Music in the News!

I'm so happy to share this piece of news -- Matt Koll, the choir teacher at Crystal Lake South, was just named Teacher of the Month by Home State Bank! Matt has had both Greg and Andy as students, and has been a terrific inspiration and guide for both of them. Greg truly feels that Matt is one of the best and most influential teachers he's had. And Andy, who had no interest in choir previously, has really started stepping up in choir, partly because he wants to live up to the standards Matt has been working to instill in him. We're all very pleased to see Matt receive this honor.

And from the Saturday, May 19 Northwest Herald's Business section, a full-page article on music teachers in McHenry County! One of the featured schools, Music Makers for Life, and its owner, Theresa Villec, is a friend of Performer's Parent, letting us put flyers out on her counter. Great article! Here's the link to that article!

Battle of the Bands -- Proudest Mom Moments

Check out this week's Clinic column with tips for competing in a Battle of the Bands -- Greg and I put this one together. It's that season, when groups of high schoolers drive their parents crazy with garage band practice. We've been through this -- and it was wonderful!

In 2009, Greg and The Con Men -- the new, expanded group with the added horn section -- participated in several Battles. They competed in and won the Crystal Lake event, scoring way above their competitors. They won some great prizes, including several hours of recording time! That was very exciting for the guys -- they quickly had big plans. Then they moved on to the Regional event, which was scheduled for August.

The night before Regionals, they played at a Battle in Woodstock -- not a Park District competition. Out of 8 bands, they didn't even place! All of us parents were incredulous -- how could they not have taken at least 3rd, when they sounded SO much better than any of the other bands (at least we thought so)? One of the bands that DID place, though, was playing at the Regional event the next day also -- and I think the combination of the loss and the rematch spurred them on to work harder and play better the next day.

And that day -- was HOT! And the performance was outside, at a water park. And the Con Men were scheduled to play LAST! But believe me, they were fantastic. What a moment for us parents to watch the judges bopping along with Soul Man and Nothing Wrong, in a way they didn't for any other band. From their opening introduction -- "The neighbors hate us, the cops love us" -- to the winner announcement -- "You waited five hours to hear them!", we knew -- they had regained their mojo, they were once again the best band standing.

And two weeks later, playing against the winners of all the Illinois regional events, once again, they took first (to see videos of all their songs from State, check out www.youtube.com/TheConMenBand). We screamed, we cried, we tried to keep the drunk guy away from the stage. We wore our Con Men shirts, the boys hoisted the banner we had made for them -- and while I've had many moments that I was proud of my boy and his achievements, that was certainly in the top five.