By Laura Lane
³You never really know if you¹re playing what the composer intended,² said piccolo player Frieda Shmuel. ³Working with Dr. Camphouse was so interesting, because I got to feel how he really wanted his music played.²
Several W.T. Clarke High School student musicians were also able to work with Camphouse. They joined members of the district¹s music faculty and a few members of East Meadow High School¹s band to form a wind ensemble. The East Meadow band and the wind ensemble played later that evening in a concert, which was heavily attended.
³This was a great opportunity for the kids at Clarke and a rare one,² said Paul Caputo, Clarke High School band director. ³Working with Dr. Camphouse gave them an appreciation of the story behind the music.²
Camphouse wrote ³A Movement for Rosa² to honor Civil Rights heroine, Rosa Parks. In 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man at a time when segregation was legal. Her action, which led to her arrest and trial, is considered by historians to be the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.
Camphouse grew up in a racist community in Chicago. This in part prompted him to write the piece about Parks, he said. ³No other composer had written a classical piece honoring Rosa Parks,² Camphouse said, noting that he evoked memories and feelings of his childhood in writing the piece. ³I can still remember hearing the chanting, ŒFreedom! Freedom now!¹ I wrote the rhythms to part of the song to go with that and the piece begins with a flute solo, one lone feminine voice, Mrs. Parks.²
Camphouse has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Royal Albert Hall in London, though meeting Rosa Parks ranks among his fondest memories. ³We met in Idaho and went to dinner together, which is an experience I¹ll never forget,² he said. ³I sat with her later that evening when the piece was performed and I wasn¹t sure how she¹d react.²
Camphouse said he was pleased when he saw that Parks was on the verge of tears. ³Mrs. Parks was so emotionally affected by my piece," he said. "It was such a wonderful experience for me to be there with her."
When Joel Levy, the East Meadow High School music director, invited Camphouse to work with his students, he realized that ³A Movement For Rosa² gave him the opportunity to teach even more high school students about the Civil Rights struggle. ³I wanted to do something special for the kids at East Meadow High School,² Levy said. ³I contacted Elizabeth McLaughlin, the social studies chairperson, to include the kids who aren¹t musicians.²
Three junior social studies classes attended an assembly with Camphouse, and had the chance to sit in on a rehearsal and question the composer about his experiences with Parks. ³This is perfect for them,² McLaughlin said. ³This is a person who sat and broke bread with Rosa Parks. He can make her much more of a real person to them.²
Camphouse said he was very excited to have an opportunity to share his experiences with children he might not otherwise reach. ³I don¹t think enough opportunities are taken to have an interdisciplinary between the arts and other parts of the curriculum, which is one of the reasons why the arts aren¹t appreciated and we musicians are isolated doing our own thing,² Camphouse said. ³Speaking to these classes lends an opportunity to have a discussion on racism through music. These are the kinds of connections that students rarely get to make.²
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