The Observer Newspapers | Director Selected to Lead Music Program

June 27, 2008

Director Selected to Lead Music Program

By Rebecca Plevin
Observer Staff Writer

After leading the Herndon High School band for 30 years, band director Richard Bergman is passing the conductor's baton to Kathleen Schoelwer, a graduate of James Madison University. Schoelwer, who has led the Courtland High School band in Spotsylvania County for the past four years, said she feels privileged to take over a music program that is well known for its talented young musicians and its rich tradition.

Schoelwer, who grew up in Arlington County, said she is already "very familiar with how great Herndon's band was." As the new band director, she said she would strive to continue the school's tradition of being recognized at the state, national and international level. "How do you top this fantastic history that's already in place?" she asked.

Schoelwer said she looks forward to leading Herndon's many musical groups. She said concert groups are the "meat and potatoes of any program" because in concert band student musicians are exposed to the musical literature of Europe and the United States. It is amazing, she said, how music "relates to our history and who we are."

She said students could apply their musical skills and finesse to marching band, "the dessert if you will." Marching band, she said, is where the students bond and "really become a team and learn lifelong lessons." And though Herndon has a very large marching band, Schoelwer said she is prepared for the challenge; Schoelwer was the drum major of James Madison University's marching band.

Schoelwer said her goal as a music educator is to "make lifelong musicians out of these students." "I want them to always have a love for playing," she said. One way she hopes to instill an appreciation for music is by founding a music honors society at Herndon, as she did at Courtland.

The Tri-M Music Honors Society, she said, would bring together students from band, chorus and orchestra to perform in recitals at elementary schools, attend National Symphony Orchestra events at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and participate in other extracurricular events that would expose the students to the musical world and help them grow as musicians, while giving back to the community.

Before she begins directing the Herndon musicians, Schoelwer will lead a group of high school musicians to Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. When she returns from Europe, she said, she will be completely dedicated to Hornet musicians, beginning with marching band camp on Aug. 4. "There is nothing like band camp that really bonds a group of kids," she said.