Getting the band back together: Concert and Symphonic Bands at the Willow Grove Branch

Ask anyone who's played a brass, woodwind or percussion instrument where they got their start: band is the place to be. It might start with scales, or with Sousa, and the next thing you know, you're approaching seventy-six trombones, one hundred and ten cornets, and more.

The band program at Settlement Music School started last year at the Germantown and Willow Grove Branches, drawing a range of wind and percussion players. To continue the program this year, there's a real band evangelist on board, with experience in marching and concert bands. 

JoAnn Wieszczyk is now directing the Concert Band and Symphonic Band at the Willow Grove Branch and leading a band at Hardy Williams Academy, a Mastery Charter School in Southwest Philadelphia, through Settlement's new Music Education Pathways program.

Originally from rural northeastern Pennsylvania, Wieszczyk picked up the flute in middle school after being went on to play in the Pennsylvania Music Education Association All-State Band and All-State Orchestra, as well as the All-Eastern Band.

With experience as a flutist and conductor in concert and marching band settings, she's a leader who knows what it's like to be part of the rank-and-file, too. As a director, she stresses unity, both in the way her students play and the way they treat each other.


"The first thing I tell them when I'm front of them on the podium is that we're a family." She encourages young musicians to treat their peers like brothers and sisters because that's how she found herself and came into her own: "Wherever I didn't fit in, I worked it out through music."

From Wieszczyk's first day on the podium leading a group of any kind, she makes it clear: "If you have a problem, musically we'll solve it together." She also aims to boost not only the most talented musicians in an ensemble, but also the hardest-working and most persistent ones. Doing this helps create multiple leaders within the band: people who can lead sectional rehearsals or who can quiet things down if they get rowdy.


The goal is not just to make students love band, but also to create interest in music in general. Weekly rehearsals aren't just hard-core practice sessions; they're opportunities to explore music and different ways of playing and creating it. Wieszczyk cites her experience in creating song arrangements that spark interest; she can tailor songs to the specific instrumentation of the ensembles and even creates musical mashups: song arrangements that combine classical melodies with familiar pop tunes.

All of it -- developing leaders, creating a feeling of community, adapting music into forms that students will respond to -- comes from the same love of music. "There's nothing I want more than inspire and connect with students," she says.

The band program at the Willow Grove Branch consists of Concert Band for students in grades 4 through 8, and Symphonic Band for students in grades 8 through 12. Rehearsals are Tuesday nights: 5:30 to 6:30 PM for the Concert Band, 6:30 to 7:30 PM for the Symphonic Band. Click here and fill out the online form to receive more information, or contact Branch Coordinator Erin Doolittle at 215.320.2630 or by email.

Construction Near Willow Grove Branch

Allow a few extra minutes for your trip to the Willow Grove Branch of Settlement Music School during the construction on Davisville Road. The construction started earlier this week on September 25 and will continue through December as the water company upgrades their pipes.

Local traffic, for residents and businesses such as the Willow Grove Branch, is being allowed past the detour signs.One or both gates to the Willow Grove Branch parking lot will be open to Settlement students during school hours.

Some suggested alternate routes, courtesy of Branch Director Patricia Manley:

Church Street is parallel to Davisville Road. Turn onto Church Street from York Road (Route 611) at the light and take a left turn, past the detour signs, onto Everett, Forest, or Abbeyview Roads which will bring you down the hill in front of the school’s parking lot.

A moving experience: Adult programs and chamber music at Settlement

For some insight on musical opportunities for adults at Settlement and the connections they make as a result, we turn the blog over to Anne Hopkins, cellist and member of the Adult Chamber Players program for three seasons. Her dedication goes way beyond getting together to play every other week.

I heard about Settlement's Adult Chamber Players program several years ago when I lived in Hershey, PA, two hours away. Too far away, I thought. But I drove to the Willow Grove Branch for a "courtesy" session, thanks to the wonderful program director, Marka Stepper. I thought I owed it to myself to go to this one time, knowing that it was much too far away for anything regular. I arrived after the two-hour drive, played quartets -- Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn -- and I was hooked.

The Willow Grove Branch, one of three sites for the Adult Chamber Players program

I signed up for a season, knowing that this meant a two-hour commute each way every other week. The great thing about Settlement's Adult Chamber Music Program is that you get to meet other people who love playing this kind of music. I signed up for a second season, and in the afternoon met with a group of three new friends to play quartets. Each session made for a very long day, but I remember so well driving home late, tired and happy, enjoying the sunset as I headed west towards Hershey. The next year, I signed up again, and in addition to my afternoon group, I met up with others at my friend Linda's house the night before to play chamber music. It was wonderful. Sleeping on a couch at my daughter's house, on the other hand, wasn't so wonderful.

An Adult Chamber Players ensemble rehearsing at the Willow Grove Branch

For my fourth season, I signed up for a coached group in the afternoon. Marka, the program director, is also a violist, and she served as our embedded coach. We played a Mendelssohn quartet, going over the piece in depth and with incredible sensitivity to nuance. It was a powerful and very rich experience. It was during this year that I began to talk with my husband about maybe moving to somewhere near Willow Grove so that I wouldn't have a long commute (and wouldn't have to sleep on a couch) and could meet more often to play chamber music with my new friends. Well, it so happened that we found a house that we liked in Wyndmoor, 15 minutes from the Willow Grove Branch, bought it, sold our house in Hershey, and moved here in May.

Thanks to the other musicians I met at Settlement, I have so many opportunities to play -- every day, if I could manage it. In short, I'm a big fan of Settlement and the Adult Chamber Players Program. Next year I want to play in all the Settlement programs in the Philadelphia area!

Learn more about Settlement's adult programs at Chamber Music Conversations, an open house and evening of music for adult musicians, on June 21 at the Mary Louise Curtis Branch. Bring your instrument and we will organize an ensemble for you, whether you play classical, jazz, rock, or folk music, or come be a part of the audience and meet like-minded adults who share your love for music.

Settlement's Open House, Saturday June 8, 10 AM to 1 PM

Settlement's 2012-13 school year comes to an end next week. After the Annual Concert on Sunday, there's one last week of lessons and classes before students and teachers alike head off for summer camps, festivals and well-earned vacations. Before we send everyone off for the summer, we hope to get to know some new people first at the annual Open House, held tomorrow, from 10 AM to 1 PM, at all of Settlement's branches.

Students and faculty will be performing and leading demonstrations, and staff and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about all of the lessons, classes and ensembles offered both this summer and year-round.

A full schedule of events at each branch is available here, but from all of the events packed into just three hours at each branch, here are a few selected highlights:

-Suzuki play-in at the Mary Louise Curtis Branch. We've talked about the Suzuki teaching method here before, now come see what has made the Suzuki program at Settlement such a popular choice for very young musicians and their parents.

-Cello-bration at the Willow Grove Branch, including a performance by a cello ensemble, coached by Christine Danoff, of Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras. It's a sneak preview of Sunday's Annual Concert, too.

-Performances by student jazz and rock bands, coached by Mark Forchic, at the Germantown Branch. It's been a year of tremendous growth for jazz ensembles at Settlement, and Mark's ensembles have been performing far and wide.


-Voice recital featuring students of Susan Rheingans at the Kardon-Northeast Branch

-A demonstration of Percussion Construction, a percussion class where children ages 5-7 play alongside their parents, at the Wynnefield Branch.

-Demonstrations and performances by Children's Music Workshop students at the Camden School of Musical Arts. CMW provides an introduction to music theory, notation and musical development -- a great way for young musicians to learn music fundamentals before starting on an instrument.

Piano faculty member shares keys to success

As the school year draws to a close, two upcoming events—the Open House at all branches on June 8, and the Annual Concert on June 9—really show the best of Settlement: our programs for all ages, our classes and ensembles that help produce both talented musicians and well-rounded individuals, and our remarkable faculty. Over the next several weeks, we'll feature some of our faculty members who will be part of Open House or whose students will be performing at the Annual Concert, starting with piano faculty Dolly Krasnopolsky. She's a fixture at Settlement and an important part of the Russian-speaking community in Philadelphia, especially near the Kardon-Northeast branch, and her students all sing her praises—even ones, like Pulitzer Prize-winning alumna Quiara Hudes, that haven't played for many years.

Dolly Krasnopolsky, longtime piano faculty at Settlement

Piano instruction has been at the center of Settlement since its founding, and for over two decades, Dolly Krasnopolsky has had a profound impact on many young pianists. Now serving as the Ann Stookey and Joseph W. Waz, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Chair, Dolly has taught at four Settlement branches over the course of 24 years since emigrating from the Soviet Union. She now teaches at three branches—Mary Louise Curtis, Kardon-Northeast, and Willow Grove —and spends long days, packed with students, at each. Through recommendations and requests over the years, students of all ages have sought her out; her youngest is 6, the oldest well past retirement age.

Whatever their ages, her students receive a thorough grounding in what Dolly calls the “musical apparatus”: the alignment and coordination of wrists, hands and fingers that control the fundamentals of playing piano. It’s a process from A-to-Z influenced by her education in conservatories in Moldova, though instruction there “was a little more military,” she admits. Her pupils clearly benefit from this approach; they frequently play in performances at Settlement, competitions, and major events throughout the wider community.

Q: Over the years, what have you noticed that your students all have in common?

Dolly Krasnopolsky: At the beginning, everyone starts with music because it is fun, but they don’t realize that it is hard work. In every case, interest, aptitude and musicality all lead toward progress and development. Regardless of talent, I always have students who enjoy doing music as something for their soul. There’s
always variety among students, but as long as they have discipline and can find focus in music, there is always progress.

Q: How can parents best support their children in playing music, regardless of their ability?

DK: Early exposure to music—playing recordings, taking them to concerts—can help steer a child toward music, but it is not important that parents have musical knowledge themselves. What matters is to set aside the time for music and to stick to a schedule. Parents always ask me, “What age is good to start music?” They should know it is possible to jump into music too soon.

Q: What does it mean to you to see your students succeed in their musical careers?

DK: I love to see my students learn to play well enough to represent themselves and to develop skills in stage presentation. They can go from performance hours here to recitals to performances outside the school. This progression is very important, because it reflects well on them as well as on Settlement and our focused structure of teaching. Once you have the technical skills and the presentation skills, you can play anything, and I feel there’s a little more satisfaction in playing a very difficult classical program.

Q: What can you accomplish teaching at a place like Settlement that you couldn’t by visiting students’ homes?

DK: With the environment of the school, everything is possible; that’s what makes it a school of music. Students have so many opportunities to perform at different levels and on different stages. If they show an interest in composing, I can send them across the hall to study with one of my colleagues. They can study theory or composition. They can try out a choir or an orchestra. They can play in small groups and chamber ensembles. Out of those roots, they can branch out.

A version of this interview appeared in the spring 2013 issue of our NOTES newsletter.

The Myriad Talents of Settlement Faculty on Display

If you missed the Karin Fuller Capanna Faculty Recital on October 16, then you're in luck, because we've made portions of it available on our YouTube channel.

Among the pieces you can see there are two compositions by Settlement faculty members. Roberto Pace, the Robert Capanna Fundamentals of Music Distinguished Faculty Chair, teaches both piano and theory at Settlement, and composed a piece titled Quartet for Piano and Strings. Originally commissioned for the Benjamin and Carol Auger Contemporary Music Advanced Study Ensemble by the group's namesake, the piece was performed in its entirety for the first time at this concert.

Closing the recital, the School featured a piece by Michael Djupstrom, perhaps not coincidentally also a piano and theory instructor, titled Daydreams and Night Visions.



Keep your eye on our YouTube channel, and mark it as one of your favorites, because we've got plans to add much more content in the coming months. Interested in seeing something specific about our programs? Let us know in comments here or on our Facebook page, where you can also find pictures from the faculty recital.

Kicking Things Off at Willow Grove

On Saturday, January 8, at the close of the first full week of lessons and classes at the Willow Grove Branch, the School held two performance hours. Not so unusual, as performance hours are a regular Saturday tradition at Settlement. These performance hours were special, though, because they were the first performance hours held at the new Willow Grove Branch.

The performance hour is a special part of the Settlement experience, as it gives every student the opportunity to practice the their skills in front of an audience. A more relaxed setting than a formal student recital, the performance hour is a great opportunity for students of any age and skill level.

You can see more photos from the performance hour at our Facebook page, and videos of some of the performances on our YouTube page.

But the performance hour wasn't the only thing happening at the new Branch this weekend. The School held an exclusive first look for its board members, faculty and staff. A few brave souls ventured out into the Saturday's snow to see the new facility first hand.

Leonard Mellman, pictured above with Executive Director Helen Eaton (left) and Branch Director Marsha Hogan (right), stopped by to take a look at the recital hall that bears his name.

Chair of the Central Board of Trustees, Joseph W. Waz, Jr., also dropped by, along with his wife, Ann Stookey Waz. Along their tour, they surveyed the new percussion studio. An improvement over the basement studio at the Jenkintown, faculty members have noted that students are initially distracted by the room with a view.
Haven't seen the new branch for yourself yet? Stop on by! Check the web site for hours of operation!

Just like an Erector Set

Things are really heating up now at the Willow Grove Construction Site. The picture to the right was taken two weeks ago, just as the steel was first delivered to the work site.

Not more than a day later, the frame of the building is taking a very definite shape. If we think of the building as a body, we've got a skeleton (steel frame), a couple layers of skin (exterior concrete walls), and a few pieces of circulatory system (exterior drains).

Interior walls (which, if we're stretching our body metaphor, are what, cell walls or muscle fibers?) are still a few months away, but we're well on our way to something that actually resembles a building.

The pictures in this post all were taken within the space of a week, which our construction guru tells us is about perfect for a structure like ours.

More updates as we get new pictures. In the meantime, take a few seconds to become a fan of Settlement on Facebook. Then check out the fan page and let us know what you think.

Snow and more Walls

So there was the matter of a little snow in the middle of February. Okay, a lot of snow. But we've got a lot full of construction equipment -- the kind of equipment that moves giant piles of dirt without a problem.

So a little bit of snow didn't slow construction much at all. The bulldozer just shoved the most inconvenient mounds out of the way.

Then workers got started on a retaining wall that will run the length of the rear of the property along the railroad track. Importantly, the parking lot for the new branch will be between the building and the railroad tracks, so the retaining wall serves the important purpose of building up the ground back there so it brings the parking lot to a reasonable level. The shot to the left is just the first level or two of that wall.

A few days later, not only is the wall a good bit larger, but we're already packing dirt behind it tightly enough that the construction equipment is rolling across it without a problem. You'll notice that the snow on that dirt mound didn't last long, either.

While the snow itself didn't slow down work that much, the after effects did cause a few issues.
Remember that picture of the elevator pylon from a few posts ago? Well, they had recently dug out the area around the pylon to fit the sleeve that will become the base of the elevator.

Melting snow flooded that newly dug hole, and as it turns out, it's a lot easier to move snow than water.

Rest assured, though, work continues. Stay tuned next week when we'll post photos of a whole lot of steel.

The first of a few Willow Grove Updates

In the last few weeks we've had two separate snowstorms (albeit close together), and we're about to get hit with a torrential downpour this weekend. But while weather and 102nd Anniversary Gala preparations have prevented blog updates, these circumstances haven't slowed down work on the Willow Grove Branch construction site.

In the first of a few posts today, we'll be bringing you up to speed on how the site has progressed since early February. In our last post, we shared pictures of the pre-fabricated forms that were erected in preparation for poured concrete. Take down those forms, and voilà, walls!

Point of interest: The ridge that runs around these concrete walls is actually where the bottom-most layer of the brick facade will be laid.

You can also make out the shadow of our intrepid photographer, Settlement's Facilities Manager Bob Giannone.

And taken from my favorite angle, compare the following shot with one taken back in December.

Come back later today for a few shots in the recent snow, as well some work done earlier this week.

The Shape of Things to Come (Walls)

Things are literally beginning to take shape at the Willow Grove branch site. Throughout this post, you'll see pictures of bare rebar sticking out of the ground, marking the places where walls eventually will stand.

The corner you see in the photo on the right marks the left corner of the building as viewed from Davisville Road.

While it may be raining cats and dogs today, the weather last week was perfect for the next stage of the process. Lightweight, pre-fabricated forms were delivered, then erected around the rebar frame.

Once the form is in place, concrete will be poured inside it, surrounding the rebar, which serves to reinforce the walls.

The white forms represent what will be the back of the new facility, which faces the road. You'll enter the parking lot from the left side of the rear of the building, then park on the side that isn't visible from the road.

Thusly, the front entrance of the building actually is in the rear of the lot, on the same side as the railroad tracks that occasionally make their way into the pictures.

Here's another shot of the concrete form from the other end of the lot. Part of the wall created here will be under the ground, forming one wall of the building's lowest floor.

Have a question about the Willow Grove construction project? Let us know in the comments below and we'll do our best to answer it.

Elevators, jacks and pylons, on my!

Exciting stuff happened at the site of the Willow Grove branch just after the first of the year. The big trailer you see to your right was pulled onto the lot in order to lay the groundwork for a piece of the construction process that won't happen for a few months.

Any guesses? In case the subject of today's post didn't give it away, this jack drilled a solid metal pylon straight into the ground. Thirty-eight feet straight into the ground to be precise.

When it's installed a few months from now, the weight of the elevator machinery will rest on top of this pylon.

Just a reminder, you can see larger versions of each of these images by clicking on them.

Willow Grove Construction Over the Holidays

As you can see from the photos on this post, real work on the Willow Grove project started in earnest in December.

Once the construction vehicles arrived, the first goal on site involved clearing some trees from the sides and back of the lot.

Following that, workers began clearing and grading the land in preparation for drainage installation.



Despite the surprise that was the pre-Christmas nor'easter, the drainage pipes were delivered. Further photos to come as work progresses. Be sure to visit the blog regularly for updates.

Settlement's Willow Grove Project Begins!

Welcome back to Settlement's blog! One of our resolutions for 2010? More updates, more regularly.

We'll start with the progress on the Settlement's Willow Grove project. A reminder: the new branch replaces and doubles the capacity of the Jenkintown Branch, which currently is housed in a leased facility.

To give you a clear idea of where we started, the photo on the right shows what the lot looked like less than two months ago.

If you haven't been to the lot recently, then you missed the excellent sign that our builder, TN Ward, built for the site just before construction started. As with any image on the blog, just click for a larger version. Shortly after the sign went up, a trailer and portable restroom were installed on the property, a sure sign the construction was about to begin.

In the second of today's posts, we'll share what happened at the construction site over the recent holidays.