Notre Dame College’s Performing Arts programs are offering high school band students an exclusive opportunity for advanced learning, culminating in a joint performance of music all composed by women, including a Notre Dame student.
As part of its 2022-2023 Community Series, Notre Dame’s instrumental music experts are providing free masterclasses with college-level faculty and formal performance ensembles with the College Wind Symphony. Nearly 50 instrumentalists in grades 9-12 from eight different area schools have been selected to participate in the program. Students must be nominated by their band instructors for consideration. This is the fourth year for the festival.
The weekend of education and exposition sessions concludes with a concert that is free and open to the public. The High School Honor Band performance with the Wind Symphony is Saturday, February 25, at 7:30 p.m., also in Regina Auditorium.
Women Composers
The event will feature the following music, among other pieces, all composed by women:
- The Notre Dame Wind Symphony will premiere “Funky Bones,” a graphic notation piece written by Notre Dame student composer, Rhiannon Carter.
- Another highlight from the Notre Dame Wind Symphony will be “MARCH!” by Jennifer Jolley. This composition was commissioned by the American Band Master Association and was a finalist for the 2021 National Band Association’s Revelli Composition Content. This piece combines fixed media (electronics) with band.
- The High School Honor Band also is performing award-winning literature, including “Voyage of the Northern Lights” by Isabella Morrill. This piece was the winner of the 2022 National Band Association Composition Contest for Young Band.
As part of the festival at the College this weekend, Notre Dame’s instrumental music department is providing the high school students free masterclasses and a question-and-answer session with faculty, as well as the formal performance ensembles.
In addition to learning from Michael Krueger, M.M., assistant professor of music and co-director of Performing Arts at the College, participants will work with guest conductor and master educator, Melissa Johnson, director of athletic bands at Butler University. March is Women’s History Month.
Master Educators
Johnson has taught preschool through 12th grade music at a variety of schools in Michigan and Indiana. She guest conducted with the Hope College High School Honor Bands program and spent time working with the Fred J. Miller and Music Effect Design Summer Clinic programs, where she taught student leaders at colleges and universities across the United States.
Most recently, Johnson has served as the interim and now is the full-time director of athletic bands at Butler University in Indiana.
While at Notre Dame, Krueger directs and supervises all instrumental ensembles and teaches both applied composition lessons and academic courses in music theory, music literature and music composition. He writes for wind ensembles, chamber ensembles and marching ensembles. His most popular piece, “For Patrick,” was included in Volume 11 of GIA Publication’s Teaching Music Through Performance in Band Series. His wind ensemble music has been featured at multiple honor band concerts and conferences.
Krueger was a member of the drum major and student leadership staff for Fred J. Miller Summer Clinics and was a founding member of the educational and marching band company, Music Effect Design. He has received athletic band commissions from dozens of high schools and collegiate marching and pep bands and is the Music Arranger for the Chattanooga Pageantry Arts Association.
Honor Band
Notre Dame presents its 2023 Honor Band Festival Friday, February 24, from 3-9 p.m. and Saturday, February 25, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., also in Regina Auditorium.
The 2023 Honor Band schedule is as follows:
- Registration and Placement Auditions: Friday, February 24, from 3-5:30 p.m. in Regina Auditorium.
- Dinner Provided: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Opening Rehearsal: 6:30-9 p.m.
- Rehearsal Two: Saturday, February 25, from 10 a.m. to noon.
- Lunch Provided: noon to 1 p.m.
- Masterclasses with Notre Dame Faculty: 1-2 p.m.
- Directors Session with Michael Krueger: 1-2 p.m.
- Rehearsal Three: 2:15-4:15 p.m.
- Dinner Individually: 4:15 p.m.
- Call Time for High School Students: 6:45 p.m.
- Wind Symphony and Honor Band Concert: 7:30 p.m.
High school students nominated for the Notre Dame Honor Band Festival are expected to attend all events. Instrumentalists will audition a full-range chromatic scale, two major scales selected from C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab and Db; a self-prepared, 2–3-minute solo; and sight-reading.
The deadline for student nominations from high school music instructors is Sunday, February 5. Details are available online.
Instrumental Expertise
Notre Dame’s Department of Instrumental Music is an organization of musical performance groups that enhance the arts culture on campus. Membership includes participation in all applicable arenas based on instrumentation, choice of equipment and ensemble. Bands encompass active participation in any of the following instrumental ensembles: Marching Band, Concert Ensembles, Pep Band, Jazz Band and the Wind Symphony.
The College offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in both music and theatre entrepreneurship. The music entrepreneurship provides majors’ emphases in vocal, instrumental or composition, while the theatre entrepreneurship degree focuses on acting and directing.
Additional information on the festival and Performing Arts programs is available online.
January 2023
Kimberly T. Krozser, ’17, contributed to this article.
Updated February 2023
About Notre Dame College
Notre Dame College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts college in South Euclid committed to teaching students how to make a good living and live a good life. Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1922, the College offers bachelor’s degrees in 30 disciplines plus a variety of master’s degrees, certification programs and continuing and professional development programs for adult learners on campus and online. For more information, visit NotreDameCollege.edu.