TDHS graduate leads band at OMEA conference

Ensembles from around the state give performances throughout the conference, which consists of various clinics and presentations. Auditioning as a featured ensemble, Crane submitted recordings of his advanced band, which were reviewed by a committee. According to Crane, it’s the first time Sherwood middle school has ever submitted an audition.

“Most middle schools don’t take up this opportunity, but we did … we’re selected,” Crane said.

When deciding what music to perform, Crane knew he was interested in performing newer pieces, working with Seattle-based composer and educator Erin Keeton Howard to play one of her pieces, as well as a Brian Belmages piece and a composition called Byzantine Dances by Carol Britton Chambers.

“One of the things that bands like to do is they like to celebrate new composers, new music, especially from diverse composers in different gender backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, and just trying to capture as much diverse artists as they can,” Crane said.

One composition Crane was particularly excited about is one he commissioned from Hodges, a The Dalles local composer and one of Crane’s former music teachers.

Hodges, whose family had moved to The Dalles area when he was in fourth grade, spent decades teaching K-12 music education back and forth between The Dalles and Dufer school districts. Initially intending to retire with the consolidation of Districts 9 and 12, Hodges was invited to teach at the different campuses over the next eight years before retiring for a final time in 2012.

Having been composing music since college, Hodges has written original pieces for choir, jazz and marching band ensembles, and has 130 pieces published by Alfred Music publishing company, as well as several unpublished pieces he had written for various events.

“I feel the most comfortable writing for smaller bands,” said Hodges. “I enjoyed the challenge of writing mu-sic that would still have a full sound and that every player got to play parts of the melody at some time during the piece. I also enjoyed watching the fast development of younger instrumentalists and the energy they have.”

While having been a student of Hodges, Crane also played percussion for Hodges’ family band while in high school.

“I was looking for a drummer to play with our family band that provides music for occasional dances and our family’s wedding receptions,” Hodges said. “I gave him the music and recordings of the songs we were playing … to our amazement, when we practiced each song, Casey had every rhythm, every phrase ending and every solo down perfectly as played in the recordings.”

When considering pieces for the Oregon Music Educators Association conference, Crane reached out to Hodges. “I was like, I want to premiere a brand-new work for band down there, something that no one has heard before, and so I asked him if he would write something for us and he was really excited about the idea,” Crane said.

“I was honored to receive his request,” Hodges said. “It was definitely a collaborative effort as I wanted it to be something his band would enjoy working on.”

The piece in question, “A Sherwood Festival,” according to Crane, is a “multi-movement suite” inspired by the story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, which is a prominent motif within the town of Sherwood and the inspiration for Sherwood’s annual Robin Hood Festival.

According to Hodges, the piece “starts with an introductory fanfare leading to an homage to Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men as they set off on one of their adventures,” which is followed by a lyrical tribute to Maid Marian and ends with a “high-energy celebration,” of Robin Hood and Maid Marian’s wedding.

“We’re excited to premiere it at the conference and recognize Steve and just build the band culture,” Crane said.

Before the performance, Hodges went to Sherwood to visit Crane’s band and heard them play the piece for the first time. “I had to keep reminding myself that these were eight grade musicians playing. They were outstanding,” Hodges said.

According to its website, the OMEA is a 501c3 nonprofit organization “dedicated to the music education of Oregonians of all ages,” with the majority of its approximate 900 members teaching k-12, college and/or university programs. While being a resource for music educators around the state, the organization also puts on an annual conference to bring together the different levels and aspects of music education in Oregon.

“It brings all of the music educators — choir, band, orchestra, elementary music as well as university level,” Crane said, “Anyone that’s involved in music education is welcome.”

For more information about the OMEA, visit their website at www.oregonmusic.org.

Growing up with music

Crane, who grew up in The Dalles, was an active participant in the school music programs throughout elementary, middle and high school. In middle school, Crane took up the flute as part of the middle school band program, though by high school had turned his interest towards the drums after seeing the high school drumline while marching in a parade.

“I begged and begged and begged, and said ‘Please, please please, let me play percussion,’ and the director said, ‘Sure, fine, we need some more people,’ and I guess it was downhill from there,” Crane joked.

Participating and eventually becoming the high school drumline section leader, Crane decided to continue with his passion for music and auditioned for the University of Oregon School of Music, though he was initially not accepted.

“I think it was sort of like a ‘big fish, small pond’ type of thing,” Crane said, “We had some really good teachers and stuff, but the resources aren’t the same maybe where you would find them in maybe more of the metro area … so I think that was kind of a shock for me …. [at the time] I’d had one band teacher and one drum teacher, and then going into more formal concert percussion, like university level stuff was kind of a skill shock for me.”

Going on to U of O as an undeclared major for his first two years, Crane still wanted to pursue music and auditioned for the university marching band, starting off as a bass percussionist. While in the drumline, he reached out to his section leader to find out who to get lessons from.

“I was really interested in getting better,” Crane said.

After starting lessons, Crane was encouraged by his instructor to audition for the group Oregon Crusaders Indoor, a winter percussion unit. Crane eventually worked his way up to snare drum and quads after making drumline section leader in the marching band. While in the percussion unit, the group made it to Dayton, Ohio, for a world championship competition, medaling two out of the three years Crane participated.

By his third year of college, Crane auditioned for, and this time made it into the U of O School of Music.

“Found the themes — I find something that’s really interesting and I’m really not very good at it, but then I’ll find the people that are really good and I’ll invest so heavily into the activity that I’ll start to become a lot more adept at it,” he said.

While an undeclared major, Crane was considering whether he was interested in pursuing a career in music after graduating. While taking a special education class as a general studies course, Crane read a book written by his professor regarding how schools and communities came together to address and overcome challenges students face that he was inspired to go into education.

“You’re reading this book and it’s full of these real-life success stories for kids and he was so inspirational that I’m like … I’m going to go into education.”

While initially considering other specialties like math or social studies, Crane knew no matter what, he’d end up in the school’s band room, and ultimately settled on a music education degree. Working for a handful of school districts after graduation, he continued his method of utilizing the experience of those around him to improve himself.

“I had a school program that prepped me, but there’s just behavior things that I hadn’t learned, like instrument pedagogy, things that I was really fuzzy on like programming music for different ensembles,” Crane said. “I started to kind of do what I did earlier and seek out the professionals in the field, like, ‘Hey, what are you doing? What’s going on? What am I missing?’ … and so I got better.”

Spending three years teaching near Eugene at Bethel School district after graduating, Crane started a high school winter percussion program and took over the high school marching band when the director left, helping the group grow from last place in competition to making finals.

After moving to the Portland area with his wife, Crane began substituting for multiple school districts in the area, as well as spent a year and a half as interim music director at Glencoe High School in Hillsborough, before taking on a permanent position at Laurel Ridge Middle School, one of two middle schools in Sherwood, teaching band as well as elementary level music.

Following the merging of the two middle schools and the retirement of the former Sherwood Middle School Band director, Crane took the position as the full-time middle school level director at the newly combined Sherwood middle School. Following his new position, Crane began implementing different teaching models that had shown success in other schools, such as “beginner splits,” putting students beginners classes specific to their instruments, rather than altogether in a single band.

“The kids are always engaged … they’re counting, they’re signing, they’re playing or their doing their patters,” Crane said. “No one’s ever just sitting there, and so it just increases engagement, allows you to differentiate instruction, and I think you’ll have better bands because of that.”