Posted in: Live Music by majimusa on January 20th, 2011 | 0 Comments
Former Northmont School District band director Dick Cool helped a lot of kids learn to appreciate music.
On Tuesday, Northmont’s sixth-grade band will return that appreciation on behalf of the district by paying tribute to Cool during a special concert.
Elementary band director Julia Stevens and her students will perform the world premier of Morning Star Overture, commissioned from composer Anne McGinty of Arizona in Cool’s honor.
McGinty is known among music teachers and others for her compositions for elementary and junior high school students.
`This is a really big deal to the kids,’ Stevens said. `There are 110 band members from all (seven) elementary schools in the district, and they’ve all been working hard to prepare for this performance.’
Stevens said Cool, who lives in Englewood, was Northmont’s first band director. He plays trumpet and still gives private music lessons.
It was Stevens’ immediate predecessor, former elementary band director Gary Pfister , who made the initial contact with composer McGinty concerning a piece for Cool.
“Dick has just been so influential in music in the area and in our district,” Stevens said. “ Steven Cory , who is director of the Northmont Junior High School band, was his student, and so was Steven Winteregg (of Englewood), who plays tuba with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.
“Dick’s contributions to music education have been so important and we’re excited about this performance because we wanted to honor him for those. We also think it will help the kids appreciate what he’s done and what other teachers do.”
