TECUMSEH — Performing on stage is part and parcel of the usual school music program experience. Getting to perform at the Tecumseh Center for the Arts with professional musicians as the Tecumseh Schools Orchestra students do each year, however, is something else entirely.
This year, students from grades five through high school had the opportunity April 15 and 16 to perform with Kittel & Co., a five-person string band fronted by violinist Jeremy Kittel that performs a blend of folk, bluegrass, Celtic, jazz and classical music.
The other members of the band — which pronounces its name “Kid-dle and Koh” — are mandolin player Josh Pinkham, guitarist Quinn Bachand, bassist Jacob Warren, and hammered dulcimer player Simon Chrisman.
“One of the things we’re really passionate about is exposing our students to all styles of music,” said Amy Marr, Tecumseh Public Schools’ orchestra director. Over time, the TSO students have performed with guest artists representing a wide range of genres including folk, jazz, rock, and bluegrass.
The professionals come in for a mini-residency, spending two days working with the students during the day and answering their questions, then performing with each group of string players in four concerts over two evenings. The sixth graders and high schoolers performed April 15, with the fifth grade and seventh/eighth grades playing the two April 16 concerts.
Of course, the students, many of whom got their own chances to shine at the concerts either as soloists or as part of smaller groups, had been working on the program long beforehand. “We’ve worked on this music for about six weeks,” Marr’s colleague, music teacher Kim Kang, said.
Marr’s connections with working musicians are what brings different professional performers to Tecumseh each year. This time around, for example, Kittel & Co.’s participation came thanks to Marr’s long friendship with the group’s frontman. The pair attended high school together in Saline and both of them played with the Saline Fiddlers.
Before the first of the four performances, Kittel said he and his bandmates had enjoyed their experience with the students. “It’s really fun getting to play music together,” he said. “There’s so much you can connect on through music.”
What was the strangest question students had asked the band members that day?
“’Do you like Kraft Mac and Cheese?’” Kittel said, laughing.
Other questions were considerably more musical in nature. Kang said that some of her high school students who are interested in composing, for example, wanted to know how Kittel & Co. approaches the writing process.
The school district’s orchestra program, which focuses on string instruments, got its start in 2003 with funding provided by the Elizabeth Ruthruff Wilson Foundation, which continues to provide major support.
Marr, the program’s second director, was hired in 2004, while Kang came on board in 2019 when growth in the program meant a second teacher was needed. Currently, about 250 students in grades five through 12 participate.
While Tecumseh’s students get a solid musical education through being part of the district’s orchestra, the benefits extend far beyond learning to play an instrument. Not only is arts education connected to both academic achievement and engagement with school overall, but “we build a sense of community,” Kang said. “The orchestra room is our safe space.”
“I look at it as, I teach my students to be better people and in the rest of my time I teach them music,” Marr added. “And when they’re performing together onstage, they’re part of something greater than themselves.”
By all accounts, the students at Monday’s twin performances enjoyed their experience with Kittel & Co.
Some of the sixth graders who played in the evening’s first concert shared what had made the day spent with the pros memorable for them.
“They are amazing, literally,” cellist Vivian Schiller said. “They made the songs we did sound incredible.”
“I feel like working with them, they’ve taught me things like when you play your own music, just go for it,” said Evelyn Priley, a violinist.
The idea of getting to play with a group of working musicians on stage also appealed to bass player Jackson Conner. “I thought it was really cool because we got to play with a band,” he said. “It was really fun being up there.”
Gabriel Wright, who plays cello, and violinist Cate Kennedy agreed with Conner on how much fun the work with Kittel & Co. had been. “I loved it,” Wright said, as did Kennedy, who added, “I thought it was a great experience.”
High schoolers who performed at the second concert April 15 were equally pleased with how the day had gone. “It was really fun. It was interesting to see their process,” said 11th-grade violinist Klara Dawley.
For senior Michael Root II, a cellist, the day had actually been a great chance to watch a completely different instrument in the hands of a professional musician. “I liked watching the bassist,” he said. “I liked watching him play, and I learned something about vibrato playing too.”
The way the band members worked with each other also caught the attention of bass player Oden Berthelsen and violist Aidan Gero. “It was really cool to see their process,” Berthelsen said. “They can look at each other and know what to do.”
“The biggest thing for me was how they play visually,” Gero added. “It really shows how invested they are in playing a piece. … Music isn’t just what you listen to, it’s also what you see.”
