Acclaimed Violinist to Teach in Waco ISD Schools
When you look at him you may think he’s from an 80’s hair band, long tresses, leather pants, wrist bands but where one would expect to see an electric guitar, there’s a violin. Like most things about Mark Wood it’s non-traditional: an electric violin.
A Julliard alumnus, Wood is known to get toes tapping in the classroom. He travels around the country with his band to different schools. His goal is to bring 17th century music into the 21st century, and teach students the value in all music genres.
Wood is coming to schools in Waco ISD this fall with his program “Electrify Your Strings”.
Wood changes student’s perception of what their instruments are capable of, and shows them how they can express their creativity through their instrument.
“I love working with kids who want to participate in their music and not just play what I call the black dots on a white page,” Wood says. “When you think about the culture of the 1700s and Mozart, that culture doesn’t exist anymore. We have been able to create a niche and use technology never used before. It helps students interact with the music.”
Schools in Waco ISD have seen a decline in orchestra student retention. Students who joined in elementary school quit by middle and high school, in part because they do not relate to the music. There’s a cultural chasm between the music these kids have on their iPods and what they are playing in class.
There’s a couple of reasons why kids aren’t playing the music they like in orchestra class. One, while arrangements for contemporary, main-stream music is common for band, similar arrangements are not as common for orchestra. Two, music scores are expensive. Why would a school invest significant funds into a dwindling program?
Two years ago, a group called Velocity came to area WISD schools. Velocity, like Wood’s band, is a performance group that provides orchestral workshops for students. The group ignited the student’s passion for orchestral music.
Tennyson Middle School and Waco High School started a performance group for orchestra. Because of new student interest Orchestra Director Maryann Driessner, would spend evenings transposing music for her students. Before she died this is what she said about Velocity in a letter,:
“They are really excited about continuing the group and have even brought me CD's of songs they think would be good. This really opened up their minds to new and different possibilities and once they started "brainstorming" it was hard to get them to stop.
I thank you so much for this opportunity. We may have created a monster, but it's a great monster. This is such a good way to motivate the students and incorporate new and different ideas of what playing a string instrument can be.”
Driessner suffered a heart attack and passed away the night before her student’s performance. The Tennyson orchestra students, although they had the option to cancel, went ahead with their scheduled performance that day.
In the last year Waco ISD has seen $60,000 in budget cuts. Arts programs, especially orchestra are hanging by a string. Thanks to Cultural Arts of Waco and the Waco ISD foundation, Mark Wood’s visit to area schools is a continuation of what started with the group Velocity. Both these groups felt that if given the right motivation, students will participate in orchestra.
Wood will visit 8, Waco ISD schools performing for and rehearsing with students. Not all the schools have orchestra programs though. An elementary in South Waco, one of the most impoverished areas of the city, does not have a program. There’s hope that Wood’s performance will generate enough interest in orchestra to start one there.
Mark Wood's Website