Roosevelt has new song for a new day

By Phil Harvey
The Gazette

Austin Mann, Eighth-grader at Roosevelt Middle School, plays the wind chime during band practice in Cedar Rapids. The Roosevelt Middle School Eighth-Grade Band was rehearsing "On the Edge of Tomorrow," a piece written by student band members on the trauma some of the students experienced as a result of the flood. The performance will premiere on May 21 /Chris Mackler, The Gazette.

Last June’s flood has inspired a musical composition, as well as the Roosevelt Middle School eighth-graders who will premiere it this week.

It’s usually a challenge to get middle schoolers to play with emotion because they lack life experience, says band director Kristin Beatty.

“But it’s really different for them because (now) they know trauma, they know stress,” Beatty says.

The composition, by composer Michael Sweeney of Milwaukee, was commissioned by Roosevelt, which has a number of flood victims among its students.

Sweeney says his piece moves from a tone of anger to calm, ending with a note of hope.

The composer invited the band’s 125 students to name the piece.

One student suggested “Forgiving the River.” Another one came up with “Fish in the Basement.”

Ultimately, the students decided on the composer’s suggestion, “On the Edge of Tomorrow.”

“I think this particular group,” Beatty says, “has come together even more (than usual), partly because of the experience they’ve been through, and partly because of this piece.”

The concert - 7 p.m. Thursday, Roosevelt Middle School auditorium, 300 13th St. NW. Admission: free.

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