Irvington School Music Educators Are Prize Winners
The school district earned a Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) award from the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM)
by Kris DiLorenzo
Irvington — This spring, the music teachers in the Irvington school district became five-time winners of a Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) award from the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).
Now in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education is a signature program of the NAMM Foundation, recognizing districts and individual schools for their support and commitment to music education, and their efforts to ensure access to music for all students. The Irvington district is one of six Westchester County winners and one of 975 winners nationwide.
No one is happier about the accolade than Debra McCumber, who is entering her 12th year as chair of the Music Department. “We’re always excited to receive such an honor,” she told the Rivertowns Current. “We’re truly being recognized quite a bit.”
Her seven teachers cover individual lessons, bands, orchestras, ensembles, and choruses at Dow’s Lane Elementary School, the Main Street School, the Middle School, and Irvington High School, teaching piano, guitar, violin, flute, cello, bass, ukelele, viola, tuba, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and drums; they supervise jazz, wind, and chamber ensembles, chorales, and the twice-yearly concerts at each of the upper schools. The younger students perform in their individual grade levels — even the kindergartners give a concert.
McCumber doesn’t characterize her department as “better” than others but says certain qualities make it unique. “What makes our department really special to me is our camaraderie, our communication, and collaboration,” she asserted. “I think that’s where we really shine as a department and as a district.”
Flexibility and inclusiveness are important elements in the program. McCumber cites the faculty’s willingness to try new things and to keep the program fresh, developing courses based on student passion and interest. “We move with the times, with what will connect with our kids,” she explained. For example, the faculty is beginning to design some new high school courses for students who choose not to be in an ensemble.
One point of pride is the wealth of choices available to the students. For children who’ve never played an instrument, the schools offer beginner lessons. Students are welcome to learn music without enrolling in a course. “Even if a kid comes to us in the 11th grade and says, ‘I want to learn to play drums, I want to join a drum line,’ I will teach them and help them, and they can join,” McCumber said. “There’s no audition, so anybody can join.” The more advanced groups, however, do require an audition: the wind, jazz, or chamber ensembles, and chorale.
Student choice extends to their concert repertoire: they are the musicians in the orchestra pit accompanying school musicals, and they also have opportunities to create — some have written songs that were performed in concert. They also share their compositions with others on social media and on their own YouTube channels. Outside school, they form rock bands and compose on their own.
Another characteristic of the Irvington district’s music department is its practice of inclusiveness. “There are so many kids of various abilities, and interests, and backgrounds. We are not the type of department that looks for only the talent,” McCumber stressed. “We’re open to everybody from all backgrounds and abilities, and we want them. We’re always looking to help kids feel included, that they don’t have to be perfect, that they feel loved and stress-free in our classes, that they feel comfortable taking risks, and be the courageous ones,” she noted. “I think for kids with disabilities — and we have many in our program — it’s important that they feel it’s okay to not be the best, it’s okay to make mistakes, and we will help you be the best you that you can be. I think that’s most important in any program.”
Students with financial limitations have choices, too. They can rent or borrow any of the smaller instruments; the larger ones are kept at the schools for them to use. If a student can’t afford to rent or buy, or needs some assistance, the schools always offer the use of their instruments.
Working with the high school’s band and the wind and jazz ensembles, McCumber considers herself a “teacher leader” rather than an administrator. She herself plays a multitude of instruments: piano, electric bass, and violin are her specialties; she also sings. After earning her master’s degree from NYU’s Graduate School of Education, McCumber’s first teaching role was at the Manhattan East School for Arts & Academics, on New York’s Upper East Side.
All the Irvington teachers are or were performers: as individuals, in ensembles, choirs, and even wedding bands. Pianist Jonathan Faiman, for instance, who teaches the middle school chorus, general music, and drama, is a multiple ASCAP award winner and has released a solo CD, “Hie Up The Mountain.”
The rest of the department comprises Stephen DiGiovanni (high school chorus and AP/theory); Megan Hannon (middle school band [elementary], chorus, and singers); cellist Nicole Allison (middle school orchestra and chorus); Genevieve Lotze (teaching music at Dow’s Lane Elementary School); producer and composer Paul Scattaretico (middle school band and general music); and newcomer Shadman Mirza, a cellist and member of the Westchester County School Music Association Board of Directors, who teaches the middle and high school orchestras.
The teachers recognize that very few kids will pursue music in college or become professional musicians, but they hope to inculcate a love for music that stays with the students for the rest of their lives. “We care not only about music, but we also care about kids,” McCumber pointed out. “We care about their well-being, and we want to make sure that they are not only learning from us, but we also want them to walk away from our department and experience a passion and love for music. We want everybody to love music as much as we do.”
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