Here Comes Me!
June 22, 2009Composer/music educator, Jake Sturtevant, shares a special moment
Recently I was chatting with Jake Sturtevant online when he shared this special story and link. In Jake’s own words…
Bella
Here Comes Me! was inspired by a phrase my then 2 year old daughter, Bella, would say in almost every circumstance when presenting herself. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the phrase. It wasn’t quite “here I come” but we got the point. It was similar to her take on the phrase “ready or not here I come” when we were playing hide and seek. She would say “here I not, here I come”. I wanted to capture this innocence and word play through a piece of music.
I had always wanted a chance to write a piece for chorus that utilized beat boxing in some capacity. While commuting by car to a USM summer course I started playing around with the words, and found that I could use the phonetic ideas within the phrase to create the beat boxing sounds. Thus began the piece.
Knowing my chorus at Washington Academy would have fun with the pieces, I also wrote in a short beat boxing solo part for a student I didn’t even have in the music program. I taught the piece to chorus mostly by rote, and though there were many giggles along the way, the students responded passionately.
On the first day I began teaching it, one student said: “why can’t chorus class always be like this?” Later I had Bella record a short video clip for the chorus, telling them “thanks, you guys rock, Here Comes Me”. The students really appreciated the personal connection they had to the piece. Knowing they would be premiering the piece not only for their families and community, but also for Bella, really made the students anxious to perform the piece.
On the night of the Spring Concert we premiered it and the students received a standing ovation. The soloist thanked me many times for letting him be part of the performance, and every person I talked to after the concert commented on the pieces, and told me how much they enjoyed it, and how much they had heard their son/daughter talking about it before the concert. One musician/composer said: “this is how to keep the music program growing”.
Bella and Jake
Though it is hard to keep my composing going on top of full time teaching and being a full time Dad, I will always have this passion, and I think it broke some barriers between student and teacher, and I know it resulted in a better learning environment. Both student and teacher composition became an integral part of my classroom this year, and I hope to see many fruitful results through the coming years.
Below you can view the premiere of Here Comes Me! What stories can you share that touches on a similar experience you’ve had as a teacher?
Fabulous!!!!!
Inspiring! I was both laughing and teary at the end.
My daughter’s phrase at the same age, was “ook-a-me!” Look at me! as she performed for us. (She is now a theater major at Northeastern.) Kids have that amazing core of confidence, and you celebrated it…and by doing so, encouraged it in your students. And isn’t that a big part of what we do as arts educators?
Thank you for your comment Laurie! My husband used to say “coming fast” and race into the room. I am sure others have many good stories from childhood.
Jake, thanks for sharing this! You found the perfect form for a piece that brings together your experience as a father, artist and teacher. Your students participated in your creation and could see how art comes from experience. Imagine learning to read by the “beat boxing” method…phonics finally finds it place in whole language! I expect there will be more collaborations with Bella.
Thank you for joining the conversation Cathy. Isn’t it great to see what Jake is up to after knowing him previous to teaching?