Millbrook School District strives for perfection in music

MILLBROOK — “Music is one of those areas where perfection is what we strive for,” said Craig Fryer, music teacher for the Millbrook High School. As music teacher for the high school, Fryer has applied his passion for instrumental music to the school since 1993. Coming to Millbrook High School after teaching in the City of Poughkeepsie School District from 1982 to 1993, he came to build the instrumental program.“The gentlemen who was here before me, Kevin Thomas, got a lot of the kids playing at the seventh- and eighth-grade level, so we knew it was waiting to blossom,” Fryer said. “My job was to focus on instrumental music and build it up.” Fryer did exactly that. When he first came to Millbrook, there were only 18 students in the high school band. Now there are 70.“The jazz ensemble has evolved into a pretty professional group,” he said. “We have a full instrumental rhythm section, complete sax section, complete drum section and complete trumpet sections.”It’s become a staple — when people think of Millbrook High School they think jazz band. The instrumental program now goes from fourth to 12th grade. Kim Moores, music teacher in the elementary school, teaches fourth- to sixth-graders, while Fryer teachers seventh- to 12th-graders.The high school band usually plays five concerts a year, performing at the Memorial Day ceremony and homecomings. Yet its biggest achievement and what the band has become known for is its success at the Heritage Festival held in Virginia. “We did really well this year. Both band and jazz ensemble got superior ratings. Both received first-place awards and both received best groups of the festival, regardless of the division,” Fryer said. Ryan Donovan, 17, is a senior at Millbrook High School. He has played trumpet in the band for four years. “We always play good music and Mr. Fryer makes music interesting,” Ryan said. “He does a good job preparing us, and musically getting a good performance, while allowing us to have fun while playing 20 pieces of music or however many we played this year.”Donovan was awarded the John Phillip Sousa Award; he will be attending SUNY Binghamton in the fall and plans to major in engineering and minor in music. Donovan explained why he enjoys Fryer’s teaching style,“He doesn’t just teach us the little things, like obviously there are notes on the page, but he goes more into the feeling and the depth of what the music is,” he said. “And I find that really interesting.”Fryer seeks 100 percent from his students, and the results have been tremendous, with support from the administration and community. Fryer said he is very proud of his students and their accomplishments. He addressed the issue of music programs being cut from public schools.“I think it’s a terrible thing,” he said. “Sometimes music is thought just as an extra thing that’s not necessary in education. For the kids who are involved with it, they wouldn’t be the students they are if they weren’t involved in music. It’s probably the only place where students strive for absolute perfection, and if you take that away, you’re taking away a really important part of their education.”