May 29, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 9A
Seaside band leader shares the
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
T
he Seaside High
School Concert Band
took home statewide
honors on Wednesday, May
3, and their success comes
in large part from the ef-
forts and leadership of band
director Terry Dahlgren.
We sat down with
Dahlgren shortly after his
group’s triumph and probed
for the secrets of his group’s
success.
Dahlgren joined the dis-
trict in 2002. A trumpet
player, he’d been “heavi-
ly involved in band since
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University of Minnesota
as a trumpeter, but already
had played percussion and
marching band. “I started
on violin in fourth grade. I
sort of followed a remote
path.”
On his arrival to Seaside,
he led the group to the state
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about 30 members. Band
includes beginning band,
“Everything is directly re-
lated to how things start at
Broadway. Particularly in
the band area, the class that
starts as sixth-graders is re-
ally the future of the band as
seniors. That’s seven years
of territory to cover. There’s
90 here in symphonic band,
and there’s another 140
down at Broadway, di-
vided between beginning
band and two seventh- and
eighth-grade bands.
The competition for the
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State in Corvallis was Sea-
side’s 10th trip in a row.
“It’s a huge honor just to
get there. The schools are
rated in size based on their
enrollment from 1A to 6A.
The biggest schools are 6A.
Seaside competed in 4A.
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petitions are 4A and 6A,”
he said. “They seem to have
the heaviest concentration
of bands that perform at
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body’s good.”
To prepare, “It actual-
ly starts in the summer,”
Dahlgren said. “I plan
what we’re going to play
in the fall, at contest time,
and what we inevitably do
in the spring. The key for
me, in terms of opportuni-
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is selection of the music in
the summer. I spend hours
listening to old things, lis-
tening to new things.
“At the 4A level, you
have to perform 18 minutes
of music,” he added. “That’s
a good chunk of music. Not
only do you have to pick
music that the kids are go-
ing to learn from, hopeful-
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time requirement. A lot of
times I’ll come up with a
great program that doesn’t
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I have to go back and come
up with the right formula.”
“We rarely take a day off.
We play pretty much every
day of the school year.”
The selections come
from the “mostly classical”
repertoire. “When I started,
we hung around the stan-
dard warhorses, now there’s
a lot of great writing for
high school band.”
Repertoire started with
the “Cincinnatus March,”
H.A. Vandercook, a circus
march. “I love marches,
the kids enjoy it,” Dahl-
gren said. “They make you
smile, tap your foot, and
they’re technically demand-
ing. Circus band music is
a beating. Then we went
to a three-movement work
called ‘Lyric Suite,’ based
on the work of Thomas
Hardy and William Shake-
speare, which required us
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aspects of musicianship.
Then we played a ballad,
a slow piece, ‘Whispering
Tree,’ in memory of a stu-
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dent. To me there has to be
a point to the music. I don’t
just pick something because
I think ‘the kids are going to
win,’ or ‘the kids are really
going to like this so it will
be easy to work with,’ that’s
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SUCCESS
not how I work. We need a
hook, this is why we need
to work on this piece, to do
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a big festive piece called
‘Proclamation.’”
The work was debuted
at the district concert in St.
Helens in early March, be-
fore being performed at the
high school before parents
and community. The band
prepared for league concert,
and based on how well the
band performs, they have
the opportunity for selec-
tion to the state competition
in Corvallis.
Each band performs the
repertoire, then there is a
sight-reading component
with another judge. “They
pass out a piece of music no
one has ever seen, and you
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ure it out. During that seven
minutes, no one can play,
you can only talk through
it. You can clap, you can
sing — with 90 people in
the band trying to get ev-
erybody on the same page,
it’s a big challenge. That is
a huge component because
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what’s going to happen. You
don’t know what the music
is going to be. You have to
hope you have solid enough
skills to work it out in seven
minutes, and play it. They’ll
give you a two-minute
warning, a 30-second warn-
ing, then you have to play it,
whatever happens.”
With parents and alum-
ni in the audience, the kids
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11 bands, and the kids were
“very happy” with the re-
sult.
“You’re never quite sure
how it’s going to go on the
stage,” Dahlgren said. “It’s
Seaside High
School band
director Terry
Dahlgren.
R.J. MARX PHOTO
a new environment. no-
body gets to practice. You
play in the high school 10
feet from the wall, which
sounds very different from
when you’re onstage at
Oregon State. It’s a hard
journey to make it to that
level and be one of those 11
bands.”
Among the perform-
ers, he gave credit to the
percussion section, which
was “really on top of their
game. I have a big per-
cussion section. Having a
big band does not always
equate to quality. The per-
cussion were just on top of
everything that was given
to them, which was ex-
traordinary.”
Trumpeter
Nathanael
Ward also received kudos.
“He was very good,” Dahl-
gren said. “Who wouldn’t
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ing that there’s three judg-
es in front of them? It’s an
enormous amount of pres-
sure.”
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er Ellie Whitlock plans
to study music, and bass
player Luke Surber is the
recipient of a $600 schol-
arship from the Lighthouse
Jazz Society, and will at-
tend Camp Hee Bee Jee
Bees, Port Angeles, Wash.,
in July. The scholarships
are given for jazz camp,
music lessons, guest artists
and donations to Seaside
High School jazz ensemble.
The Lighthouse Jazz So-
ciety donated $600 for the
tuition, and has also donat-
ed $1,500 to Seaside High
School music department,
directed by Dahlgren.
City not planning water, sewer rate hikes Seniors install garden
Budget
at high school for
After the city decided not to demolish the Avenue
U Bridge and build a new structure, the attention
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“turned to North Holladay and a complete
from Page 1A
similar to private enter-
prises, which means user
fees primarily cover costs.
Those operations include
the Seaside Civic and Con-
vention Center; the water
department; and the sewage
treatment plant.
The city has slated the
following major projects
for 2015-16:
• North Holladay Drive
improvements, including
water, sewer, roads, un-
derground power and side-
walks;
• Seaside Civic and Con-
vention Center improve-
ments, whether through ex-
pansion or renovation;
• Annexation of select
areas, such as South Sea-
side;
• Formation of a new Ur-
ban Renewal District;
• Improvements to the
Seaside Municipal Airport;
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to purchase a half-mil-
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• Conducting a facilities
study to prioritize mainte-
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for public buildings.
reconstruction of First to 12th’ streets.
Mark Winstanley,
cty manager
The city is not planning
any water or sewer rate
hikes, and increased usage
of public services contin-
ues to cover costs and pro-
vide additional reserves for
certain funds, Seaside City
Manager Mark Winstanley
wrote in his 2015-16 bud-
get message. The tax rate
for the Downtown Main-
tenance District also will
stay the same at approxi-
mately $8.84 per front foot.
Part of the annual bud-
get process includes ad-
dressing the Seaside Road
District and the Seaside
Urban Renewal Agency,
which have separate bud-
gets.
The Seaside Road Dis-
trict is “responsible for the
reconstruction of already
improved street right-of-
ways in the city,” Win-
stanley wrote in his bud-
get message. After the city
decided not to demolish
the Avenue U Bridge and
build a new structure, the
attention “turned to North
Holladay and a complete
reconstruction of First to
12th” streets, Winstanley
states. Most of the project
will be funded by the Sea-
side Urban Renewal Agen-
cy, but the Road District
will be a funding source
for a smaller portion from
First to Third streets. The
city also is planning a proj-
ect to overlay from First
Avenue to Avenue A and
reconstruct the intersection
of Broadway and Holladay
Drive. The proposed 2015-
16 Seaside Road District
budget is $797,418.
The Greater Seaside
Urban Renewal District,
formed under the Seaside
Urban Renewal Agency,
will sunset on June 30,
which means 2014-15 is
the last year the district has
taxing authority, according
to Winstanley. That will
release approximately $77
million of assessed value
to other taxing agencies
for 2015-16, and those ad-
ditional funds will go to
the city, schools, Clatsop
County and special dis-
tricts.
The Seaside Road Dis-
trict and Seaside Urban Re-
newal Agency budgets will
follow the same adoption
process as the city’s gener-
al budget and they also will
be presented to City Coun-
cil at its June 22 meeting.
A copy of the proposed
city budget can be viewed
at Seaside City Hall, 989
Broadway. Once the bud-
get is approved by City
Council, it will be posted
online at the city’s website.
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occupied with fundraising
for the culinary arts pro-
gram and did so success-
fully at the Pouring at the
Coast craft beer festival in
March. The students tradi-
By Katherine Lacaze
tionally cater the opening
Seaside Signal
Oregon Coast Brewer’s
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Four Seaside High of the event. Holen and the
School students trans- Seaside culinary students
formed a dingy courtyard SUHSDUHGD¿YHFRXUVHPHDO
on campus into an inviting and dessert, which were
garden environment that paired with Oregon Coast
will yield produce for the craft beers.
From a simple col-
culinary arts program in ad-
dition to serving an aesthet- lection at the dinner, the
students raised enough
ic purpose.
“It’s a lasting legacy,” cash to purchase four
said Chris Holen, the chef KitchenAid mixers. They
of Astoria’s Baked Alaska “passed around a hat and
and Seaside’s culinary arts people just opened up their
teacher. “It’s really quite wallets and started giving
the gift they’re leaving to us money,” Holen said,
adding they received “a
the school.”
Holen and many of the ton of community support
culinary students are com- and interest from the com-
mitted to the farm-to-table munity.”
The catering brought in
movement, but they did not
have a way to personally nearly $6,000, enough to
practice it through the pro- GRDVLJQL¿FDQWSURMHFWDQG
gram, until recently when have some funds left over.
When thinking about
four seniors began to re-
imagine a purpose for the KRZ WR EHVW EHQH¿W WKH
school and give back into
school’s courtyard.
ularly attended a Seaside
The courtyard was in- the community, the stu-
school during the 2014-15 stalled decades ago but it dents landed on “the idea of
school year or students who wasn’t designed with easy putting in a garden to grow
regularly attended a Seaside maintenance in mind, Sea- things in an environment
School but have a new resi- side High School Principal for the school to enjoy,”
dence outside of the district. Sheila Roley said. Addi- Holen said.
Seniors Garret Rogers,
The transfer, Seaside High tionally, a pond built in the
School Principal Sheila Ro- center of the property was Ian Kimbrough, Celina
ley said, allows the coun- constructed without a recir- Nicolazzi and Erick Men-
ty’s principals to support culation system and had be- dez took the idea and ran
with it. Together the four
each other and better serve come a vat of green muck.
the students by allowing
“It was never as inviting students, with no assistance
them to go to an out-of- or functional as a yard space from adult staff members,
hired a landscape designer,
GLVWULFW VFKRRO IRU VSHFL¿F could be,” Roley said.
reasons. For instance, some
Every few years, a se- lined up local contractors
districts don’t offer certain nior would spruce up the to remove the pond and
curricular programs or ex- VSDFH IRU WKHLU 3DFL¿FD bring in new materials,
tracurricular activities that Project, but there was no sought community par-
other districts do, and the maintenance plan in place. ticipation and completely
interdistrict transfer gives This year, some culinary transformed the courtyard
students the opportunity to students became interested into a garden that serves as
go where their needs will in the courtyard and what it their lasting endowment to
the school.
had the potential to be.
best be met, Roley said.
Extra funds will cover the new all-day kindergarten;
district also wants to add a special education teacher
Schools from Page 1A
will increase the property tax
value calculation and translate
into more revenue collections
for the school district. The ex-
tra funds will be used to cov-
er the district’s new full-day
kindergarten program. Sec-
ond, the district’s Public Em-
ployees Retirement System
(PERS) rates will decrease.
The reduction, Hill said, will
provide about $300,000 in
savings, which will cover sal-
ary increases and associated
payroll costs.
If the budget allows, the
district wants to add a spe-
cial education teacher and
assistant to address the so-
cial, emotional and behav-
ioral needs of students, par-
ticularly at the elementary
level.
A majority of the rev-
enue for the general fund,
which is designated for the
district’s main operating
costs, comes from local
sources, such as property
taxes, and state sources,
such as timber revenue.
Federal sources are expect-
ed to provide only $7,000.
In other news:
• The board unanimous-
ly approved a monetary
gift from Thomas Briggs,
a retired Boeing employee
who has been volunteering
with Seaside High School’s
robotics team and at Sea-
side Heights Elementary
School. His gift, which is
in the form of 100 shares
of Janus funds stock, is
estimated at $5,908 and it
will be split between the
four schools with the con-
tingency that at least $500
must go to the high school’s
robotics team.
• The board unanimous-
ly approved an interdistrict
transfer proposal, which
states the district will ac-
cept the following num-
ber of students from other
schools districts for the
upcoming school year: one
for seventh grade; two for
eighth grade; and 20 for
ninth through twelfth grade.
A letter of interest must be
received by Dougherty by
July 31. Preference is giv-
en to previously approved
transfer students who reg-
Old courtyard space
now will yield produce,
herbs for culinary arts
program