Ferndale High School

The orchestra is practicing their commisioned composition. Read a sneak peek, and stories about 4th grade camp, book club, teachers of the year, high school & college dual enrollment grads, and more!

Weekly E-blast - May 10th, 2019

It is with great excitement that I share an update on the Ferndale Orchestra's commissioned piece. Commissioning an original composition is a unique opportunity for a performance group. Thanks entirely to private donations and the help of OrchSupport and Ferndale Schools Fine Arts Boosters, the Ferndale Orchestra program was able to commission composer Costas Dafnis to compose an original composition for the orchestra to be performed at the Ferndale High School Spring Orchestra Concert. 

I received delivery of the piece on Monday and today was the first ever play through of the piece. I tried to impress upon the symphony orchestra students what a unique experience this was. The very first time that this piece of music had ever been played into existence by actual instruments was what they played in class today. Before then it had existed only as a collection of dots and lines on a page, as an idea in the composers head, or as an electronically generated sound file from a computer. I wonder if they truly grasp how cool that is.  Or maybe I'm just geeking out as a music teacher. :)

The piece is entitled "Like Planted Hearts" and composer Costas Dafnis drew inspiration from the wedding poem that J.R.R. Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy among other things) wrote for his wife Edith on their wedding day.

Lo! Young we are and yet have stood
like planted hearts in the great Sun
of Love so long (as two fair trees
in woodland or in open dale
stand utterly entwined and breathe
the airs and suck the very light
together) that we have become
as one, deep rooted in the soil
of Life and tangled in the sweet growth.

The students will continue to rehearse the piece in preparation for it's public performance debut at our spring orchestra concert on May 21st at 7 pm in the FHS Auditorium. We invite everyone to come be a part of this special once in a lifetime opportunity.  

If you would like to be a part of this project in a more tangible way, we are still accepting donations to go towards the cost of the commission. Donations of $15 and above will be thanked personally in the program. For more details on how to donate please contact me.  

April showers bring may flowers, but what do may flowers bring? May flowers bring learning gardens, not to mention home-grown leaders at the state, national and international level in music, marketing, robotics, diversity, and more. Read about all of them in the e-blast!

Weekly e-blast - May 3rd, 2019

We have an extra fun e-blast to lead into the long weekend. This issue includes Middle School honors, robotics leaders, poets on the street (literally), and a live sheep!

Weekly E-blast - April 18, 2019