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Six String Theory

Bought Myself a Rock ‘n’ Roll Guitar

Moving from the classroom to administration can be quite an adjustment for a new administrator. An area of adjustment I quickly noted as a young (or more politically correct, “novice”) administrator was missing teaching and interacting with my students. Later in my career, even after serving as an administrator for more than a decade, I would still feel the desire to teach and interact with students, especially during (and after) walkthroughs and classroom observations.

 

The desire to teach never escaped me while I was a principal or serving as superintendent. Observing a variety of teachers in different content areas inspired me to continue my path as an instructional leader for supporting teaching and learning within my school and community.

The reason I went into administration was to have a greater impact on the learning organization. Serving as an assistant principal, principal, and finally superintendent, provided myriad opportunities to positively impact the learning organization. Moving from one administrative position to the next provided opportunities on an increased global scale that I would have never been able to singularly achieve in my classroom. As an instructional leader, I was able to support teaching and learning throughout the school, and later, the district communities. 

In my experience, there is an unfortunate inverse relationship that occurs with respect to increasing global impact on the learning organization and diminished interaction with students. I found this challenging, as the reason I went into teaching, and later administration, was to first and foremost, support students. It can be argued that the “higher up” you move in administration, the “further away” you get from students. The irony is, this inverse relationship naturally occurs as a result of the corresponding administrative responsibilities related to the administrative position.

Chris Every Student Quote

As a developing, and later seasoned, administrator, I made a concerted effort to find ways through classroom visits, after school activities, and school/community events to remain connected with students. Serving as an assistant principal, principal, or superintendent naturally results in opportunities to interact with students across the learning organization in ways not afforded to a classroom instructor. One of the greatest gifts of being an instructional leader is that every student in the learning organization is your student.  

Although my bachelor’s degree was in biological science and all of my graduate and postdoctoral work centered on science education and leading teachers and the learning organization, one of my primary loves in life has always been music. That love for the arts remains with me through today. As an administrator, I always sought ways to not just be present at events, but to actively take part in them. On many occasions, I was not only able to do so as a trained educator, but also as a musician and participant alongside students.  

Orchestra

On one such occasion, Lane Tech’s orchestra director, Terrance Khuu, stopped by my office one day and asked if I ever heard of Santana. I smiled and laughed and noted Santana is one of my favorite guitarists. Terry then told me that he came across sheet music for an orchestral arrangement of Santana’s song, “Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile).” Terry asked if I had ever heard the song “Europa” and I replied I was very familiar with this particular instrumental piece and it was one of my favorite Santana compositions.

Terry asked if I could play the song and I told him, “Yes.” I was then invited to play “Europa” with the school Orchestra. Terry dropped off the sheet music and we made arrangements for me to rehearse the song prior to performing. We practiced the song and played it at our annual end-of-fall concert for community. Mr. Khuu, the orchestral students, and I had a great time rehearsing and performing “Europa” as well as creating a nice arrangement for the drums and percussion at the end of the song.

Lane-a-Palooza

We opened up the first high school sound engineering program with a fully functional recording studio, mixing room, editing suite, and multiple live rooms at Lane Tech College Prep in the state of Illinois. The sound engineering program and recording studio were made possible through school budgeting and fundraising. In addition to raising funds with various alumni groups, parents, and local businesses, the school also created community art festivals and concerts to raise funds and support the program.

Dignam Lane-A-Palooza

A group of students imagined and proposed “Lane-a-Palooza” as an all-day fundraising effort that culminated with a nighttime community concert. A variety of bands played and a group of students and I created a wide-ranging set that included choir, band, and orchestra to accompany a variety of select rock songs we chose for performance. While the set list included a spectrum of different types of rock music, a portion of the set list included several Led-Zeppelin numbers, such as “The Battle of Evermore,” “Heartbreaker,” and “Kashmir,” to showcase acoustic, rock, and orchestral/band elements.

Lane-a-Palooza Flyer

In the end, Lane-a-Palooza was a huge success, as it raised a large amount of funds for the school. It also included a great number of student performers and genres. As a result of Lane-a-Palooza, we were able to continue building our sound engineering and recording studio program as part of our STEAM initiative.

Lane Tech

Holiday Concert

Lane Tech is actually a 7-12 middle school and high school housed within the same facility. The campus includes Lane Tech College Prep High School (9-12) and Lane Tech Academic Center (7-8 middle school). The campus’ administration is responsible for leading both the middle school and the high school and the principal is also the principal for both schools.

 

I joined a teacher band as “Bad Santa” during one of our holiday concerts. The band played “Run, Run Rudolph” and was accompanied by our Academic Center students onstage. Our students danced and tossed candy out to student concertgoers, which was a nice way to end the week prior to a much-needed holiday, winter break.

 

“Comme D’Habiude: was written in 1967 by composer Jacques Revaux and lyricists Claude Francois and Giles Thibaut. The song was written about daily relationship routines and falling out of love. Canadian-American singer Paul Anka heard “Comme D’Habiude” on French radio and bought the song’s publication and adaptation rights. He then wrote lyrics specifically for American Singer Frank Sinatra, who recorded the song in 1969 with the same musical composition but accompanied by the English lyrics known as “My Way.” While Comme D’Habiude was written about relationship routines and falling out of love, “My Way” was written with melancholy and reflecting on one’s life as the end of life is approaching.

 

LT Band White background

In 2017, I was asked by Lane Tech’s band Director, Bradley O’Brien, if I would join the Lane Tech Band for their annual student concert and play guitar on this particular composition. I assumed Mr. O’Brien would simply want me to strum along and play chords underneath the Band as they built towards the main crescendo. I told Brad I would love to play under his direction and along with the Band students and went home that evening to search through my old Mel Bay “Fake Books” for the sheet music. After coming up short, I eventually found a rendition online in the key the band would be playing for the concert. It seemed straightforward enough and the next day I told him I would stop by and rehearse the song one time before the performance.

I soon realized there was a communication breakdown, which was likely entirely my fault. Brad stopped by my office and told me he placed the sheet music in my mailbox and then continued doing his “Wayne’s World” air guitar imitations while laughing and making funny sounding electric guitar noises as he had done before. He was smiling and said he was looking forward to hearing my solo when I stopped by to rehearse. It was then I realized he was not expecting me to just step in and add chords. After clarifying what was going on, I soon learned he and the band were hoping I would come by and create some “electric guitar soloing flair” and “shredding.” He explained his vision for a traditional band arrangement complimented by, in his words, “Guitar wizardry.” I considered it more apt “Shredivarius!”

Dignam with Student After Band Perfomance

We held one rehearsal and then met a second time in our sound engineering room, set up seven microphones with two of them for the left and right speakers on the guitar amp, hit record, and the band played live.

I was very concerned about ruining what I believe to be one of the nicest, emotionally composed and constructed crescendos by soloing a little too aggressively. However, the results were wonderfully unique and Mr. O’Brien, the students, and I had a magnificent time.

Deerfield Idol

School Chest is Deerfield High School’s annual Charity Drive. For over 50 years, Deerfield High School’s community comes together for a month-long Charity Drive. The funds students raise go towards a different non-profit organization chosen by students each year. School Chest includes a variety of fundraising efforts, one of which is Deerfield Idol.

While I was principal at Deerfield High School, several student organizers stopped by my office and shared they were aware I played guitar and requested I play “something” during Deerfield Idol. One of the students mentioned he had seen a video of me playing the National Anthem at a football game and asked if I could play a version for their annual drive with Deerfield Idol.

I agreed and played an especially impolite Jimi Hendrix/Eddie Van Halen-inspired version that they seemed to enjoy!

DHS Logo

Lane Tech High School’s school song “Go! Lane! Go!” was written by Lane Tech student, Jack T. Nelson, in 1915. Jack was a student and assistant conductor for the Lane Tech Orchestra and wrote the school song for the school, which was only seven years old at the time (the school opened in 1908). The song’s first school appearance occurred at a football pep rally.

 

I had the pleasure of performing an improvised version on electric guitar for one of our own rallies while principal, which was captured and recorded as the single guitar rendition linked in the audio above.

Chris

Referenced links and documents:
Digs’ Dynagroove by Chris Dignam

Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile) by Carlos Santana and Tom Koster

Go! Lane! Go! by Jack T. Nelson

Heartbreaker by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

Kashmir by John Bonham, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant 

Lane Tech Students Teachers to Rock in Upcoming Palooza, North Center, Illinois Patch

Rock ‘N’ Roll Singer by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott

The Battle of Evermore by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key and John Stafford Smith

CANE Dubh Publishing

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