“Polyphonic Head Case Study”, a piece written by Michael Oldham; a local composer, is a unique song as it was written specifically for the Joliet West Students of the Symphonic Band. “We had Michael in to listen to us and work with the band on this piece. This was definitely a cool learning experience for the kids to work, first hand, with a living composer that not only wrote the piece himself, but wrote it specifically for them” explained Joliet West Band Director, Kevin Carroll.

The composer, Mr. Oldham attended Reed-Custer High School, which is near Braidwood. He knew that he wanted to pursue a music career. His education grew when he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. While in college, he worked on perfecting his style in both composition and film score writing.

The Symphonic Band has continuously been practicing to make every perfection to this original piece as the performance for the song will be an upcoming event. You can see the Joliet West Symphonic Band perform on Saturday, April 26th at Illinois State University. The performance will be open to anyone who wishes to go and watch it, as it will be the first time the song will be heard publicly. You can also get a second chance to see the performance in our own Joliet West Auditorium on Monday, May 12th at 7pm for the Spring Concert.

Make sure you come and show your support, because Mr. Carroll, the Symphonic Band, and Mr. Oldham have all been focusing on this piece sense the beginning of the semester. “We’ve been rehearsing it the last few weeks and are having quite a bit of success and fun with it”, concluded Mr. Carroll.