I have an official MAHS music schedule saved in my drafts folder. It's a breeze to call it up and stay informed. So I made a note the other day that a junior high band concert was coming up for this coming Thursday. That's April 27. To be held at the concert hall of course. Technically it's grades 5-8. Concert to begin at 7:30.
It's nice for the public to pay attention to these grade levels, sort of the "unsung kids." They can perform at a high level too. So, come one, come all to the Thursday concert? Not so fast. I mentioned the upcoming concert, in passing, to a similarly music-attuned friend. It's a good thing I brought it up. The concert has been taken off the calendar for its original date.
I thought the school liked to stick to its schedules. Seems rather off-putting to see a change from that. My friend emailed:
FYI, the MAHS 5-8 concert scheduled for next Thursday has been moved to the following Monday (May 1st), will be a “double-header” with the Jazz Bands concert.
I responded:
It's a good thing you told me or I would have shown up in error. I wonder why the change? Not enough support for a jazz-alone concert any more? Fading of the jazz concept here?
Not good, perhaps, for me to grope for a theory. Can bring out the cynicism in me. I most definitely want the jazz genre to be preserved at MAHS. On a broad scale I sometimes think jazz has lost some of its previous luster. Maybe it's partly cultural? Perhaps the same factors in play that stood in the way of jazz in our schools before about the mid-1970s?
UMM could not have sold a jazz program at the very start of its existence. Society was not even ready for girls sports. The issue with jazz? Well, maybe there's a perception that it comes from sort of a low-class backwater in the arts. Heavens, rock 'n' roll got pigeon-holed for a long time that way too.
My late father Ralph would have had the credentials to set up a jazz group at UMM. He played in jazz-oriented dance groups when he was younger like at the U of M. Also most notably at the Glacier Park lodge where he led a group in 1940. After one academic year teaching at Brainerd High School, he got swept up in World War II, going to the Pacific Ocean. He was a lieutenant.
My late mother Martha was a native of Brainerd. Hmmm.
Strange: I never inquired about the nature of their initial personal bond. But Mom did have a photo she took of my dad before they had become close. She told me that she "finally got brave enough" to ask Dad to pose for a moment for a photo. I have that photo saved online.
No, the world was not ready for jazz in college when UMM began its journey. It was up to Jim Carlson, who had sung under my father in the UMM men's chorus, to inaugurate jazz in a spectacular way. No more inhibitions about the genre! Sweep all that aside! Make way for the UMM Jazz Festival which in short order became a true highlight on UMM's academic calendar.
We knew the Fest was on when we saw orange school buses out and about in the community. Kids came to learn and to be in awe of top-caliber talent. The Jazz Fest was revived for the current UMM calendar. It was held recently. Friends have indicated to me that the details might have been handled better. But it's great that the event is a "go" once again.
Is it permanent? I have to wonder how solid UMM's footings are, frankly. If the institution makes no changes, can we really expect enrollment to arrest itself from its notable drop-off since 2017? We have to wonder.
And so much instability in administrative leadership now. Morris has an interim person who is capable enough - really, why look for a new one? - and at the Twin Cities U, it appears all hell has broken loose with a departing president, here only a short time in the scheme of things, and that person has been raked over the coals in media commentary. She's not going back to South Carolina, rather it's Pittsburgh. So that is clearly where her heart is now, home of the Steelers.
And to think I took the trouble to meet her at two different events here. I'll pass on these events in the future. Even the Star Tribune has been most un-generous in assessing her.
I have implied the state legislature is to blame. Upon further reflection, I guess it's the Regents who have authority delegated to them by the legislature. Well, maybe skip that level in the future. Perhaps a committee of legislators could just take charge? Jesse Ventura when he was governor said "for the amount of money we (the state) gives to the University, maybe I should run it."
If the notion seemed a little absurd at the time, it is not any more. Ventura was dealing with that Yudof fellow as president. Yudof was like a magnet for wanting more money.
The junior high concert
Now that I have taken the long way around the barn in today's post, I'll follow up on how MAHS music has adjusted its schedule. So we cannot trust an advance public schedule coming from the school? That is unfortunate. Also very unfortunate is how two concerts are going to be wedged together. And don't tell me for a moment that each concert will be just as enriching as if the original schedule had been followed.
The April 27 concert was supposed to be special for the junior high parents. Don't ever sniff at junior high activities. When yours truly was in junior high band here, we played my father's composition "Born to Be Free." That was at the old school auditorium (the razed school). We would not have seen ourselves as back seat to the high school band.
Today the junior high concert gets shifted from its original date and gets added on to a jazz concert. Two in one night. That night will be May 1, Monday. I wonder if spring will have arrived by then. You see, that's the whole problem: the belated nature of spring.
I got filled in on the likely explanation for it all. Can you guess? Do you suspect it has something to do with the needs of sports? We don't need a rocket scientist to come up with that one. A friend communicated with me:
Regarding the moving of the 5-8 concert – I see that there’s a 7/8 track meet scheduled for that late afternoon, but I don’t know if that was on the calendar earlier.
Spring sports must now be deemed a nightmare. Is this the worst ever? It has happened before but to this degree? I find it literally depressing. Games and meets scrubbed or postponed all over the place. Then I assume a frantic effort to get things re-scheduled. Will we see baseball and softball with doubleheaders every day of the week including Wednesday? Wednesday is church night but God (or Donald Trump) can wait.
Games are going to be played now even if conditions remain uncomfortable. A waitress told me "as long as there's no lightning."
Why do we go through this? Again I'll state we should have an indoor sports schedule of some kind, up until May 1. Intramural maybe? Wouldn't it be wonderful to count on the schedule just like we do in fall and winter? Why does the spring have to be so different? At the very least it's anticlimactic. All the excitement of fall and winter sports could continue into spring if we just planned better.
The "softball complex" has been sitting there with water, snow and mud prevalent. Our property taxes contributed to that. I have campaigned vigorously for an "inflatable cover" for the Big Cat playing field. I have gotten no meaningful feedback on that. St. Cloud State can swing this so why not us? We were able to get Big Cat Stadium in the first place.
But look at the pathetic "softball complex." So much less that what we were led to believe it would be. Just saying.
I am keeping the faith with the MAHS instrumental music program. I will remind y'all that I have committed to seeing that the jazz program will have decorative banners to be hung on their music stands. I'm paying for it. I wish this could be done quicker. But oh well. A photo of an early sample is seen below. If you know Wanda, maybe prod her.
Addendum: If the upcoming jazz concert is grades 6-12, then I'm sure admission will be charged. A grades 5-8 concert would be free, n'est-ce pas? A 5-8 concert is a showcase for director Andrea DeNardo. I'm a supporter of DeNardo because we are fellow customers of Caribou Coffee at 7-8 a.m. weekdays. A suggestion: order the bacon, egg and cheese bagels!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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