DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160452

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   52 lines

CHESAPEAKE'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS TUNE IN TO NEW MUSICAL OFFERINGS

Roll over, Beethoven.

Chesapeake is adding a Caribbean-style steel drum band and a jazz vocal group to the public school system's musical offerings.

The Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission has given the music department funding to create two new extra-curricular musical groups - the Jubilee Jazz Singers and the Jubilee Pans, the steel band, said Carolyn Myers, supervisor of music education for Chesapeake public schools.

While some chorale students have studied jazz, Chesapeake has never offered steel drums before.

``This is a chance for us to explore music from other parts of the world,'' said John Chenault, band director at Indian River High School, who will conduct the new steel band. ``We're going to be learning how to play these instruments and performing them at the same time.''

The Fine Arts Commission provided half of the $6,000 funding needed to purchase four steel drum sets, which include 12 individual drum pans, Myers said. The school district was able to find the rest of the money for the new band, she said.

The hand-made steel pans - hammered out of oil drums - will be imported from Trinidad by the end of the year, she said.

The commission provided $1,200 for the jazz singers, which will be conducted by Deep Creek High School choral director Gordon Parr, Myers said.

The commission also awarded grants to established student music groups - $3,500 for the Chesapeake Promenade Strolling Strings and $3,000 for the Chesapeake Symphony, Myers said. The steel band will replace another established group, the Jubilee Brass band. The Jubilee Jazz Singers replaces the Superintendent's Chorale, a classical vocal group that has been inactive for several years.

These groups draw from all Chesapeake high schools, Myers said. The Jubilee Jazz Singers - open to 20 to 30 students - will begin auditions in September, she said. The Jubilee Pans will begin rehearsing in January, after their drums arrive. Chenault plans to involve a dozen students in the steel band, although only four can play the drum sets at once, by alternating drummers and inviting students to play the timbales and other Latin instruments.

But dozens of middle and high school students will be able to learn to play the steel drums through regular music classes, Chenault said.

Conductors have not yet begun to audition students for either group, Chenault said.

The Jubilee Jazz Singers will work on more than just belting out a tune, Myers said. Learning complex jazz harmonies improves ensemble skills, she said.

All four groups will perform in a gala concert at the end of the next academic year.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu