The Commission Project: A Natural Act

"Kids, please welcome Max Roach." It would be hard to imagine five more thrilling words for high school students just discovering jazz. Max Roach walks into the band room at Midwood High School in Brooklyn, just hours after arriving from Paris. Faced with awe-struck students, Max comes alive. He listens to them play, compliments them, woodsheds their intonation. Then he gets the kids vamping on a minor-nine chord, takes a seat at the trap set, and builds an imposing piece of music in real time.

Maxine Roach, Max's daughter and the violist with the swinging Uptown String Quartet, solos on a few choruses. Just a few minutes earlier, Maxine had told the kids what it meant to her to have studied music there at Midwood High School: how an orchestra director smuggled her across district lines to attend his school, how that dedicated educator set her on a career path in music.

How many kids are being inspired just as Maxine was? To judge by the press of students around these two role models afterward–quite a few.

Professionals with Students

The above is an account of but one recent event arranged by The Commission Project, one of those organizations that accomplishes an enormous amount on a remarkably small budget. TCP's main work is to commission composers of all kinds to write for student ensembles or professional groups, always with an eye to getting pros and kids working together. Players like Jon Faddis, Larry Combs (principal clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and Michael Davis (the trombonist who tours with the Rolling Stones) are often soloists in new pieces for kids. Commissioning new titles from seasoned writers helps assure the material will be suitable for specific students. It also sets up creative partnerships in the classroom–between teacher and composer, composer and soloist, soloist and students–that teach kids what teamwork can really mean. And students start composing, too, mentored by real-world composers. Student works are often performed right alongside the commissioned music.

At Midwood High School, Max and Maxine's appearance was a prelude to a half-year residency with Diedre Murray. This improvising cellist is under commission to write music for Midwood's orchestra, working with director Kevin Knutsen (himself a jazz French horn player) to introduce string players to jazz forms and improvisation.

Standing behind Diedre's residency and commission, Max and Maxine's visit, and The Commission Project's hundreds of similar events every year is Ned Corman. Ned specializes in connecting good people, and his record of connecting professional musicians with teachers and students goes way back. Maybe connections come so naturally to him because of his dual life–as a saxophone player/doubler (with acts ranging from Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians to Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, The Temptations, Chuck Mangione, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra) and as a 25-year teacher of instrumental music at Penfield High School outside Rochester, New York. While teaching he commissioned over 100 titles for his ensembles; but in the five years since he retired in 1994 and founded The Commission Project, he has logged 117 titles commissioned, 44 published, and 24 recorded and commercially released. In the process over 2,000 students at a dozen-plus schools have blown, bowed, or sung with the best. Residencies with both jazz and classical musicians are now blossoming all around Rochester and across New York City...plus Cleveland, Ohio; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Evanston, Illinois–not bad on a yearly budget around $100,000.

"As an active player I could always talk with authority about being a professional musician," Ned recalls. "I also didn't burn out–either from playing or from teaching. But the biggest benefit was my proximity to other professionals. I was always fearless about asking people to come to my school." He brought over many a promising young talent from the Eastman School and a formidable list of stars including Jon Faddis, Max Roach, Chuck Mangione, Paquito D'Rivera, Steve Allen, even The Fifth Dimension and the Smothers Brothers.

"Being next to a professional player changes your life," he marvels, thinking of his own student days. "Suddenly it's different. And as composers become part of the place, the kids see creating music not so much as bewildering but as a natural act."

Steven Gates can testify to that. He may be Vice President for Artists and Repertory at RCA Victor now, but he was once a trumpet player in one of Ned's ensembles. At Penfield High School, Steven rubbed shoulders with a succession of greats–Chuck Mangione, Doc Severinson, and the young Jon Faddis–and discovered a tradition passing through the generations right into the classroom. "I realized Mangione's and Severinson's influences were Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard. Then when Jon came, a guy almost our age, a monster player who was out there doing it–all of us were knocked out. And to find out that Dizzy Gillespie was his mentor!" No wonder Steven is a key board member for The Commission Project today.

From the Composer

The Commission Project residency has opened doors and brought more pleasure than I could have imagined. I was unprepared for the glow of junior high kids and the unbridled enthusiasm of the high schoolers. Learning to write for adolescent boys has been a challenge–like writing five-finger pieces for piano. And I think the relationship between composer-in-residence and ensemble means that the time together is special and mustn't be wasted. The residency puts the music in front of the students while it's still warm; the kids make it hotter.

The origins of my piece, Sampler, give some idea of the value of collaboration. Choral director Anne Klus' ideas were vital: "They love to do solos." "They'll want to dance to it: we'll have to have choreography." "That part is ideal for the boys but better up a step." In the end, the piece included the sung alphabet, a dozen solo parts, and a square dance choreographed by a student.

It's very important to me to feel that the music I write has a place, that there is a reason for writing it, that it doesn't sit on the shelf. How gratifying then to have an aspiring eighth-grade clarinetist approach me and ask for a piece for clarinet trio for her to play with her classmates! This is what Marge Piercy was talking about at the end of her poem "To Be of Use": "The pitcher cries for water to carry/and a person for work that is real."

Epiphanies like this don't happen without a thoughtful teacher guiding students to a point where the spark can jump. Michael Rotello is that kind of band directorat Manhattan East Center for Arts and Academics, a New York middle school where composer and pianist Michael Holober is in residence.

"It's like a single teacher in the classroom, with two parts," Rotello explains. "Skills in middle school teaching are not Mike Holober's strength, but his musical knowledge is way above mine. He lets kids know this is the way a professional works. It opens a whole new door."

The two Mikes have developed a powerful team-teaching method. "It took us three or four sessions to figure it out," says Mike the teacher. "We take the experience on my part, on his part, we team up, and we just bombard the kids." Taking a double class period, Rotello starts off at the podium, conducting warm-ups while Holober roams, checking fingerings and making one-on-one suggestions. Then they switch: Holober directs the piece he is writing for the kids while Rotello gives individual attention. "The piece is untitled so far," says Rotello. "The kids like that: they've got a surprise coming."

It is a mark of Ned's high regard for inspiring teachers that The Commission Project's first step in New York City was to establish an Award for Outstanding Service to Music in New York City Schools. The first honoree was Justin DiCioccio, director of the All-City High School Jazz Ensemble, founder of the jazz program at LaGuardia High School for the Arts, and a live-wire inspiration to generations of students.

Ned has three questions for teachers considering working with resident artists. "First, do you want to do it? Second, are you well-enough organized? There is real additional responsibility in organizing things. Finally, are you ready to rethink your expectations and priorities? Burning your rehearsal time with composer-student interaction will not necessarily lead to a higher performance standard tomorrow. The payoff can come six, twelve, twenty-four years later for that student. You are also taking a chance whether the new music will work well."

From the Students

The Penfield Model

Ned believes there is no reason a teacher who answers these three questions correctly cannot start a project of his or her own, just as he did. "When I began work in Penfield in 1968," Ned explains, "the Ford Foundation was sponsoring residencies and commissions; and Penfield got some of that support. Then the money dried up, and we got a new superintendent who just didn't think the arts were important. We treaded water until his contract wasn't renewed." In the early 1980s growth seemed possible again for music; so Ned tried to renew the work with composers, starting with three Eastman undergraduates. "I asked them each to write a piece for $100. I said I didn't know where I'd get the money, but I'd get it. I asked them to come out and listen to the kids first, then come out for rehearsals, and then hear the performance." They all accepted the offer.

Ned did find the money by asking individuals who respected his work in the district. "I routinely kept addresses of anyone I thought liked what I was doing," he confides. "After all, I'd been fired twice [and reinstated twice] over refusing to start a Pep Band. I wrote a letter to 500 people, saying, 'we've invited some talented people from Eastman School of Music to write for our student ensembles. Would you consider writing a check?'" A hundred people responded with checks from $5 to $25: $1,000 in all. And Penfield Music Commission Project was born.

As commission succeeded commission, Ned formed an advisory board, set up a separate account with the district, and consulted with the district business manager. He advises anyone trying this at home to be careful about the money. "Be thoughtful about structuring things: where does the money go; how is it accounted for; how do you draw on the account; how do you work through the district? There must be no question that gifts are properly used." Gifts to The Commission Project are extraordinarily well used, not least because for all his pioneering work, Ned has never received a penny's compensation.

Penfield Music Commission Project sails on under Jim Doser's direction, bringing in residencies with people like Clark Terry and Wycliffe Gordon but also reaching out in new directions. The organization created a curriculum to accompany the Smithsonian Institution's traveling exhibition "The Jazz Age in Paris," with original compositions by David Rivello that teach high school bands to play in styles associated with Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and others of the period. Penfield runs a composition contest for new band music: the kids sit in judgment over professional composers' entries. The Penfield kids have even started a web-based publishing division for the project's commissioned works (<www.penfield.edu/pmcp>). They turned a profit their first year.

Life Cycle of a Concerto

An Idea with Legs

Can it be done elsewhere? Ask Bill Tiberio. "'Fairport Commissions' essentially stole the model from The Commission Project." A two-year-old extracurricular fund of the Fairport (New York) School District, where Bill directs bands, Fairport Commissions is funded completely by individual donors. The pump was primed by two residencies sponsored by The Commission Project, of which Bill is now a board member. "The positive press and feelings around the first couple of residencies made it easy to carry on the work," he says, stressing the importance of public relations. "In all cases we have the composer come speak to the audience, conduct the music, and build a relationship with the audience. Some folks are attending school concerts year after year; so it's a long-term group.

"The premiere of a brand new work by a composer who's working with the kids in class tends to have a high impact with people: they remember that. And," he adds, "it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. There are lots of composers out there who are very willing to give back to the community. It just takes some initiative on the band director's part to connect with them."

"The primary reason we're all doing this is not to make a buck," Ned laughs. "It's one thing to go to work and be paid for what you did at the recording session. The other side is: how do I share what I do well with someone else who wants to do it well?" There has been no shortage of outstanding artists feeling that way. "I'm not hesitant to ask people to do something for nothing...because, of course, it's not for nothing. Your heart's fuller because of it."

Max Roach said as much when he had first visited Penfield High School. "These kids have given me a new lease on life."

Selected Titles from The Commission Project

To find out more about The Commission Project, visit the web site at <tcp-music.orgl>; write to The Commission Project, 500 Panorama Trail, Rochester, NY 14625-1848 USA; or contact Ned Corman by e-mail at <ncorman@tcp-music.org>. [Also visit the related link on this web site.]