MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Instead of sitting next to a student learning scales, the piano teachers of Maplewood and South Orange gathered at DeHart Community Center to take a turn in the spotlight on Oct. 7, performing in “Teachers’ Turn,” a recital featuring just the piano teachers. Put on by the Piano Teachers’ Collective and Maplewood Community Music, funds raised from ticket sales will set up a scholarship fund to help provide music lessons to students in the two towns who otherwise would not have access to them.
Featuring 13 performers playing everything from Mozart and Chopin to original compositions and Billy Joel, the teachers, who all live in or have students who live in Maplewood and South Orange, got to perform in a reversal of roles. Many of their students were in the audience, getting a chance to see what their teachers can do.
“We all had students come,” Tricia Tunstall, who organized the event, said in a phone interview with the News-Record on Oct. 9. “When I was talking to them about it, I would say that I was a little nervous and they were always surprised. It was heartening for them to learn that even more experienced people get nervous about performing and that’s a great lesson for them to learn.”
The concert was also celebrating the addition of the concert grand piano to DeHart, which was donated by members of the community. Tunstall often holds her students’ concerts at the community center, but the piano there had fallen into disrepair. When she found out that a South Orange resident was selling a piano, she and other teachers started a fundraiser to buy it for the township.
“There’s a lot that I like about having recitals in that room, but the piano was being neglected and was sounding really bad,” Tunstall said. “I didn’t want them to play on it. So we decided to raise funds and gift it to the township.”
A matching donation was given by Teachers’ Turn performer and teacher Dan Crisci and his wife, musician Virginia Johnston, in memory of Johnston’s mother, and the community collected the rest of the money to buy the piano together.
Tunstall said she received an enthusiastic response from SOMA’s teachers when she asked them to perform.
“We thought, what a great way to celebrate,” she said. “And we know there are kids who would love to have music lessons but can’t. That’s frustrating as a teacher.”
The recital raised approximately $2,000 total.
“I have students who are from Maplewood and South Orange, and I know a lot of these teachers from the Music Educators Association of New Jersey,” Nancy Modell, a teacher who performed in the concert, said in an interview with the News-Record at the event. “It’s a great way to bring the community together and raise money for students who have difficulty getting lessons.”
Modell, who lives in Summit but teaches Maplewood and South Orange residents, said that being able to play with other teachers was a good experience.
“I had a lot of fun,” she said. “There’s a really wonderful camaraderie among the teachers in this community. There’s a low competition level — there’s really none whatsoever. We’re all friends and it’s not cutthroat at all, which is rare.”
The man for whom the concert room at DeHart was named, Jim Buchanan, accompanied Dan Crisci playing bass on the final two pieces of the show. A Maplewood native and former music teacher, Buchanan is a founder of Maplewood Community Music.
“Susan Williams had played in the Rutgers band and came to me one day and said ‘I have a trombone sitting a closet,’ and we decided to try it out for a month,” Buchanan said in an interview with the News-Record at the event. “Eighteen years later some of the same people are playing in those bands.”
Giving the teachers a turn to perform for a change is something that Buchanan wants to try again in the spring.
“This was such a great idea to have the teachers play,” he said. “I’m inspired to replicate it with vocalists.”
Tunstall wants to make it an annual event, adding musicians and other instruments along the way. The response was bigger than any of the teachers had expected.
“We didn’t foresee what a wonderful event it would become,” she said. “I would love to make this a yearly event. I want to give a scholarship to more than one student. It gives the community a local flavor, I think the enthusiasm and the high spirits are indicative of how much people love community music. They love seeing the people that they know and who have taught their kids. There’s great support for the arts.”
Photos by Amanda Valentovic
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