Ridgewood students dominate All-Bergen band auditions.

Congratulations to the RHS bands!

At last week's All-Bergen County Band auditions, more than 350 students from around the county competed for 85 positions in the performing ensemble recognizing Bergen's best musicians in the county. How's this for a performance? A total of 21 Ridgewood High School band members were selected to perform in this year's All-County Band, the most ever chosen from one school.

That's an amazing accomplishment! I'm very proud of our students and teachers.

You can witness the talent of these students -- and 180+ others -- at the RHS Winter Concert, Wednesday December 8 at 8:00 p.m. at the RHS Campus Center. Admission is free. The program will include the Symphonic Band and the Concert Band & Wind Ensemble.

See you there?

Maroon Men debut at RHS.

Last night the Maroon Men, the new acapella group at RHS, had its debut performance in the Little Theater. Congratulations -- heard it was a great show. (And UConn's Conn Men weren't bad, either.)

I'm always amazed at the talent of some of our students!

Ridgewood schools provide foundation for indie rock bands

Really cool story on the NPR "The Record" website yesterday. The story is first in a series that looks at various places around the country and explores why music scenes grow where they do. Apparently, there are several indie bands with members who came up through the Ridgewood schools and who credit their early music education in our schools with giving them a jump on creating music. I'll be honest -- I have not heard of the bands and I feel a little older now because of it. Check out the full story by clicking here.

Congratulations to our new supervisors!

Last night the BOE appointed two new supervisors:

Mark Ferreri (current RHS social studies teacher) will be Supervisor of Humanities.

Chris McCullough (current RHS art teacher) will be Supervisor of Fine & Applied Arts.

It's really nice to be able to fill these positions with teachers from within the District, helping ensure that the transition is smooth and we maintain continuity. Congrats to both educators!

RHS Celebration of the Arts this Thursday night.

The annual Celebration of the Arts is taking place this week at Ridgewood High School, and the public is invited to the special evening event on Thursday night. It begins at 7:00 p.m. with an art show in the Campus Center and the Gallery on the first floor and continues with a Gala Concert at 8:00 in the Campus Center.

If you want to be knocked out by the amazing artistic talent of our high school students, stop by on Thursday night.

Ridgewood named one of the nation's Best Communities for Music Education

Ridgewood Public Schools has been selected as one of this year’s Best Communities for Music Education in the annual survey by the NAMM Foundation. Ridgewood is one of only 173 districts nationwide, and only 11 districts in New Jersey, to receive this honor.

Notification of the national honor, awarded by the NAMM Foundation, was received by Dr. Edward Schmiedecke, district Supervisor for Fine and Applied Arts, who described the designation as “very hard to get and a great honor for us.”

The determination is made every year and is based on criteria including funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and other relevant factors in their communities’ music education programs.

More information about the award can be found on the NAMM Foundation website at www.nammfoundation.org.

Art & Music Supervisor Research

I was curious about how other districts handle the supervision of art and music. I wanted to either feel better about what our district has proposed, or else prepare myself for how bad it could be. You might be interested in what I found:

Of the Top 20 NJ high schools (according to New Jersey Monthly in 2008):
10 have combined Art/Music Supervisors
7 have separate Supervisors of Art and Music
2 are unknown (couldn't find the info)

Of the 15 high schools attended by award winners in the 2009 duCret School of Art Juried High School Art Show for New Jersey high school students:
9 have combined Art/Music Supervisors
2 have separate Supervisors of Art and Music
4 are unknown

I wanted to compare districts of 5,000+ students (similar to our size), but I couldn't find a quick way to isolate that list. I also considered looking at all the J districts, but I decided to focus on high-performing districts, in whatever quick way I could identify them. (And, yes, I know I've criticized the NJ Monthly rankings in the past but for this purpose, we can assume that the schools on the list are among the best in the state.)

I realize that Ridgewood is special and what we have built over the years in terms of art and music is special. I am deeply concerned that what we have will not remain special. I am certain that in the best of all possible worlds, having separate supervisors of visual art and performing arts is preferred. My little bit of research is unscientific, but I think it shows:

A) Combined art/music supervision may not be a guaranteed "death sentence" for the arts
B) There are other variables that determine the success of art and music programs (and the success of students in those programs)
C) Ridgewood would not be going out on a limb alone if these positions were combined.

Obviously this doesn't answer all the concerns and worries. Just because some other schools have been successful, doesn't guarantee we will be. But likewise, there's no guarantee that our quality will go down, either. The predictions spoken about at Board of Ed meetings (and, regretfully, to students during school hours) are coming from fear -- I understand that. Maybe fear -- as one of the great motivators -- can help drive all of us come up with creative ways to cope.