Although the melodies in Commack High School sound the same, two new faces arise into the role of inspiring students and colleagues and fostering a positive environment within the music department and Commack community.
After Dr. Hansen’s retirement, a new teacher stepped up, Christopher Donohue, the new orchestra teacher. He started playing the violin at 3 years old and also plays the saxophone. After stepping into this new role, Donohue has many positive feelings about teaching at Commack.
“I feel honored to be involved in a program that has wonderfully talented students and has an artist community built in. The biggest difference [between Commack and my old environment] is that every single student that goes to this school is from Commack, so what’s really nice to be a part of is the feeling of pride that everyone else has for their community,” said Donohue.
The newest band teacher is Andrew Scheiner, former band teacher of Burr Intermediate School.
“Teaching high school students was what I always wanted to do.The fact that I can just sit here and see all of you and talk to you guys and have meaningful conversations is one of the biggest reasons why I want to be here. Also the music that we are playing and the music we are rehearsing is more in line with the music I want to rehearse with and the music I want to work on. There is so much talent here and my goal was always to make good use of your talent and I think you guys are more talented than you actually think that you are,” said Scheiner.
Tri-M Music Honor Society is an organization that provides talented young musicians with opportunities to further develop their musical skills and challenge themselves while serving their community. Tri-M Honor Society participates in many events, such as Halloween Happening, Winter Wonderland, and Musical Storytelling, to help bring the positive impact of music to the community. Tri-M Honor Society was previously advised by Dr. Hansen, and this year Catherine Neville took on the responsibility as the new adviser.
“It’s very exciting [to be the advisor of Tri-M], I’m looking forward to collaborating with the board to create exciting musical activities and continuing what’s already been established with Tri-M. I hope to help people come together and share their love for music. I would love to continue to organize field trips and other fun activities for us both here on Long Island and in the city,” said Neville.
Along with Tri-M, clubs such as Jazz Messengers and Marching Band underwent a change.
“It’s good to have new faces in the department, I mean they are different people and obviously have different perspectives and how they intercept how [music] is played. With Jazz [Messengers], Donohue is a great musician and we play together in the mornings. In the band we have Scheiner but last year we had Hochman, who was also great. But Scheiner is also another perspective…Scheiner is changing [marching band] a lot and there is a lot of reconstructions going on,we are doing more drills and I would say the music is more complex and he’s willing to push the boundaries more…” said senior Brian S.◼️
