More Than Music: Inside the Fresh Air Band

In this episode, we spotlight the Fresh Air band, exploring both the vision behind the music and the experience of bringing it to life. Mr. Darnell shares the purpose, preparation, and challenges of guiding students each week, while band member Walker Grulikowski gives a firsthand look at rehearsals, performing on stage, and the connections that form through the band. Together, their perspectives reveal how the band shapes Fresh Air, bringing the school together through the music. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:12

You're listening to Beyond the Bell, a student-produced podcast from Mount Pisca Christian School. I'm Avery Hicks, and this podcast is a space where students, teachers, and the whole community can connect. Here we believe every person has a story to tell, and we want to bring those stories to life. In this episode, I'll be speaking with Mr. Donnell, the fresh air band teacher, about the vision, challenges, and purpose behind the music that we hear during fresh air. I will also be speaking with Walker Gorlikowski, a member of the Fresh Air Band, about what it's like firsthand to rehearse, perform, and connect through the music. Each week in Chapel, the band sets the tone, lifting the room with energy, reflection, and creativity. But what goes on behind the scenes? Who are the people shaping the sound? And what does it mean to be a part of something that brings the whole school together? Thank you for being a part of this episode about the fresh air band.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

You're welcome, Avery. I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Looking at the bigger picture, what do you ultimately hope the students take away from the music?

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Uh that's a great question. So I'll separate it into two groups. Um, you know, what my band, the eight kids, take away from the experiences that we share, and then also what I hope the larger group, the 300 of us in South Hall, uh, take away. So for my band, it's just special to make music with your friends, and I tell them that every week. I say, you know, guys, like this is a gift, and there's nothing better than making music with your friends. I talk about how um how important our sports are and our arts and the different things we do at school. Um but I have this feeling, this belief that making music is one of the things that you can do for the rest of your life. Where you may not be able to play football, you may not be able to dance or perform or all these other things the rest of your life, but making music with your friends is one of those things that you can do forever. So I try to encourage this group to learn to do that and appreciate it because it's not a hard, it's not an easy thing to do. Like I try to teach them how to listen well, how to play well, how to you know sit back and how to step forward. Music is very much like a dance. And I uh I try to teach these students in my band as much about music theory as I can that they can take with them into college and ahead. And then for the other group, the 300 of us in the room, um, my hope for our worship experience is that we give God our attention. Um I know there is a really diverse variety of perspectives on faith and Christ and religion and Christianity. I mean, we we we have the gamut of of kids and backgrounds um in the room with us. And I never want to, you know, push or force or require anyone to have a certain perspective on God. But I believe that I can trust Him to meet these students where they are. So so my hope, my goal for a Thursday morning in fresh air is to encourage everyone to give God their attention, whatever that means to them. Because they may come in, you know, tired or angry or depressed or you know, mellow, whatever it is. I I don't know what the what the feeling is when they walk into the room, but but my hope is that we create an environment where it's easy to sit back, to relax, to lift their heads, and give God their attention.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

How do you choose the music that best supports the topics and themes each week?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah, it's another great question. Uh it varies. Some weeks I'll work closely with Mr. Hilliard in planning the fresh air services. So sometimes we have like a through line of, you know, a game has a certain kind of uh purpose, a way to, you know, bring a certain idea or thought to mind. And then we'll try to choose a couple songs that may also carry that through line of of you know being seen or being known or or whatever. So, and then we'll have a you know, Mr. Hilliard will give the message. So sometimes we try to create a thread that is carried through all of those different elements of a fresh air service. And then other times I'm choosing songs for our group that I think challenge them individually, and that might mean, you know, a couple challenging guitar parts for Walker and Kamsey and Maddox to try and work through that I know will really challenge them, and I know they have to do their homework on. And then other weeks I might choose a song that has some really complex vocal lines or harmonies that I want to work on or singers with. Um and then just about every week there is a certain, you know, idea of dynamics that I want our band to understand. And what I mean by dynamics are is I try to craft every worship experience to be almost like a roller coaster, where we're starting in a place that may be simple and low and quiet, and then we do what's called a build, where like our dynamic is building louder, louder, louder to get to a really big course, only to kind of drop back down into a valley area, just to build up again into a course. Uh because if we're not doing this, and I'm moving my hand like a wave in front of Avery, if we're not doing this musically, if we're not doing this dynamically, Thursday mornings are just a wall of sound. And I hate that idea. It's not just, hey, we're gonna go up there and make a lot of noise and it's gonna be in your face for you know seven minutes or whatever. I want there to be this rhythm, this dynamic, this wave, this roller coaster of emotion and energy through the music. So that was a long-winded question, or a long-winded answer to say I try to choose songs that challenge these kids to you know play well and play a lot when they need to play a lot, and also back off and play little when they need to play little, when to be loud and when to be soft, because I want there to be a variety of those, you know, emotions, those dynamics in the songs that we choose.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Once the music is chosen, what does the preparation process look like behind the scenes?

SPEAKER_00 6:45

That's another great question. So, you know, we uh have a chapel every Thursday, and I have class four days a week, so I'll just walk you through the week. On Monday, usually we have our songs chosen, and we are watching and listening to those songs three or four times together, and we are creating a chord chart together. I don't really believe in going online and just saying, okay, internet, what are the chords to this song? That feels like it's too easy, it's cheating. So I challenge these kids to listen and apply the music theory that I'm teaching them to understand how this song works. So a part of the theory that we learn is this applying a number system to the notes. So if you think about a music scale, you have you know da da da da da da da da. We apply numbers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, one. And then with each of those numbers, we apply a chord. So when we're listening to a song, we're listening to like one, five, six, four, five, six, four, one. We're listening to these songs and applying that number system to the chords. So then we can put that on paper and play it together. That may be over the head of a lot of our listeners, but if you're into music and this music theory, man, we have such a good time taking songs apart and really understanding how and why they work the way they do. So that's Monday. We're doing that process. Tuesday, we're grabbing our instruments and we're starting to make noise. Wednesday, we don't have class. Thursday, we arrive early, we run those songs two or three times, and then we worship together at fresh air. It's awesome. And then Friday, we usually take a break and just enjoy each other's company on stage and you know, play whatever random songs we're enjoying. Taylor Swift, Black Sabbath, ACDC. I mean, anything. Lizzie McAlpine. Like we're playing all these different artists together in class just to be inspired.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

As you work through that process, what challenges tend to come up when leading a student band?

SPEAKER_00 8:53

I mean, it shouldn't be a surprise that none of us are experts at music yet. We're all, you know, on a journey of learning more and more about how and why music works the way it does and how and why it affects us as humans. So I tell my students the first class of the year, and I repeat this over and over and over again. I tell them that, hey, if you are playing your instrument the whole song, I think you're doing something wrong. And what I mean is like, if making music together in a band is a dance, you need to know like when to be still and when to move, when to be soft and when to be loud. And teaching that is really hard to students who are, you know, maybe making music for the first time in a band. Um, teaching them to know when to come in and when to go out. That's a really hard thing to learn because it's fun to make music together and you want to just make as much noise as you can, but you know, our big, dynamic, powerful moments can only really sound as good as our simple, quiet, laid-back moments are. Like they both have to coexist to to really create an experience musically. It can't just be all hundred percent dynamic and noise. It has to be a the whole game.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

In the midst of those challenges, how do you help the students grow musically?

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I mean, I hope it's just presence of of being together. I mean, I try to teach them little nuggets of skill and technique and theory here and there, but I want them to grow because making music is special. Uh so I think the the best thing I can do for this group is to never shame or uh criticize or, you know, just to g never give the impression that, you know, maybe this isn't right for you. Because that is heartbreaking. Making music is for everyone, and if I am to ever, you know, give a kid that impression, I'd feel awful. So I think the best thing I can do is just to continue to encourage and say, you know, everything you did in this song was not perfect, sure. But there was enough that you did well, and to identify those things and really encourage what they did well. While also, you know, bring to light where there were some mistakes, but ultimately say, like, you know, your presence on guitar or bass or piano was a gift to me, your teacher, Mr. Donnell, to your friends and this band, and to this group of 300 people. Like, you know, don't stop. I mean, the easy answer is, yeah, I teach the music theory and music technique, sure. But the kind of meta answer is sharing that this is for everyone and belongs to everyone. And please don't ever stop making music. It's a gift.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Now that we understand the intention behind the music, let's turn to what the vision looks like in practice from a student's perspective. What made you want to get involved in the fresh air band?

SPEAKER_01 12:13

I think the main thing for me was I really wanted to have an outlet to play music during school because I often use music and guitar and singing to escape my reality, and that is just how I use my free time all the time, and I thought that you know, being able to play guitar and sing and make music with some other kids at my school. Um I thought that would just be a great like escape from all the schoolwork and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

What was it like adjusting to the rehearsal process compared to your own musical experience?

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Um so the rehearsal process is a lot more like just do it kind of kind of way. Like the rehearsal process is very short. We only do the songs a few times before getting to perform them. We often have music sheets with the key and all the chords in it. Um so it's honestly I like it because the songs are easy and they're really easy to pick up, so it's very like chill. You don't really have to do a whole lot of work outside as compared to the music that I do outside of school, where it takes months and months of preparation and set lists up to like 16 songs, really complicated songs, and those require a lot of rehearsal every weekend, three hours at a time, just constant, constant working towards really hard songs. So it's a lot, it's a lot more chill than what I'm compared to, which I like.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

How would you describe the experience of performing in front of the whole school?

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Um, at first, um through the this year specifically, um, I've gotten way better at performing in front of people that I don't know. Um, it's a lot less nerve-wracking, I would say, because you don't know these people and they're here to watch you perform the best of the music you can do, and usually the music that I'm playing is like, how are these kids playing it? Like it's it's this like it's just a thing you get to share with a bunch of random people, and it's really cool. But performing in front of the school was a little scary at first. Um, I definitely was shaking a little bit, probably the first like one or two times I performed. But now, um, I think this is also combined with uh the music I do outside of school, is that now I don't really feel anything anymore because it's like my peers and they're there to support me and it's a very friendly, welcoming environment. So, like if anyone is ever thinking about wanting to do music, I think Worship Band is a great intro to performing in front of people.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

What challenges have you personally faced while being in the fresh air band?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Um not too many. I think more just kind of getting over the fear of like messing up and expressing my creativity more because they're there to support you, and I think I think it was just adjusting to the style of music because I come from a metal background, and as you guys know, that's very, very different from what we play. So it was a little hard adjusting to like constantly doing different techniques that I wouldn't do, which I really appreciate, that's why I kind of signed up for the class too. Um to learn more music theory and get into more of the chords and technical aspects of music. So I think that was challenging, but now I'm a lot better at just picking up a music sheet and going rather than before.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Through those experiences, how have your relationships with other band members developed?

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Uh a lot. So I do theater with two of the people that or three of the people that are in the band. And I have always wanted to do music at the school because I was like, well, not always, but I was like really excited to hear that they were gonna do it with me, Maddox and Kansy, and I think I've gotten a lot closer with them because Maddox is my scene partner in the new play, and I think the music did just bring us together in a way that theater hasn't already.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Reflecting on everything, what does being a part of the Fresh Air Band mean to you now?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I think it means to me as a really supportive community and just a way to express my music in ways that I don't normally express my music in. It's a lot more singing than I normally do, and it's a lot more personal. I think it gets to more people than other music would. Like instead of headbanging, it's more just everyone comes together and listens to the songs that we do. And I think it's just it's honestly a really great thing, and it's definitely not what I expected. Um, but it's everything that I wanted it to be, and I've gotten so much from it, and Mr. Darnell is an amazing music teacher. Um I can feel myself improving in the worship band aspects of ways, like just performing the music the way that worship bands perform them, and I think it's just expanded my my musical capabilities so much, and I'm like very grateful for that.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Bringing together both perspectives, we begin to see that Fresh Air Band is about much more than just music on a Thursday morning. Through Mr. Darnell's leadership, there's a clear vision and purpose behind every song, one that aims to shape the atmosphere of fresh air and create space for both energy and reflection. From Walker's perspective, we get a glimpse into the dedication, challenges, and meaningful connections that happen behind the scenes each week. What stands out is that what we see on stage is only a small part of the story. The rehearsals, the teamwork, the problem solving, and the commitment all come together to create something that brings the entire school together during fresh air. So next time you walk into fresh air, take a second to really listen, not just to the music itself, but remember the intention and effort behind it and the people who make it possible.