And just like the 1939 film, this story is worthy of Hollywood!
You all know Martellies Warren as the beloved long-time educator at and Music Director of The New Century School. Many of you even know of his second career as a member of the three-time Grammy nominated Anthony Brown and Group TherAPy. But did you know that Mr. Warren just sang in person for President Biden and Vice President Harris?
In honor of Black History Month (and what a way to close it out!), Anthony Brown and Group TherAPy were rather suddenly invited to The White House to perform on Monday, February 27th, but they really don’t know fully how or why except that it probably had something to do with their single titled “Call to Action,” a powerful song inspired by the George Floyd tragedy but that exemplifies what Black History Month is all about: righting social injustice and advocating for equity.
Someone in Washington contacted the group’s management, a performance for around 200 to 300 guests was arranged, and the rest, well . . . we’ll let Mr. Warren take it from here!
What had been proposed as a 45-minute set got whittled down to one song, but they said that’s pretty normal and they have to be flexible given that it’s The White House. So, we sang, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The experience was amazing. Although it was not my first time being at the White House, this was the real deal. I literally stood on the South lawn, and we were escorted around like famous people. Then we were brought into this room, and there they were—President Biden and Vice President Harris! They shook our hands and asked us where we’re from and what we do. Of course, I had to tell them I’m from Montgomery AL, the birthplace of the civil rights movement, and President Biden was like, wow! I also told him that I’m an educator a The New Century School, and he was really intrigued that I teach and have a musical career.
Then, Vice President Harris gave me the warmest hug, and I was able to tell her that before she passed, my mom got to see her become the first African American Vice President and the first woman Vice President. She then wanted me to tell her about my mom, so I shared how she was my cheerleader, and now it’s a little different because I don’t have her here. But Vice President Harris said, “she’s always with you; don’t ever forget.” It was a really heartfelt moment with her. I know my mom would be smiling.
As Mr. Warren recounted this amazing experience to his family, his brother reminded him that as a child, he always claimed that he’d meet the president one day. And here we are. He didn’t just meet the president, though—he conversed with and sang to the president and the vice president!
What an honor indeed, and thank you for name-dropping TNCS, Mr. Warren! You’re never far from our thoughts, either!
For the full event, watch this video. Mr. Warren appears at 1:06.
As mentioned in a previous post, the 2022–2023 school year at The New Century School promises to be its best so far (and, if the trend continues, next year will top even this year!). Amidst all of the excitement of celebrating its 10th anniversary and welcoming a new Head of School, TNCS got some more good news: Martellies Warren rejoined the fold!
He’s Baaack!
As for how Mr. Warren returned to TNCS, we have TNCS Head of School Erika Johnson to thank. . . and maybe some cosmic good luck. “This is a period in my life where things are aligning,” said Mr. Warren. “I’m learning that what looks at first to be an obstacle can sometimes be necessary to have you in place for your next step.”
The sequence of events goes like this: Mr. Warren was about to start working at a Montgomery County Montessori school and had come to TNCS during the first week of the school year to gather some required paperwork for his new job. He encounters Ms. Johnson, whom he had coincidentally met briefly years earlier, and they strike up a conversation on realizing the acquaintanceship. “We had an existing connection that opened the door for us to sit and talk,” he explains. After they caught up a bit, Ms. Johnson realized she was talking to “the” Mr. Warren, the former TNCS Music Director who everyone still speaks so lovingly about, and she didn’t hesitate. They discussed Mr. Warren’s professional goals, and, it just so happens that one of his big goals—a leadership position—was put on hold temporarily due to an unexpected life event. This pause was going to mean that Mr. Warren was going back into the classroom full time, instead of joining the high school’s administration team. He was completely fine with this, but when Ms. Johnson offered him a spot back at TNCS as Director of Music and Extended Activities, he saw that maybe this is how it was supposed to be: one door closed in order to open a better one.
Mr. Warren describes his decision-making process as typically very deliberate and unhurried, and he asked Ms. Johnson for some time to consider her offer. He ended up not needing much and got back to her the same day. “I let her know I’m very interested, but my main concern is doing this right and not letting down the other school,” he explained. With his return to TNCS destined to be, however, the Head of the other school was nothing but supportive, telling Mr. Warren he couldn’t pass up this wonderful opportunity.
Where He’s Been
Mr. Warren used his 3-year hiatus from TNCS to develop professionally and to tie together all of the various threads he had been exploring. He is a certified Montessori teacher and taught as Montessori Lead Teacher for several years at TNCS—some of his former primary students are current TNCS middle schoolers, in fact! Teaching in a traditional classroom was a new skill he honed while at Woodlawn Middle School from 2019–2022. “I learned a lot there,” he said, “especially how important understanding the culture is and building relationships with students in order to be effective in that environment. You have to earn students’ trust.”
He says his experience at Woodlawn rounded out his knowledge of the school setting so that, in addition to being an expert in the Montessori method, he also knows state standards and the public school perspective. This well-rounded view has meant that in returning to TNCS, he is able to help out in all sorts of ways, where and as needed.
This versatility is actually nothing new. It may surprise no one to learn that Mr. Warren positively thrived in the all-virtual and then hybrid live/virtual instructional environments the pandemic demanded. “I absolutely loved it,” he said. “It took a lot of preparation, but I would have my fun slides ready, and then it’s just all about personality!” If anyone knows how to engage an audience, it’s Martellies Warren!
Speaking of engaging an audience, Mr. Warren is still vocalizing with Anthony Brown and group therAPy*, and they have earned an additional Grammy nomination since we last checked! Just as exciting, Mr. Warren is the proud recipient of a gold record for 2015’s “Worth”!
A new album is due out next year along the theme of affirmations. Performing in a musical group wasn’t easy during the pandemic, of course, but they held it together. “It made me realize how fragile the music industry is,” he said. “The pandemic took us off the stage, and fortunately that’s not what I was solely depending on for my livelihood. It helped me realize how lucky I am to have my other work. It also forced us to figure out how to make this work and do a lot of virtual things. It made us all technology experts,” he joked. So, affirmations is about finding the positive among the seeming negative.
Where He’s Going
At TNCS, Mr. Warren is teaching music classes twice weekly to all students except those in the preprimary division. These classes will start with some music theory, sight reading, solfège skills, and so on and then get right to singing. “I want to make sure that they’re getting the music skills they need. Especially my middle school students—I want to make sure they’re not walking into someone’s choral program ill-equipped. I want to give them everything to make them feel more confident if they want to pursue music,” he said.
Mr. Warren has also instilled in his students the importance of maintaining professionalism on stage, and many of his former students still remember this. When an artist is performing, we owe them respect, which means staying quiet and letting them do their thing without distraction. He says that, since back at TNCS, he has heard an older student tell a younger student, “You’ve already had recess; it’s time to pay attention. Music is serious.”
As if that isn’t adorable enough, it’s a sign of wonderful things to come: the return of the exalted winter and spring concerts. These are still very much in development, but “stay tuned.”
Also on the horizon are Fine Arts–related field trips, which fall under his Extended Activities hat. Those, too, are still TBD, as Mr. Warren navigates how to safely resume such excursions with vestiges of the pandemic lingering. On campus, extended activities means more than extracurriculars. He is seeking alignment between what students do in class and out (One school, One program, One community). This means talking with teachers, understanding their daily curricula, and incorporating those themes and reinforcing those lessons in all of the fun supplemental activities available at TNCS. “We’re trying to structure this in a way that it runs as smoothly as possible by taking the information that they’re getting from the school day and now applying that in a different way,” said Mr. Warren.
Finally, Mr. Warren is back not just for his former and new students, but also for the TNCS community, including faculty and staff. “Even if it’s not in my job description, what can I do to help? The leadership team is amazing, and I’m so lucky to now be part of it.”
*Why is the AP in group therAPy capitalized? It stands for “Answered Prayers,” and how very fitting is that?
The New Century School is special for a great number of reasons, and several of those reasons come together in this week’s Immersed. To start with, TNCS offers hands-down the city’s most varied and exciting lineup of summer camps, and Musical Theatre camp led by the always marvelous Martellies Warren is a perennial favorite. Then there’s all that goes into what makes such a camp so effective and so wonderful for young learners—the arts, the music-making, the mixed ages collaborating so beautifully! Not to mention skills relating to the camp theme! But there’s one extra-special aspect to this year’s Musical Theatre camp that elevated it even further: four attendees from China joined the fun!
Meet Mike, Jane, Coco, and Alex!
“Mike” (Zimo Han), age 11, is from Hunan. “Jane” (Xinyi Ma), age 11, and “Coco” (Jiarui Sunn), age 9, both live in Beijing. “Alex” (Qinghua Shang), age 6, is from Tianjin. The group was in Baltimore for 1 week, after which they headed to New York, NY for 4 days of sightseeing (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Times Square, etc.). It was everybody’s first visit to the United States. Mike and Jane were accompanied by their mothers (Aili Mao and Jing Li), and Alex was accompanied by both his mother and grandmother (Yu Zhang and Aixian Zhang). The group also had a “handler” of sorts from the Harvest Company of China to help facilitate activities and make sure everyone was comfortable. They stayed in two furnished Baltimore row houses in the Bolton Hill neighborhood and enjoyed having three spacious floors of living space to run around in. Their evenings after camp were mostly spent relaxing at home, playing chess and other boardgames and watching tv—they even learned the idiom, “to click around” when referring to not watching anything in particular but channel surfing. The adults in their party cooked breakfast for them each day, but they had plenty of opportunity to eat their favorite food—pizza! Lunches and dinners were often enjoyed out at restaurants.
The kids spoke wonderful English as a result of lessons in school, but they also appreciated the chance to speak Mandarin Chinese with TNCS students. They reported having a great time and made lots of friends at camp. Back at home in China, their hobbies included playing basketball (Mike), drawing (Alex), reading (Jane), and figure skating (Coco). See some of their other talents below! While the kids were in camp, the adults did some sightseeing around town, taking in Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Library, for example, as well as visiting the Naval Academy in Annapolis and getting some shopping in at Arundel Mills Mall. A Target run was also de rigueur!
Behind the Scenes
Because Peter and the Wolf only has a handful of roles, the 25 total campers took on roles as a group, so, for example, the character of “Duck” was actually four campers. Campers ranged in age from rising 1st-graders to rising 7th-graders, and they hailed not from just China and TNCS but from schools all over the city like Patterson Park Public Charter School, Hampstead Hill Academy, St. Casimir’s, and the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Helping Mr. Warren lead camp was intern Carrie, who came to TNCS from China in early July and will stay for 1 year.
They learned important technical skills like stage blocking related to being part of a musical theatre production. Mr. Warren reported that they had the whole performance mapped out on the first day and so were able to devote their remaining days to rehearsing. After each rehearsal, Mr. Warren provided some debriefing notes for each group.
Comments like, “Wolves, wonderful job today! You were in time with the music, and you have amazing music to play off of!” and “Remember AIC? Always in character!” were common. The performers themselves likewise offered suggestions for how to improve a certain scene, like “Grandpa(s) should hang their heads and look disappointed in Peter.”
As per usual, campers made art to decorate the stage front. These are stunning!
They also crafted props and costumes and made great use of the Imagination Playground for set pieces.
The Play Is the Thing!
Mr. Warren introduced the performance and vowed not to interfere but to let his pros handle anything that came up. “They did an amazing job acting and putting up with my silliness,” he said. “It was wonderful!”
And now, we present Peter and the Wolf, in its entirety!
Farewell, Friends!
On the last day of camp, after the performance of Peter and the Wolf, Mike, Jane, Coco, and Alex treated the audience to some performances of their own.
They were also presented with Certificates of Participation in their English language immersion camp.
The adults who accompanied them were thrilled by the whole experience and were kind enough to share some of their impressions of the program. Alex’s mother is an English translation teacher at a college in Tianjin. Mike’s mother both promotes literacy and runs an Adidas store in Hunan. She also takes her job as mother very seriously and was very happy to be able to spend mornings with her son, here in Baltimore, cooking special meals. Jane’s mother is also in education.
They had various reasons for wanting their children to attend camp at TNCS. They wanted the authentic experience of a customized trip and did not want to be stuck on tours such as what a typical travel agency would offer. They wanted the flexibility to be able to have their possibly changing needs met, as Mike’s mom described it. They also wanted the chance to practice their English. Furthermore, their children tended to be shy, they reported, and they were hoping that an immersion summer camp might bring them out a bit. An ancillary reason is that they were very curious about immersion-style learning itself, which is quite rare in China. “The way you teach students and the way you live so freely is totally different from China. It really impressed me,” said Alex’s mother.
At TNCS Musical Theatre camp, Mike, Jane, Coco, and Alex were doubly immersed, in a sense, because they also had to get comfortable being on stage and making new friends. For this, the adults were beyond grateful. They saw their children bravely trying new things and quickly becoming comfortable doing so. “I still remember the first day Alex went to school,” said his mom, “and when he came back home he told me he didn’t want to go again because he was too nervous. The next day he came back and something had changed. He tried his best to join the class, and he was so happy from then on.”
Jane had a lovely time, too. She wrote a letter to her friends back home completely in English, which made her mother very proud. She was having so much fun with them that she stayed up late to make gifts for them. “She really cherishes the friendships she has made,” said her mom.
Normally very independent Coco experienced some homesickness at first but quickly adapted and returned to her gregarious, social self.
Jane’s mom mentioned that she noticed a big change in all four of the children after their week at camp. At first they were reticent, but they very quickly embraced the experience and were livelier than she had ever seen.
Mike’s mom’s nicest surprise was the Orient Express restaurant owned by a TNCS family. She said the Chinese food there was better than what she can get in China!
Alex’s grandmother was most taken with the arrangement itself. She appreciated being able to learn from the trip on their jaunts, while the children were having such a rich immersion experience. She also enjoyed feeling so welcome and commented on how friendly and thoughtful everyone has been. Monica Li got an especially warm compliment for all she did to make their time comfortable and smooth. Monica is indispensable to TNCS!
On their last evening in Baltimore, they were going to Tokyo Seafood Buffet, where they would be trying their first taste of Maryland blue crab. We miss them all already and hope they remember TNCS and Charm City fondly, as we will hold them dear as well!
For summer 2018, The New Century School expanded its already spectacular lineup of fun and exciting summer camps to include some new offerings. One of these was Musical Theatre camp, taught by TNCS’s amazing music director, Martellies Warren.
This camp focused on allowing campers free self-expression through exploration in set design, pairing dialogue with music and movement, and exploring the technical aspects of the performance stage.
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical—humor, pathos, love, and anger—are communicated through the words, music, movement, and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole.
Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it is distinguished by the equal importance given to the dialogue, movement, music, and other elements.
Exit Stage Left!
After first learning the all-important jargon–what upstage versus downstage means, for example—campers spent the week practicing a scripted humor piece as well as breaking out into groups to write, direct, stage, act (and even sing!) in their own short plays. They also designed their own playbills, which graced the front of the stage.
Here are two of the younger campers performing the humorous piece, to thunderous applause.
(Stars in the making?) All campers performed this piece. To see more examples of this funny little clip and maybe catch a glimpse of your rising star, visit TNCS’s YouTube Channel and look for “Annie Get Your Gun.”
Without Further Ado!
And now for the four plays, which, to put it simply, brought down the house. They are brought to you here, scene by scene. Scene changes in between were handled by the set team of each group, and they did a wonderful job. Mr. Warren emphasized that he intervened as little as possible to let each play troupe own the production from beginning to end. He was called on to help out with some sound effects, however, and played both a very convincing doorbell as well as a rotary phone. Other props were contributed by the players themselves.
The Perfect Slice
First up was “The Perfect Slice”—a compelling food metaphor for what we all seek, deep down. (Or deep dish?)
Murder Mansion
Next up was “Murder Mansion.” Watch out, Agatha—the horror genre apparently has crowned a new queen!
Warning, “Murder Mansion” may not be suitable for all audiences. Use your discretion. (Just kidding.)
One by one . . .
Finding a Pet
Third on the roster was “Finding a Pet,” a delightful romp through the process of welcoming four-legged friends into the family.
It’s one that nearly everyone in the audience found relatable, and kudos to the way the actors really inhabited their roles as animals.
Watch Out for the Witch
The final performance of the day featured a solo sung by one of the actors.
“Watch Out for the Witch” starts out as a suspenseful nail biter, but, in the end, all is well. This heartwarming tale about witchcraft mixed with sisterly love is sure to have you spellbound!
(Psst—the solo is in Scene 2!)
Curtain!
What a wonderful week of musical theatricality and general hijinks upon the stage. Although Friday was the final act, let’s hope that summer 2019 will include an encore of this amazing camp!
Music education is essential at The New Century School. From classroom informal singing to formal vocal and instrumentation instruction to guest performances by professional musicians, TNCS exposes children daily to music in many forms.
As TNCS has grown and developed over the years, the music program has continued to evolve alongside. It’s time Immersed breaks it all down and shows readers what each piece looks like (sounds like?) and how the individual pieces fit together, well, harmoniously, all year long—including during summer and before, during, and after school.
TNCS’s Maestro: Martellies Warren
Music Director Martellies Warren has always been the linchpin of the TNCS music program. In addition to providing lessons in music history and on specific musicians, he also starts each academic year off with vocal instruction to prepare students for the two annual Winter and Spring Concerts (one each for primary students, one each for elementary and middle school students). These have grown in scope and intensity, with each somehow topping the last. Each show features a variety of songs in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish as well as a themed set of songs.
This year’s Spring Concert theme on May 18th was Dancing in the Streets, and the sound of Motown was prominent. “I’m always trying to make sure the concert is going to be as spectacular as it was the time before,” said Mr. Warren. “The students take great pride in it. From the time I introduce music at the beginning of the school year, I’m already thinking about what the children gravitate to. I played a little Motown, and they absolutely loved it.”
See the gallery below for photos of TNCS art teacher Jenny Miller’s beautiful set design, with album art help from her students. Check out TNCS’s Facebook page and YouTube channel for videos of individual performances.
But vocalization is not the only type of music class at TNCS. Instrument lessons are also offered in a variety of settings.
Have you visited the TNCS Music Education page? Click here.
Extracurricular String Lessons
In 2016, TNCS brought on acclaimed bassist Yoshiaki Horiguchi to teach beginning violin, viola, and cello lessons as well as leading more advanced string ensembles. These classes happen before and after school and are a great way for students to first learn the basics and subsequently use their skills to perform together.
Space is always made in the Winter and Spring Concerts for Mr. Yoshi’s students to play a few songs, and their technical proficiency is impressive. Check out TNCS’s Facebook page and YouTube channel for videos of a play set to music and an original composition (yes, original!) by one of the strings students.
Although Mr. Yoshi is classically trained, he is no stranger to music’s funkier sides, which brings a lot of fun to his TNCS classes. He has taught bucket drumming to various groups, for example, and, perhaps unknown to most until today’s Spring Concert, he is also an accomplished beat boxer. Doug E. Fresh and Biz Markie, watch out. (Got a kid who wants to learn beat boxing? Scroll below to Music in Summer!)
Instrument Exploratory
In 2017, TNCS began offering an optional semester-long class each year to allow students in grades 2–8 to explore various instrument groups. Taught by Mr. Warren during music class, woodwind exploratory covers flute for 5 weeks, followed by clarinet for 5 weeks. Brass exploratory, which happened this year, covers trumpet for 5 weeks, followed by trombone for 5 weeks. The instrument groups covered alternate each year.
Trombone is Mr. Warren’s preferred instrument (apart from his vocal cords), but he started with the saxophone:
As a boy, I was all ready to play the sax, and I thought it looked so cool. I got to the music store in Montgomery, AL, picked up the sax and tried to play it. I knew it was going to take some time, but I got so frustrated because I just could not get it to sound like the guys on TV. So I begged my mom to take me back to the store, and she told me I needed to pick something and stick with it, to give it some time. The salesman suggested the trombone, and I immediately loved it. This was in 7th grade, and I became section leader and first chair all through junior high and high school.
Trombone has been well liked in Instrument Exploratory as well, but trumpet has so far been most popular of all. Mr. Warren thinks this is because kids can readily produce sounds on the trumpet, whereas some struggled last year with the flute (with one very notable exception).
“Flute is not a very easy instrument to play,” explained Mr. Warren. “You have to direct that air just right to get it to produce a sound. But that’s the experience we’re after. We’re not expecting amazing instrumentalists right away, but we want them to at least pick up instruments and see how they feel and how they sound. Maybe they’ll fall in love with something.”
More than one love affair with an instrument has happened already, which makes Mr. Warren “ecstatic.”
“They are doing some really wonderful things with brass and taking off with it. At this age, children are trying to find themselves, and we want to make sure that we’re offering whatever we can to assist them, especially musically. Whatever we can introduce to them now, even though they may not pick up on it right away, we hope that this will help sustain a lifelong love of music. Some may even make careers out of it.
His approach to teaching instruments is to start out with the fundamentals and systematically build on those, bit by bit. First, Mr. Warren “sets the tone” by insisting on good etiquette—musicians must sit up straight with their feet on the floor, and they must not interrupt while a fellow musician is talking or playing. Step two is to get everyone in tune. From there, they practice various exercises, each becoming more complex than the last.
Recorder Instruction
Those students not opting in for Instrument Exploratory receive recorder lessons during music class from Javais Bazemore (“Mr. J.” to students). Mr. J. says, “Recorder is what I grew up on, but I’ll play anything with a pipe. For me, recorder is the first thing that you start with. If you can read recorder music, you can read other music. It opens your eyes up to see exactly how it works.”
He also sings and plays piano and guitar, but recorder remains his main gig, and he played it in band throughout his school years and even into college at North Carolina State University. “Being in band built a lot of character for me, and we felt like a family. We had a strict instructor who insisted that we respect our instruments and show discipline,” he explained. “Here at TNCS, we just want to show students how to read music because you can start with that and go to anything else, really.”
Mr. J. is from Baltimore and came to TNCS through the suggestions of friends and his mother that he should work with children. He started in the TNCS aftercare program, loved it, and has since added various other roles, including teaching recorder. He demonstrated his musical ability to Mr. Warren, who deemed him a good fit.
“It’s really fun to see where the kids are now, from where they started. I can just play a note like a G, and they know how to play it back with no problem,” said Mr. J. “I gave them incentive at the beginning. I told them that if they showed me they can remember all the notes, I’d give them a 30-minute play break at the end of school.” He didn’t necessarily believe that would happen. “Little did I know, they outsmarted me and became really cohesive, teaching each other,” he laughed.
“This has been really great,” said Mr. J. “I love the kids. They’re just so smart. They’re like sponges—they want to soak up everything, and it’s really good to be around them.”
Band Ensemble
With a solid foundation in place from instrument exploratory or recorder lessons, these young musicians are ready to play together during the last couple of weeks of school. “Students can choose from trombone, trumpet, clarinet, flute, and recorder, said Mr. Warren. “We’ll come together and do somewhat of an ensemble, which should be really fun.” In fact, all students Grade 2 and up participate in band, which was composed of 18 recorder players, 5 clarinetists, 6 trumpet players, 3 trombonists, and 1 brave flautist.
As with Instrument Exploratory, exercises start simply and build in complexity.
Special Guest Performances
Music education doesn’t just take place in front of an audience. Sometimes, experiencing music as part of the audience opens students up to it in new and important ways. A new performance series begins at the end of May, featuring professional guest musicians. “Meet the Musicians” will start with a brief concert by each musician, followed up by a Q&A for students to learn about what it’s like to pursue a career in music.
Louna Dekker-Vargas will play the flute; Osi Atikphh, the tuba; and Mateen Milan, the bassoon, giving TNCS students a break from performing and allowing them to relax and enjoy the music.
Music in Summer
We all know that the saying “No more pencils, no more books” no longer applies to summer break, and playing music is no different. To keep skills sharp, children must continue practicing during the summer months.
TNCS has that covered, too. Back for the second year in a row, American Music Camp students learn from faculty who perform American Music (e.g., old-time music from the Appalachian Mountains to traditional Bluegrass) in all parts of the country. Students have the opportunity to play in ensembles and learn how to improvise—no improvisation experience needed.
Directed by Mr. Yoshi, AMC Baltimore includes a bucket band and beat boxing in its curriculum, bringing a facet of American music that is unique to this region. No matter what his or her experience level is, any student will fit right in. Each class is taught by world-class faculty and performers from Baltimore and throughout the country.
But that’s not all. Debuting this year is an all-new musical theatre camp taught by none other than Mr. Warren. This came about, he explains, “because a lot of TNCS students are interested in what happens behind the scenes and are curious about what it’s like to be a working music professional. They’re always asking, ‘Mr. Warren what do you do? How do you feel on stage? What’s the preparation? Do you rehearse a lot? Do you do vocal exercises?’ So my hope for this summer is to give them a taste of what it takes to be a performer on stage, how to channel emotions into theatrical form.”
His plans for theatrical music camp include building sets and doing monologues in addition to musicality. “It should be really fun and, hopefully, maybe spark someone’s interest in theater. That’s my hope,” he says. Parents can attend a performance at the end of the camp week.
Register your child for a music (or any other) camp this summer here. Also plan to enroll your child in a music class for the 2018–2019 school year. Both in-school and extracurricular lessons are affordable and taught by TNCS’s wonderful music instructors.
And now for the four plays, which, to put it simply, brought down the house. They are brought to you here, scene by scene. Scene changes in between were handled by the set team of each group, and they did a wonderful job. Mr. Warren emphasized that he intervened as little as possible to let each play troupe own the production from beginning to end. He was called on to help out with some sound effects, however, and played both a very convincing doorbell as well as a rotary phone. Other props were contributed by the players themselves.
Watch out, Agatha—the horror genre apparently has crowned a new queen!
Third on the roster was “Finding a Pet,” a delightful romp through the process of welcoming four-legged friends into the family.
The final performance of the day featured a solo sung by one of the actors.
Music Director Martellies Warren has always been the linchpin of the TNCS music program. In addition to providing lessons in music history and on specific musicians, he also starts each academic year off with vocal instruction to prepare students for the two annual Winter and Spring Concerts (one each for primary students, one each for elementary and middle school students). These have grown in scope and intensity, with each somehow topping the last. Each show features a variety of songs in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish as well as a themed set of songs.
“It’s really fun to see where the kids are now, from where they started. I can just play a note like a G, and they know how to play it back with no problem,” said Mr. J. “I gave them incentive at the beginning. I told them that if they showed me they can remember all the notes, I’d give them a 30-minute play break at the end of school.” He didn’t necessarily believe that would happen. “Little did I know, they outsmarted me and became really cohesive, teaching each other,” he laughed.
