Staump Music School's Fall Concert, Meaningful, Memorable, Musical Experience
Last Saturday, November 16, 2024, Maria and I had the extreme pleasure of attending Staump Music School's 2024 Fall Concert. This amazing concert took place at Greenfield Middle School Theater in El Cajon, California and it was a packed house!
Have you ever experienced something and thought, "this is the kind of thing that great movies are written about"? You know, the kind of movies that are inspiring? If you are old enough, perhaps you remember when people would experience such movies in a theater and stand up and clap at the end? Well, this certainly wasn't a movie, it was real life and even a great movie or book couldn't capture the magic that Staump Music School, their teachers and students, created last Saturday night.
If you aren’t familiar with Staump Music School but you love music and learning, do yourself a favor and check them out. Tim Staump opened his school in 2008! Wow, that’s a lot of time and experience for a school and world class teachers to have built upon! The Staump School includes an impressive group of music educators such as Tim Staump, Wes Haskell, Erin Nossal, Rachel Bradford, Emily Gardiner, and Hanabi Itowe to name a few. After 17 years, I know that there are countless people that have helped them create this special school. Tim and Wes built an amazing space together, along with some special family and friends, and you’d have to see the inside of their school to believe how great it is. If I were to list the impressive resumes of each of these music teachers, it would require a full chapter of a book on each! In short, they have the credentials, including the skills, experience, and philosophies of teachers that parents dream that their children will have the opportunity to learn from.
Collectively, they offer lessons in instruments such as Piano, Guitar, Drums, Bass, Ukulele, Piano, Voice, Saxophone, and Flute. Also, they are known for their holistic approach to musical education. They build on the foundations and fundamentals, going beyond weekly lessons to provide their students with mentorship and professional experiences seldom offered in a school setting. They are also known for their student concert productions, unique faculty, songwriting programs, and advocacy for music education in our community. Simply put, the Staump School staff are as great as they get, and it is a one of a kind place with people that are special beyond words.
At this Fall Concert, last Saturday night, the other part of the equation that makes Staump so special beyond words was on full display in the auditorium, in the audience and on the stage. It’s very clear that the families of Staump are music lovers and supporters of the musical arts. You felt this coming into the auditorium. This was as friendly and fun of a large group as you will ever find coming together. Music does that. Music with kids that love to play music together, combined with parents and other family members that support and encourage them to play music, is absolutely a huge part of the recipe for positivity, fun, and happiness. It was a joy to look around and see so many nice people out having fun with live music, looking forward to seeing students perform live music on stage.
When the students started to play, they were amazing. Even the youngest and least experienced groups of students were brilliant! The song selections at every level were fun and well executed. The staff did an amazing job of conducting and guiding the students on and off the stage in an efficient manner that kept the show flowing in a way that seemed seamless, but only comes off that way because of the professional experience of the staff and the hard work and practice by the students.
Now, if one were to imagine young kids getting on stage to play musical instruments, some of which according to the staff hadn’t been in lessons for very long, one might imagine cringe worthy moments of something like “oh, that was a sour note,” or “ughh, I’m embarrassed for him,” (perhaps I am just recalling my own moments on stage as young musician), and those moments happen in live performances. However, there are three (it was going to be two, but I thought of a third while writing the first one and that’s the beauty of not using an actual typewriter) huge points that I’d like to make here;
1.) Those moments did not happen here. There just weren’t any cringe worthy moments. These kids were impressive from the beginning to the end. It was an amazing show with great live music that made me happy to be out in a crowd (ask Maria, she will tell you this is a feat in and of itself) and excited to hear the great music. They were FUN to see and hear. Refreshingly fun. The kind of fun and feeling that makes you have hope for a better world…like maybe technology hasn’t completely fried all of the young minds out there and real live music and creativity are going to make a huge comeback!
2.) There are multiple reasons that there weren’t cringe worthy moments, and obviously one of the main reasons is that the students worked hard to prepare for this. They practiced hard in class and did their homework throughout the week between classes. This was evident and they should be super proud of themselves.
But, perhaps not as evident of a reason is that there were world class professional teachers on and off the stage before, during, and after the performance to help guide these amazing students and help ensure that there weren’t cringe worthy moments. This is incredibly important because bad experiences on a stage are painful and can deter people from doing what they love to do, such as play music and perform. It’s hard and it takes a lot of hard work and time to prepare for. All of that can go right out the door with one bad experience.
But, that’s part of why Staump’s live performances are an incredible part of their magic. Wes Haskell was conducting, teaching, playing, having fun, and inspiring the students on the stage. They were clearly having fun together. It was also clear that they had been working and practicing together to make this happen. All of the teachers (Tim, Wes, Erin, Rachel, Emily, and Hanabi were either on the stage filling in on bass or off the stage co-ordinating on the sidelines and making all of this greatness happen, like great coaches do). Great coaching and teaching are hard to come by. When you see students shine like the students at Staump shine, it’s truly inspiring and last Saturday was great! Truly a credit to the Students, the Staff, and the families that comprise the Staump Music School family.
3.) Learning on a stage how to perform in front of a large audience at a young age is an invaluable experience and this generally does not happen in most schools. It can’t. It can only happen in a school where people want to be playing music together. People have different interests. For some people, music is a “I had to do it, so I got through it” experience. This is sad, but it happens more frequently than not I suppose. For me, I had some of those moments in schools and I’m a music lover that has played guitar for over 40 years. Even after graduating from 19th grade (I’ve had a lot of teachers over the years in a variety of subjects, mostly not music), I don’t recall ever experiencing a group “lesson or training” experience that was as meaningful and impactful as what I witnessed last Saturday. Performing on a stage with a large audience is intimidating. It’s scary. These little kids walked out and some of them were naturally nervous. But, with the guidance of the Staump staff, they started to rock and they quickly loosened up. They were learning things that are above and beyond what they had already learned with all of the great music that they were making after studying and practicing so hard. They were learning things that most of us had to learn in a less controlled, hectic, and not as encouraging of an environment. They were learning how to overcome the fear of messing up, rolling with it, adjusting in real time, and playing together to entertain the audience while having great clean fun!
Seeing them smile and laugh on the stage was contagious. You could hear them warm up to a great live audience and really get into the music that they were making! One of my favorite moments was seeing an instrument cord at the feet of a young guitarist and it kind of got in her way for a second and she kicked it out of the way and stepped over it like a champ as she smiled and kept playing. At that moment I thought to myself, “man I spent years playing in garage bands before I had half the presence of mind of these young musicians. Where was a school like Staump when I was young?”
I enjoyed seeing this performance so much that I could write and write about it. But, as I said in the beginning here, a descriptive narrative just can’t do justice to the brilliance of the staff and students of Staump Music School and how special they are. I have no doubt that I saw some young musicians on that stage that will have long and successful professional musical careers because they are gifted, they work hard to nurture their gifts, and they have proper guidance with amazing teachers. I also know that all of the students, whether they make a career of music or not, will be healthier and more productive members of society that will make a deeper and more positive impact on their communities because of what they are learning at Staump Music School.
Maria and I here at ECGMusic.com cannot thank you all enough for what you do. Thank you and keep up the amazing work!!!
