Welcome Back!

It's hard to believe that it's already September of a brand new school year! Columbus Academy 1st-4th Graders are off to a great start.

Our Composer of the Month through the end of September is Hans Zimmer, a wonderful German composer who works mainly with creating soundtracks for movies. Here is a link to his Wikipedia page, if you'd like to learn more about him. He recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (picture to the left) and is hard at work creating the score for Disney's newest film, "The Lone Ranger." I also attached a video for his 'greatest hits' at the bottom of our blog.

First Composer of the Month: Danny Elfman

WELCOME BACK!

Our first composer of the month is the incredible Danny Elfman. Please read below for information about him taken from Wikipedia.

Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American musician, best known for composing music for television and movies and leading the rock band Oingo Boingo as a singer/songwriter from 1976 until its breakup in 1995. He is a frequent collaborator with long-time friend Tim Burton and has scored most of his films (the exceptions being Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd). He has been nominated for four Academy Awards and won a Grammy Award for Tim Burton's Batman and an Emmy Award for his Desperate Housewives theme. Elfman is famous for creating The Simpsons main title theme, and his role as Jack Skellington's singing voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also sang for the character Bonejangles in the movie Corpse Bride. He is the uncle in-law to actress Jenna Elfman.

4th Grade Soloists performing "There Will Be Peace" at the All-School Assembly on January 15th honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It has been a busy winter for Lower School Music! Aside from dealing with many Snow Days, all of the 1st-4th Graders have been hard at work preparing for various concerts and assemblies. As shown above, all of them were involved in a special assembly which honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The 1st Graders had an incredible performance in February that centered around Valentine's Day, President's Day, and the "Whacky, Whacky" West. And our 4th Grade leaders are currently preparing to present "101 Dalmatians KIDS!" on Thursday, March 11th (at 1p for the Lower School and at 7p for anyone who needs some canine amusement).

We will also be focusing on the AMAZING Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington as our Composer of the Month during March and April. He is considered to be one of the most prominent jazz musicians throughout American history, but his work extended far beyond just that simple genre. To hear one of his most famous compositions, "It Don't Mean a Thing," scroll to the bottom of the page and click PLAY to see him with his orchestra! You can find out more about Mr. Ellington by visiting his official website.

We have our sights set on Spring Break and then wonderful concerts by our 3rd Graders and 4th Grade Choir in April and May! And then, Mrs. Garver Solis will be welcoming her son into the world...hopefully after all of these concerts are finished! Haha!

Mach 1 Music Rocks!

Columbus Academy's 2nd-4th Graders yell out "Mach 1 Music Rocks!" while accompanied by Amy and Eddie's song, "Put Yourself in Their Shoes."

Mrs. Garver Solis works with Eddie Galan and Tiffany Thornton!

Columbus Academy Lower School music teacher Amy Garver not only got married this summer (she’s now Amy Garver Solis), she also used one of the school’s Putnam Grants to travel to California to create a song with four-time #1 Hit Billboard songwriter Eddie Galan.

While in Los Angeles, Garver Solis also sang background vocals for a song called “Picture Perfect” on a new album by Tiffany Thornton, who stars on the Disney Channel’s “Sunny With a Chance” and is pictured above with Garver Solis on the left and Galan on the right.

At the beginning of the 2008-09 school year, Garver Solis selected Galan as the first Composer of the Month for her Lower School music classes and posted information about him on her school blog. Galan found the blog while doing a Google search of his name and left a comment for Garver Solis, who contacted him through his MySpace page.

Galan offered to answer questions from students about his life and being a composer. The students, in turn, showered him with homemade “thank you” cards and his favorite chocolate bars. When Garver Solis requested his assistance on helping to create a song for her students, Galan suggested she come to his studio.

To hear Garver Solis’ duet with Eddie Galan – titled “Put Yourself in Their Shoes” – go to http://intranet.columbusacademy.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=2958.

The trip was funded by the school’s Putnam Grant program, which was established to honor the legacy of William Putnam, Columbus Academy Headmaster from 1960 to 1977. The grants are intended to encourage professional and personal growth through a variety of summertime experiences which enhance and nourish the teaching life rather than meet specific instructional needs of the school, a division or a department.

Click here to read a Suburban News article about Garver Solis' trip!

Click here to read a This Week news article about Garver Solis' trip!

(Taken from the Columbus Academy Official Website.)

April/May Composer of the Month: Alan Menken!

Alan Menken is an American composer of musical theater and film music. He was born in New Rochelle, New York on July 22nd, 1949. Menken developed a love of music at a very early age, and he took private lessons on both the violin and piano. He grew up to be an extremely talented pianist.

Despite that early tutelage, Menken decided to attend New York University after high school in order to major in their pre-Med program. However, after several months of studying, he realized how much he missed music, and he decided to switch over his focus to it. After graduating, he met a wonderful lyricist named Howard Ashman, and the two began a very famous professional partnership.

Menken is well-respected for his work with musical theater (with such shows as "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Weird Romance,"), but he has become a household name due to his association with Disney films. He wrote the music for such famous movies as "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "Hercules." Recently, he composed the soundtrack for "Enchanted." He has won 8 Academy Awards for his film music, and he has been nominated 10 times on top of that!

*Adapted from Wikipedia

Ms. Garver to write a song with Eddie Galan!

At the beginning of the schoolyear, Ms. Garver searched quite a long time to find a suitable composer to be selected for the first choice of the "Composer of the Month" program. She wanted someone that had written music for the Olympics, as she thought that would connect with the students really well at the start of the year. Several Google searches later, she came across Eddie Galan. He seemed like the perfect fit, as he had also worked on music for "High School Musical" (and the big screen version was due to release later that fall). So, the Columbus Academy Lower School learned all about him and absolutely fell in love with his song "Incredible."

A few months after that, Mr. Galan did a Google search of his own and found out that he was the August-September Composer of the Month for Columbus Academy. After much conversation, the Lower School got the tremendous honor of developing a wonderful relationship with him. He opened up and answered their questions about his life and about what it's like to be a composer. They, in turn, showered him with their homemade 'thank you' cards and Hershey chocolate bars (his favorite).

All of that, in of itself, was a wonderful turn of fate. But now, a true dream of Ms. Garver's is coming true. Due to the receipt of a special grant, known as the Putnam Grant, she will be flying to Los Angeles in June to write a song for the Lower School with Eddie Galan. When approached with the possibility, he was beyond receptive to it and in fact suggested that she also shadow him as he worked. Right now, he is in the studio writing with Selena Gomez (the star of Disney's "Wizards of Waverly Place"). Needless to say, Ms. Garver is (EXTRAORDINARILY) excited about her upcoming trip, and she wanted to share that exuberance with all of you!