JANIE GOULD

One afternoon after school recently, a group of 21^st century high school musicians preparing for holiday concerts practiced a work composed more than three centuries ago.

Violinists, violists, cellists and a harpsichord soloist ran through portions of a Concerto Grosso by an early Baroque composer named Arcangelo Corelli.  A generation older than Bach, Corelli has been called the world’s first great violinist.

“These kids are keeping his music alive today and they can add something to it,” said Matt Stott, director of the Vero Beach High School Orchestras.

The advanced student musicians are members of the school’s philharmonic orchestra, which has been invited to perform March 9 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  VBHS’ orchestras consistently receive ”superior” ratings from the Florida Orchestra Association. Stott starts his workday teaching beginning string students at Gifford Middle School. In all, he teaches 212 string students every day, most of whom have never had private instruction.

During rehearsals of the Corelli piece, Stott talked with a cello soloist about “precision of the pitch. “ He told the group the tempo was too slow in one section. And Stott, a former basketball coach, gave advice about the ergonomics of concert performance.

“Is it healthier to sit still or move as you play?” he asked the students, suggesting they move a little in their chairs while they play.

It was dusk when the practice ended, but none of the students seemed eager to pack up their instruments and leave. Stott said he’s not sure whether it’s because of the music they’re learning or because they all enjoy being together. Besides their daily music classes in school, these students practice after school one day a week.

“For the most part, they seem to enjoy doing these extra things,” he said.

He knows that all music teachers want to motivate their students to practice more.

“The biggest single motivator is good (music) literature,” he said.  “There’s so much good literature out there. I spend a lot of time over the summer and during the year finding literature that is meaningful and that 21^st century students and relate to and enjoy playing.”

Stott, 35, grew up in “corn and soybean” country in a small town 60 miles from Chicago.  His parents started him with violin lessons when he was 6.

“My older sister had started taking violin lessons and I was a jealous younger brother,” he said.

Early on, he played violin for home recitals and at church. All children were supposed to participate in the church choir, but Stott didn’t like to sing, so he asked if he could play violin instead, and he did..

In 1996, he graduated from Aurora Christian High School, where he played on the basketball team as a point guard.

“I probably spent more time playing basketball than practicing violin,” he said. “Those two activities kept me out of trouble.”

When he entered Baylor University in Waco, Texas, he planned to major in violin performance. He loved teaching, though, and says he was “blessed with the ability to do it pretty well.”  He also coached basketball at Baylor, and graduated with a degree in music education.  He was planning to go to graduate school when Vero Beach violinist Tom Fritz contacted him. Vero Beach High School was looking for an orchestra teacher.

“Tom described Vero as a diamond in the rough as a place to start a program,” Stott said.

Stott was impressed by the quality of the high school band and choral programs, and by the level of community support for the programs. At any concert in the school’s Performing Arts Center, the audience is likely to include many people who aren’t friends or relatives of the student musicians, but just enjoy the quality of the music.

When Stott arrived 13 years ago, there was a string program at the middle school, and musician Brandon Putzke was working with a few kids at the high school after class.

“In that first year, we had six or seven students registered for orchestra at the beginning of the year, and a couple of those kids worked incredibly hard,” Stott said.

Sometimes, they played violin in the school courtyard.

“It took a lot of courage to do something new and different, to pick up a violin and play it in front of their peers,” he said. “But rather than being made fun of, other kids were attracted to that courage. I’ve really been blessed to teach great kids.”

The current senior class of musicians is incredibly talented and hard working, he said. Some play piano and sing, compose and arrange music and even conduct.

“A lot of these students want to pursue music at a higher level next year so they’ve taken advantage of everything Vero has to offer,” he said.

Now, the orchestra is looking toward performing in Washington. The VBHS Orchestra Boosters group is raising $112,000 so that 65 student can participate. The most advanced students, the philharmonic orchestra, will perform in the Kennedy Center. Thirty five other VBHS students will present a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

“The community has been great,” Stott said. ‘We’re getting closer to our goal. The goal is to have it done by the middle of January so we can focus on the music.”

Four high school orchestras were selected from around the country for the Kennedy Center concert, dubbed the Youth Music Celebration International.   Selections the Vero orchestra will play include a movement from Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” which Jackie Kennedy commissioned for the opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971.

Besides teaching music, Stott used to work as an assistant basketball coach at VBHS. He gave up those  duties when he and his wife, Katie, had their first child. Hannah is now 4, and her brother, Luke, is a year and a half. Their dad often plays his violin for them at home.

“I hang it on the wall so it’s easy to get to,” he said. “I don’t have to pull it out of the case. I play it several times a week at home, sometimes solo Bach, sometimes things the kids are working on at school, which helps me teach it better. With my children, I like to fiddle around. We’ll play some fiddle music. We don’t have TV at our house. We like to play a lot of music and the kids like to dance, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Hannah has her own violin, a one-tenth size instrument that Tom Fritz gave her when she was born.

Stott says he’s teaching her to play, but “just a little bit.”

HOW TO DONATE

Checks to help defray costs of the VBHS Orchestra’s trip to Washington, D.C., may be made payable to VBO Boosters and mailed to Mr. Matt Stott, Vero Beach High School, 1707 16^th ST., Vero Beach, FL 32960. Please include your phone number.