technology
Verona Area High School Music Department:
Leading the Way for Nearly a Quarter Century David Johnson, WMEA State Chair, Technology
The last time I had stepped foot inside Verona Area High School (VAHS), I was in college and a member of UW- Stevens Point’s jazz ensemble. We were on tour and recorded a couple of CDs in
the recording studio. I was excited to return to VAHS and spend the day there after so many years.
I have been aware of the constant buzz surrounding the innovations in technol- ogy and music facilities design occurring at Verona High School ever since the 1990s, having grown up in Madison. I was in 11th
grade when Verona High School
completed construction of its perform- ing arts center. Many of Verona’s early technology innovations found their way into the music department at UW-Stevens Point, my college alma mater, including the portable practice unit – a portable kit of tools to assist students in helping them record and assess their practice sessions.
Verona High School’s music suite boasts a 700-seat auditorium with excellent acoustics, a dedicated music computer lab with 15 Mac-based computer work stations each with a MIDI keyboard and four channel mixer, a class piano room/ chamber music rehearsal room, a full recording studio, three separate rehearsal rooms for band, choir and orchestra, seven practice rooms and wireless Inter- net throughout. The rehearsal rooms and practice rooms surround a shared music office area – a cozy and comfortable space with lots of room to work, collaborate and easily monitor the other rooms. The idea behind the design was to let students “see themselves as musicians” whenever
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they were in the space. The music suite was the brainchild of former VAHS band director John Georgeson. Even today, the VAHS music department continues to be at the cutting-edge. VAHS was the first school in the greater Madison area to have a dedicated performing arts center. Other surrounding districts soon broke ground on their own performing arts centers after Verona had become the school to envy.
My day began in Judy Georgeson’s concert choir rehearsal. This group of 30 auditioned singers (minus a few) was re- hearsing Maurice Durufle’s “Ubi Caritas” in a recording activity. Mrs. Georgeson first rehearsed a couple trouble spots in the music before switching on a CD re- corder to capture the first take. After the first take was completed, they listened to the recording and she had the students write down five things they thought went well or didn’t go well about the perfor- mance. After a brief discussion, a second take was made. After listening to their
See more photos of Verona Area High School’s music suite in the online digital version of WSM.
second take, the questions were raised, “Was the second take better? Worse? Different?” Students are always harder on themselves than teachers are. After several comments were shared amongst the group the students were asked to write down three things they should personally do better to improve the ensemble. The papers were then handed in as part of an ongoing journaling assignment and writ- ing assessment.
My next stop was the band room. Anyone who wants to witness a textbook example of how to properly rehearse a band should try and pay a visit to Verona and watch
Continued on page 20
Eric Anderson helps a student assign channels for their recording session using Apple’s Logic.
April 2012
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