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OSU band director visits Salem schools

(Photo by Morgan Ahart) 
(Photo by Morgan Ahart) 
(Photo by Morgan Ahart) 
(Photo by Morgan Ahart) 
Shown from left are Interim Superintendent Jamie Kemats, High School Principal Todd McLaughlin and High School Band Director Hannah Dickson. (Photo by Morgan Ahart) 

Salem’s student musicians had the opportunity to work with Ohio State University Director of University Bands Dr. Russel Mikkelson Friday. Mikkelson served as guest conductor for rehearsals for the seventh- and eighth-grade bands, and the high school jazz and concert bands as part of the Opus 88 program, which sees Ohio State’s band program participating in music-based community events in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Mikkelson told the students that when he was their age, he wanted to be a high school band director, and that he had been one for several years before joining Ohio State 28 years ago. Mikkelson told students that when he hosts a clinic session like those on Friday, he always tries to determine what he would do to help the ensemble improve the most as if it was his own. His advice for the concert band was to be extra conscious of the melody, whether their section is carrying the melody at any given point, and if not, to consider exactly what role their part is playing in the larger song. He also told them that while they’ve done a good job of learning their individual parts, that group rehearsals should be used to learn things which can only be done as a group like active listening, blending, and matching articulation, dynamic, and volume.

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