar to me. The streets were clean, people drive on the left side of the road, and no one urinates onto the streets. It was great!


I also noticed that the Kenyans who I ran into introduced themselves with English names. This is interesting, yet probably due to the British occupation of Kenya for a significant amount of time. One of my taxi drivers’ name was Kabugi, but he introduced himself as Bob. I hope this is not disrespectful, but I thought that this guy speaking English with a heavy Kenyan accent telling me that his name was Bob was very humorous to me.


The currency in Kenya is shillings. The ratio from Kenyan shillings to the USD is 65:1. So going out to eat for one person would generally cost you 10-15 dollars. That would be 650-975 shillings. A short distance taxi ride would be about 500 shillings. So even though it seems expensive, it really is not.

The purpose for this trip was to attend a teachers conference call ASIA (Association of Schools in Africa). I generally would not attend this conference due to the lack of music education clinics, however, it gave me an opportunity to see a new country, meet new people, attempt to do some kind of professional development, and (most importantly) take my GRE.



As most of you know, I started my masters program at ABC in Ashland, OR this summer. I also wrote my first book as well. You can view it or purchase it at lulu.com under the search of horn or French horn. I will be writing my next project on the study of the oboe which should be completed by January. Anyway, to continue on I need to pass my GRE and apply to Southern Oregon University before I can continue with my second summer of ABC.


I arrived on Saturday and had a beautiful and quiet hotel to stay in. So I began studying. The first three days in Kenya was eating, sleeping, and studying (and a drink here and there). On Tuesday was my exam. I was driven to the westlands area of Nairobi where the Frese Holdings building was located. The exam room was hot and the sun was blaring in my face. It was annoying. The cool thing is that since I took the exam on the computer, I found out my scores instantly.


I PASSED!!!

I will find out if I completely passed in 3 weeks when I find out my scores for the analytical writing portion, which I felt I did a decent job with.


The following day I moved to a hotel which was closer to the hotel that the conference was being held. It was definitely a step down. It was in the cheaper side of downtown Nairobi, but it served its purpose. It had a bed.


The rest of the trip I spent my time attending clinics in the daytime and getting to know colleagues in the evening. I got to know 3 other colleagues more intimately than the rest. This was my Nairobi crew. Bret from Australia teaches kindergarten at the school. This is his first year at ICS and, from what I hear, has left quite an impact on the students, staff, and parents in is short 8 weeks of being in Ethiopia. He is definitely a fun guy and great to chat with. We have hung out of a couple of occasions previous to the Kenya trip. Unlike Derek who I really did not get a chance to chat with since he moved here with his family this year. He is originally from Canada. Regardless of the short amount of time we have chatted, we definitely made up for it in Nairobi. He is our new elementary guidance counselor and the optimal match director. Derek is one of the most outgoing, funny individuals you will ever meet. He will just open up and make you feel right at home. He is a great guy.


And then there is Yidagachew Hailu. I never knew what to expect from Yidagatchew, but he blew my mind. This cat had me crackin’ up the whole trip. He was born in Ethiopia, but has not lived there for 18 years? Something like that. He now teaches math at the secondary level and coaches futbol. He will traveling to South Africa next week with his kids for the International Schools Eastern and Southern Africa futbol and volleyball tournament. I know they will do great.


Those last four days with these guys were great. They were my Nairobi crew. We went out to a variety of places creating tons of fun memories. One place we went to had a live band playing popular Kenyan music. They were the army band and they were awesome! The band leader came up to us and chatted. We eventually got to me being a percussionist and he invited me to play some congas the following night. I did and it was great…so great that I came on Saturday night as well.

I really had a blast with these guys . They made this trip memorable with an intense amount of good times. This is definitely the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

ABC

For the past three weeks I was working on my first year masters degree at The American Band College at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR. It was a great experience. I have never seen so many band directors cramped in a dorm studing so diligently on every aspect of music education.

I have had more discussions on bassoon fingerings and oboe fingerings than I have had my entire life. We did not have a day off. Once you start you don't stop until July 10th. However, this program, in essence, is absolutely amazing. The program is geared towards your personal weakness and provides you with information that you can apply directly to your music program. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.


The entrance exam was killer! We stayed in that one room for 4 hours. The reason was mainly due to the new computerized test we were taking. But I did land only 6 weakness areas. I hear that the average is in between 12-15. I just hope I did well on the exit exam.


Max has built this amazing program for us. It is unlike anything that you will encounter in graduate education. Max McKee's retirement began last year and his son Scott wanted to throw him a farewell concert. So he put together a 130-ish person ensemble made up of ABC alumni and current students to play. Scott came up with some great ideas. However, the best one was flying in Jan Van Der Roost from Belgium to conduct a commissioned piece he wrote for Max McKee. It was entitled "Dublin Dances" based on Irish folk melodies. Of coarse the piece was phenominal and we premeired it. I bought the parts and Jan signed the score for me. That was an amazing night. Not only for the accomplishments of an amazing man, but also the opportunity to play a variety of great music conducted by great music educators.



I would have to say that the best part about this program is the family atmosphere. The staff do not give the specifics on waht needs to be done on a day to day basis andof coarse the long-term research. So many questions are raised, especially by the first years.


But, everyone comes together to help each other. We ask each other questions while buliding a community of friendship. I have shared and listened to so many stories from people all over the states...what works....what doesn't work. We have learned so much from each other. It is really a great experience.



Of the many things that I will take with me, I will take with me a feeling I have never had. For composers this may be easy, however, to me its brand new. I arranged the Ethiopian National Anthem that our 200 piece director's performed at the Fireworks show on the 4th. During the first rehearsal I was asked to give a little history and sing the anthem in its native tongue. You know, when I first wrote the piece I wrote it for my kids to play at our International day in November. I never thought that I would actually be singing the words. So, I did it...in Amharic. Crazy stuff! But anyway, at this concert there is a flag ceremony with candidates and guest carrying their state or country flag. Also the 4 flags of our armed forces were represented as well. David Holsinger (composer) was holding the ABC banner with Ray Cramer(retired IU director) I stood right next to holsinger holding the the ethiopian flag while the band was playing my piece behind me beautifully. During the piece David said, "Wow, you probably had to did to find this piece." And I said, " I arranged it". Talk about an interesting moment in my life. After the piece was over he said, " That was quite a national anthem" I really do not know how to take that statement, but it was quite a feeling to have this world reknown composer say that to me. Crazy stuff.

Back in the States

Man its been a while since I updated this blog. Now that I am back in the states I have faster internet connection and sending one of these blogs does take a couple of hours. I arrived on June 16th and will be going back to Ethiopia on August 8th. Currently, I am taking a break from studying and updating this blog.

I am at Southern Oregon University starting my masters with this program called American Band College (ABC). It has been a great experience so far. However, I do not have any time off whatsoever. We will not get a break until we complete the program on July 10.


The pictures that you see are some friends and students I met in ethiopia.
It has been an Excellent experience here. We have some very knowledgable clinicians and excellent composers and conductors to study with. Since I am the only person from Ethiopia I was requested to hold the Ethiopian flag at the 4th of July performance while the arrangement of the Ethiopian National Anthem (which I arranged) is performed by the 200 piece ABC directors band.

We sight-read it yesterday and I was requested to sing it in Amharic. (Yeah, crazy) I never thought that I would have to sing the arrangement in its native tongue. It went very well though. Up until my mentor told me that David Holsinger may be conducting it at the concert. No stress right. A well-known composer who has left his difinitive mark on the musical world is conducting a piece I arranged. Yeah man, this is definitely crazy.

But of coarse my greatest concern is my exit exam which will be in 3 days is on my mind. Now the cool thing is that on my entrance exam I only had 6 weakness areas. The average is 15. So I did pretty well.

If you would like to know my schedule for the summer it is located below. I will not have a cell while I am here so you can feel free to email me at cameronc1@hotmail.com.




Take Care

July 11 Depart from Ashland, OR and arrive in Bothell, WA
July 15 Arrive in Detroit
August 8 Depart from Michigan. Back to Ethiopia

The Addis Crickets

In my short-lived life, I have performed and played in a variety of music ensembles. Something that I never thought I would do was to performing in an a capella group that sings Renissance and Baroque music.

The Addis Crickets, formed by Noa Luria, (don't ask me about the name of the group. I have no idea why a vocal group is called the crickets) is a group I have been singing with since November on Wednesday nights.

We had our first performance on March 9th and 11th. It was actually pretty good. We even had to do an encore for both performances. The pics that you see were taken at the sunday performance at the International Evangelical Church.

Valentines Day!!!

On Valentines Day my choir students took their show around campus and shared some love (vocal love that is) with students who purchased singing telegrams. We serenaded many students on campus with the Parris hit "In the Still of the Night". The kids did a great job with this 4-part arrangement I wrote them. The best part about this situation is that they only had 4 rehearsals becuase we are in the midst of our concert season.



I am actually very impressed with these students. The choir is now at 34 students and we offically are in the SATB category with some new additions in personnel at the begininning of the semester.


They really got into it. They even incorporated some of their own unique dance moves.

Timket

In the beginning of January, the people Ethiopia celebrate their Epiphany, Timket. This is a huge celebration that seemed very close to a second line from New Orleans. Of the many parades throughout the city, the parade closest to me was just down my road.

My buddy Mark and I hopped up on his truck and sat on the edge of my road to watch the parade. It was actually quite entertaining. A couple of forenjis (foriegners) sitting on top of a truck watching an Ethiopian Religious Parade. People were taking pictures of us. It was hilarious!

What we saw was pretty amazing though. They gathered at Adam's Pavillion, just about a kilometer and a half away from my road. Priests in robes and men with drums came down the parade. I live just off Gabreille Road (The roads here are named by one of the most recognized buildings or meeting places on that road) The parade eventually comes down gabrielle road and ends at Gabrielle Chuch.


The spot Mark and I had was awesome. The parade stops and an immense amount of singing dancing and drumming commence. It was a great experience.

The Wizard of Oz

We have officailly finished the 2 month run of our 3rd-12th grade musical, "The Wizard of Oz". Now that the musical is over I can official go home on tuesday and thursday nights before it gets dark and I don't have to come in on the weekends. Its great! The kids did a remarakable job. The music has very thick harmonies that the orchestra and singers handled with grace.


I have been a little stressed with putting all of this together. This is my first large compositional undertaking, 34 tunes. The best part about it this situation is that I had to write fast and I believe I did it well.

Apart from the orchestra I hired playing beautifully, the main reason how I know it was a success when afterwards at the director's holiday party, one of the teachers came up to me and said, "Wow, I was so amazed by just having an orchestra for the musical. It was like Broadway. I could hear all of the parts in the instruments with the incredible harmonies...It brought me to tears."


At that point I realized that the music was a success. And noone, except for the the musical staff, knows I arranged the music. I was pretty excited. I feel like I just took the next step in my professional music career. This was the first time IO worked with an orchestra for a musical as the director. However, it would not have been possible if I did not have the many opportunites that I took on back in Michigan. All the musical gigs I played, the experiences I had a school, etc. And of coarse the patient famliy of mine that did not get to irritated with me when I could not stay to long a family gatherings or was not able to make to these experiences I had. Thanks.


Anyway, 5 performances down and 7 to go before christmas. Now I can just focus on our holiday concerts.

Oriazul

A few days ago we had a professional ensemble for Senegal come to ICS. I arranged a set of master classes for the kids on instrumental improv and choral improv. It was a great experience for the kids. They had an opportunity to play with the ensemble and improv with them. They following day we had an assembly for the group and it was fantastic. We had student back up singers, african drummers and folks in the HS band play with them during the assembly.

Now most of you know that I have no problem with making a fool of myself in front of my kids if it will help them be more confident or whatever. During the HS band master class on Thursday I noticed that 2 of my clarinet players were a little nervous playin with the group. So what did I do, got my clarinet out and played with them. The members of the group were great with students giving everyone an opportunity to play a solo. When friday came around we were to play with oriazul at the assembly. What were the words that came out of my clarinet players mouths, "I'm scared" Now I was just playing the clarinet for my students so they feel more confident. However, the bassist from oriazul comes up to me during the tune and signals me to do a solo. I'm like, dude, I suck!. I also knew that if I did not my clarinets students would be to scared to get up and solo as well. So I did. Actually I didn't do to bad. I was pretty proud of myself. Then it was Ruth's turn, she turned to me and said I don't want to. I turned to her and said yes you can. I just got up there and I am horrible on clarinet. You are a phenominal player so you will sound great. She Got up there and did her solo.

That was it...It wasn't the fact that we were all up there playing together, it wasn't the fact that Orizul asked us to play. It was the gap that was bridged with many of my students over the fear of playing in front of people and letting go of all inhibitions. It was a great experience for everyone.



Here is a little background information on the group:
ORIAZUL (Gold & Blue) the colours of the Cape-Verde Islands, to say the words and the hearth feelings and the concerns of our times. ORIAZUL is the kind of group that leaves its mark on the generations, contributes to their identity and moulds their passion for music of this genre. Established in Dakar, Capital of Senegal, ORIAZUL’s main objective is to entertain, modernize and eternalize the brand of the creoule culture of Cape Verde, such as “Coladera”, “Morna” or “Cola San Jon”, thanks to a new wave of musicians thus, Daniel Gomes (Lead Vocalist, Keyboard and founder of ORIAZUL), Evelyne Dacruz (Vocalist ), Claire Mbeng (Vocalist ), Tapha Thiam (Keyboard - Senegalese), Florent Loso (Bass Guitar) , Baye Diop (Solo Guitar), Satrus Sambou (Keyboard)


While forming a group of musicians at its own style, Daniel Gomes perceived strong and interesting perspectives that had escaped through other bands previously formed that Daniel himself was part of. Fixed on the word, Daniel baptized the group of “HORIZONTE”. It is under this name that the band becomes known at the music festival and at the San Jon 1996. The first couple of performances by the band were attended by over 10,000 Spectators.
In the mean time, a month later, the group finds that onother band called “Horizonte” existed already as indicated by a CD originating in France. The challenge was there to find a name with great meaning, thus “ORIAZUL” that deciphered as OR-I-AZUL (Gold & Blue), the colours of Cape-Verde: Sun and Sea. The Senegalese Cape-Verdians would re-discover this young band in 2 major events: at the dancing dinner of the anniversaries of the independence of Senegal and Cape-Verde. These performances allowed ORIAZUL to the public the professional and artistic maturity of the musicians.


After July 1997 the game was on ORIAZUL’s side, by the publication of their first album « Djobé pa mi »; The Senegalese Cape-Verdians had all reasons to feel proud of ORIAZUL for this production which enriched the Cape-Verdian musical repertoire initiated at the beginning of that decade, participating this way in the spirit of creativity that entertains the Diaspora.

International Day

Last friday we had our international day performance. This day is in commemoration of the many cultures and nationalities we have at ICS. The started with assemblies that led to a flag march. Student, in their native ceremonial dress, marched with flags of the country. It was a sight to see.

Unfortunately I did not see the flags until they came to the big amphitheater because I was getting set up for the performance. Once the flags arrived and the rest of the community who came we began. The students holding the flag of their country all said their greeting from where they come from in their language. It was really amazing to see.


Next, after the Ethiopian flag came up, the HS band played an arrangement of the Ethiopian National Anthem that I arranged. They did a remarkable job. The strange thing with Ethiopian music is that the accompaniments are based on the rhythm of the words. So when I saw the original of the National Anthem, the phrasing kept changing form 4 bar phrases to 3 bar phrases to 2 bar phrases back to 4.

It was ridiculous. So the tune was originally written in a march style so I continued that and created a couple of countermelodies in the B and Trio sections. After I was writting the last few notes I thought to myself, "Man, I hope they don't arrest me for changing parts of the National Anthem. However, I guess I had no worries becuase the Ethiopian staff loved it. (Whew!)


The rest of the concert was a collage of the entire K-12 music department. Kathy (elementary music director) did some amazing things with her choirs. I am so blessed to have a feeder program like hers. I heard this one little boy in 5th grade singing like Billy Joel. It was amazing. My 1st quarter African Drumming class played as well. Their first tune was the Eagle Bump (aka ICS Cheer) It sounds pretty similar to some drum cadences I wrote in the past.


However, later in the concert we played a tribute to someone who had passed away in the beginning of the year. Ernest Mushora was the beloved soccer (football) coach. The first week we were here Mushora came to seek me out because he heard that ICS was finally starting an African Drumming class. He wanted to be a part of that becuase he had an exceptional background in West African Drumming. The following week we were supposed to meet to discuss what kind of things he wanted to do. Unfortunately, he died suddenly from a heart attack.

Everyone spoke of what a great person this Mushora was and many public discussions were had in his honor. I was studing a few rhythms from Ghana that are used for celebrations, funerals, weddings, etc. And I came across one called Adowa. I taught it to the students and they felt that this would be a great tribute to Mushora. So we performed that as well. From what I heard there was a lady from Ghana who stood up and began dancing.


Then there was my choir who I guess became the highlight of the show. They did a great job. Singing in 3 and at times 4 parts well. They were expressive they had energy. It was great.

One of my favorite comments about the choral performance that I shared with the kids was one that came from a parent, "I thought kids sang bad because they were kids. They sounded good." Interesting, huh.


After the performance the parents brought food from their native country to share with everyone in the courtyard. It was a great day!