Andy Dunham This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. Cheboygan Tribune

   www.cheboygannews.com/articles - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/23/2004   Last Visited: 1/23/2004

   Andy Dunham has been the director of bands at Cheboygan Area Schools since 1997. He once performed at the Michigan Music Education In-Service Conference and this weekend will direct the Jazz Lab at a 3 p.m. Saturday show.
   ...
   Regular classes don't begin for more than a half-hour, but Director Andy Dunham is as intense as if he's in the middle of exam week, rehearsing the percussion bridge from a song the group has been playing for 10 minutes.
   
   "I don't like it that way, I don't like it at all," Dunham said, shaking his head. "I don't like the way it's written, but I like the way you just played it. Change it and be natural about it, it's what you want to do."
   
   It's "zero hour" at Cheboygan Area High School, when most students are still settling in for breakfast or just hopping out of bed. Dunham has a few students who look puzzled, as though they are too sleepy to understand their director's train of thought.
   
   "Just play it like you just played it, that's all," he reaffirmed.
   ...
   Saturday the Jazz Lab will partake in an occasion so special that Dunham takes a deep breath whenever he talks about it.
   
   "Its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me as well as the kids," he explains about the group's upcoming gig at the 59th Annual Michigan Music Education In-Service Conference.
   ...
   These kids are hot, and when they all cheer at 7:45 in the morning when Dunham announces that they'll now rehearse a song called "Fireshaker," you know they mean business.
   
   "I have all the elements here to make an outstanding jazz group," admits Dunham, who has been Cheboygan's director of bands since 1997. "It just came together like a championship team."
   
   The sports comparison is appropriate since Dunham has seen this group coming for a long time.
   
   "The seniors in this band started with me seven years ago as sixth graders," he said admiringly. "They mean a lot to me and are really great kids."
   
   There are seven seniors among the 20 musicians in the Jazz Lab. The group's focus has been so intense that they were able to coordinate their exam schedule a few days early to allow for rehearsal time and an early departure downstate.
   
   "The school administration has been extremely cooperative," Dunham stated, "and the Band Boosters and personal donations we've received will pay for the trip. This project has involved a lot of people."
   
   The school has printed a program for the band to take along for audience members to enjoy, complete with photos and comments from the musicians, directors, and school administrators.
   
   Dunham received a bachelor of music education degree from Central Michigan University, then attended DePaul University in Chicago where he received a master's degree in percussion performance.
   
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