October 13, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Striking up the band at Seaside High School
Dahlgren lets
students ‘cut
loose a bit’
By Rebecca Herren
For Seaside Signal
It is the beginning of the
school year at Seaside High
School, and with that, there
will be another musically ex-
citing adventure for the bands.
The Symphonic Band will
welcome new students into its
band program.
Without last year’s seniors,
the first order of business, ac-
cording to Terry Dahlgren, the
high school’s band director,
will be to get everyone used
to playing together. “Quite a
bit of time goes into rebuild-
ing fundamentals of playing
and sight-reading the first few
weeks of school,” Dahlgren
said. “Working up the music
for pep band is also a fun pri-
ority that needs to be accom-
plished.” For many of the stu-
dents, this is their favorite part
of band, he noted.
Dahlgren has a busy year
planned for his band students.
After they have settled into
the new school year, their at-
tention will be focused on the
fall concert in November that
will include patriotic, holiday
REBECCA HERREN/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Seaside High School band director Terry Dahlgren works on rebuilding fundamentals of play-
ing and sight-reading for returning and new band students.
and Halloween pieces. Then
in January, they will begin
building their contest music.
One of the pieces Dahlgren
has planned for the contest is
a medieval piece that conjures
images of knights and majes-
tic royalty.
The district and league
contest performances will de-
A cast of zombies
pend on the performance lev-
el the students achieve while
practicing their musical skill
building. All the while work-
ing on music for basketball
pep band and supporting the
school where they can.
But it doesn’t end with all
work and no play. Dahlgren
will let the students “cut loose
Seaside Signal
REBECCA HERREN/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Students head ’em out for
cowboy poetry festival
Poet from Page 1A
slam, as well as meet with sea-
soned writers and poets.
On Sunday, Feb. 4, they’ll
catch the train to Reno where
they’ll next board a plane
for Portland where the beau-
tiful yellow school bus will
be waiting to transport them
home again.
“Along with parent and
teacher chaperones, my wife
and I have been taking students
to the Gathering for 20 years.
“The last one we attended fea-
tured the world- renowned au-
thor and activist Temple Gran-
din as the keynote speaker, as
well as Cowboy Poetry Gath-
ering greats such as Michael
Martin Murphy, Ian Tyson,
Don Edwards, Cowboy Celtic,
and Paul Zarzyski.”
The Harvest Moon Arti-
san Market promises to be an
amazing event. “All the craft
items are handmade by the
vendor,” Mizell said. “And
this is a fun way to help stu-
dents afford the upcoming
trip to Nevada.” For more in-
formation about becoming a
vendor contact Mark Mizell
at 503-593-9044 or email him
at mmizell@seaside.k12.or.us.
Describe the type of hand-
made craft you will be selling
and any questions you have.
To make a donation to the
students’ travel fund,write a
check to Seaside High School
Elko Fund.
“This is the first time
we’ve ever done a fundraising
artisan fair to get the students
to Elko,” Mizell said. “Hope-
fully, it won’t be the last.”
for the district honor band in
January.
Two students who stand
out from last year are Kendy
Lin, who traveled with the
Oregon Ambassadors of Mu-
sic to Europe this summer;
and Gretchen Hoekstre, who
was a member of the Music in
May honor band at the end of
the last school year, and who,
Dahlgren said, will be an in-
tegral member to the bands’
success this year. “We have
many great kids like Kendy
and Gretchen, but it’s a team
effort. Everyone is important
to our success. That’s just not
a platitude in our case, it’s the
key to everything.”
Dahlgren’s
philosophy
speaks volumes. The compe-
titions are one of the learning
opportunities used to increase
performance skills and he’s
upfront about the purpose of
the competitions. As for beat-
ing other bands, he’s no longer
interested in providing that
experience to students. What
he is interested in giving them
is the opportunity to play in
a real auditorium and receive
real feedback from leading
music educators. “The key for
me is that the kids are showing
growth and that the feedback
is valuable. If musical growth
occurs, then it’s ‘mission ac-
complished’ in my book.”
New school, new language, new customs
By R.J. Marx
The cast for the fall play of “The Craving: A Horrific Comedy
in Two Acts.”
a bit” to play some movie
music for their spring con-
cert. “The students have made
some great suggestions for
pieces to play for pep band and
the spring concert, so we’ll see
how many of these we can ac-
complish.” In the meantime,
he will try to put together a
jazz band for this year.
Concerts and contests don’t
come without a price and
Dahlgren acknowledges the
support from the community.
“We have been extremely for-
tunate in the bands to have had
great financial support from
our community that helps
us avoid spending valuable
classroom time and energy on
fundraising.” He recognizes
the support through organiza-
tions such as the Lighthouse
Jazz Society, Seaside Boosters
and Broadway PTO among
the community members who
have made generous dona-
tions.
The bands in Seaside con-
tinue to be one of the largest
4A programs in the state.
There are approximately 230
students from grades 6 through
12. The Symphonic Band,
which is the main band for the
high school, continues to be
strong at the 80- to 90-mem-
ber range. Both the pep band
and jazz ensemble are assem-
bled from the membership of
the symphonic band.
Dahlgren notes that the
band program is fortunate
to have some of the best ac-
ademic kids in school and
there are several opportu-
nities for students to shine.
Ten students from Broadway
Middle School and Seaside
High School will be selected
Among the 461 students
enrolled at Seaside High
School this year are three ex-
change students from over-
seas.
Arthur Brugneratto Prada
and Fernanda Vasconcellos,
both of Brazil, and Mathil-
da Gunleiksrud of Norway
appeared with returning ex-
change student Sam Thorn-
ton at the school’s district’s
September board of directors
meeting.
“I’m really enjoying my
time down here,” Vasconcel-
los said. “Last weekend I went
to my first football game. I
couldn’t understand what was
going on, but it was fun.”
Gunleiksrud, of Dolmen,
Norway, will be living with
her host family for the year.
So far she’s traveled to Can-
non Beach, Nehalem and
Portland, and will be visiting
Boston in November. She
plans on participating in the
drama club’s fall play. She
likes her host family’s home
cooking and the availability
of local takeout food.
Brugneratto Prada, a se-
nior, said he liked the electives
at the high school. The most
fun he’s had in the U.S. was
at a wedding in the California
redwoods. “It was really cold,”
he said, before adding, “Every
day here is really cold.”
He plans on joining the
Fernanda
Vasconcellos of
Brazil, Seaside’s
Sam Thorn-
ton, Mathilda
Gunleiksrud of
Norway, Arthur
Brugneratto
Prada of Brazil.
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
wrestling team and partici-
pating in the Key Club.
The exchange program
has a long history at Seaside
High School, said Natalie
Osburn, the school’s assistant
principal. Students typical-
ly take their exchange peri-
od during their junior year
because they want to spend
their senior year with peers.
Thornton returned from
a year in Mexico. “I went in
with no Spanish at all,” she
said.
Thornton lived with two
host families and developed
her language skills by speak-
ing Spanish every day. “I re-
ally connected with them,”
she said. “I met some of the
best friends of my entire life.”
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