Music Tradition
Joliet West has been known for its outstanding music programs, both instrumental and choral. Many alumni continue on in music as a career, including Charlie Adams, John Barrowman, Jimmy Chamberlin, Andy Dick, Doug Pinnick, Anthony Rapp, and Janina Gavankar. The Marching Tigers, Joliet West's marching band, is one of the few groups that held the Tiger name throughout the adoption and relinquishment of the Steelman mascot. There have been five band directors at Joliet West: Arthur D. Katterjohn, 1964–1968; Dean H. Sayles, 1968–1990; I. V. Foster, 1990–1992; Ted Lega, 1992–1993, and Kevin T. Carroll, 1993–present. The band program has consistently received high scores at competitions and has been invited to the Superstate band festival multiple times.
In April 2008, Joliet West High School was the first high school to perform a comic opera of Edwin Penhorwood entitled "Too Many Sopranos".
Recently, Joliet West High School's music program has come to note by being one of only a handful of high schools to have an "Opera Scenes" program, performing snippets from different operas translated into English. The Joliet West Vocal Music department has performed scenes ranging from "La Boheme" to "Die Fledermaus" to "Dialogues of the Carmelites". September 25, 2009's Scenes of Murder, featuring "Don Giovanni", "Hänsel and Gretel", "Dido and Aeneas", and the aforementioned "Dialogues of the Carmelites", surpassed the attendance of the 2008 spring play; 338 people attended the event. A 13-foot guillotine was built specifically for 2009's Opera Scenes.
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Famous quotes containing the words music and/or tradition:
“Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.”
—Thomas Beecham (1879–1961)
“This is no argument against teaching manners to the young. On the contrary, it is a fine old tradition that ought to be resurrected from its current mothballs and put to work...In fact, children are much more comfortable when they know the guide rules for handling the social amenities. It’s no more fun for a child to be introduced to a strange adult and have no idea what to say or do than it is for a grownup to go to a formal dinner and have no idea what fork to use.”
—Leontine Young (20th century)