North's sectional streak at stake Saturday

Published: November 14, 2008
Kane County Chronicle

ST. CHARLES – When swimmers from 15 schools compete at the IHSA St. Charles North Sectionals Saturday, it won’t matter to the host team who comes out on top.

That’s because North coach Rob Rooney tries to have his team focus more on qualifying as many girls as they can for state competition as they can.

“[That’s] the real victory,” Rooney said.

For that past six years, that strategy has served North well; the team has won its sectional meet every year since 2002. That’s helped the North Stars build confidence in their program and themselves.

Another big confidence booster came two Saturdays ago at the Upstate Eight Conference meet. For the first time in their relatively short history, the North Stars took first place by edging Neuqua Valley.

But Rooney is already putting that milestone behind him.

“That meet is over. It’s done,” he said. “The way Rooney sees it, dwelling on what happened could undermine the work they’re doing for sectionals. “It can be [a big confidence booster] if they let it be, as long they don’t overthink it,” he said.

Juniors Angie Chokran and Jessica England don’t need to be reminded of the pressure.

“It’s the most nerve-wracking meet of the year,” Chokran said, “because you know it should be your best meet of the season, so you have to prove it.”

Chokran also believes that whether or not North wins for the seventh year in a row does not matter so long as they get girls to state.

“I think that it’s a combination of not wanting to jinx it and having more of a team based goal,” she said.

For England, this is the first time she has not been rested for the sectionals – meaning this is the first time she’s been able to actually qualify for state.

But she and the team try not to focus of the pressure of outside competition so much as they work on beating personal bests. In a way, then, Rooney sees swimming as more of an individual sport.

“At the end of the year, no matter what your meet is, you’re racing against something that doesn’t lie – the pace clock,” he said. “I’d prefer to have this meet in a glass bubble in our own little world.”

On the starting block, England says that the majority of success comes from keeping your head.

“You know you’ve done the work,” she said. “You can’t improve anything while you’re in the race, so you just have to go out and have a good mental attitude.”

It helps also that this year’s girls have been a tight group. Chokran and England both talked about how much the team has gotten together for movies and breakfasts outside of school. And with four freshman girls also competing Saturday, England says that it adds some levity to the mix as well.

“They’re a lighthearted group,” Rooney said of his team. “They’re having success through having fun. Even when it’s super hard, they’ve found the fun in it.”

NIU New Music Ensemble to perform Steve Reich piece

Published on Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Northern Star

NIU’s New Music Ensemble will perform Steve Reich’s piece, “Music for 18 Musicians” at 8 p.m. today in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building.

“If people already know the piece, then they know why they need to come,” said Greg Beyer, NIU assistant professor of percussion studies and director of the ensemble. “If they don’t know the piece ... well, the first time I heard it, my life was forever changed.”

Tonight’s performance is the result of a semester-long rehearsal of Reich’s piece.

“It is challenging and eye-opening to the students who haven’t had exposure to this type of music,” Beyer said. “Students need to be trained how to perform it, and instrumentalists need to reconsider their typical roles. I’ve asked the string and wind players to think as if they were percussionists.”

Also being performed is Reich’s “Electric Counterpoint,” a work for guitar choir featuring NIU student Nick Mizock.

Admission is free.

Free concert in Altgeld Hall tonight

Published on Thursday, April 3, 2008

The Northern Star

DeKALB | NIU will host a free evening of eclectic music in the Altgeld Hall auditorium at 5 p.m. tonight.

The Roby Lakatos Ensemble from Brussels, Belgium will perform. The show will also feature Myriam Fuks, a Klezmer and Yiddish folk singer.

Lakatos comes to NIU thanks in part to a friendship with NIU Board of Trustees member Myron E. Siegel and his wife, artist Deborah Levy.

“I have known Roby for over 10 years,” Siegel said. “Deborah and I were the only guests from the United States at his daughter’s wedding in Budapest last year.”

Lakatos is known as the “devil’s fiddler” and mixes classical and jazz with Hungarian gypsy music to produce a different sound. He has been performing for over 30 years. In 2007, Lakatos played for more than 10,000 people at Chicago’s Grant Park.

Concert to honor victims of Feb. 14 shootings

Published on Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Northern Star

The NIU Wind Ensemble and the All-University Band will present a joint concert tonight titled “Sanctuary, Through Courageous Eyes.” The concert is dedicated to the victims and families of the Feb. 14 shootings.

Just minutes prior to the shootings, the Wind Ensemble was rehearsing “Sanctuary,” a piece from composer Frank Ticheli.

According to a press release, Ticheli said the title of his piece “conjures up a rich array of images. It can imply a place of solitude, comfort, rest, prayer, protection.”

The All-University Band, under the direction of recent NIU graduate Peter Muller, will perform “Through Courageous Eyes” by Brian Balmages. According to the press release, the piece deals with loss and its aftermath.

Ronnie Wooten, associate music professor and conductor of the NIU Wind Ensemble, expressed his gratitude for the condolences he continues to receive from colleagues across the country.

“The conductors at Virginia Tech both immediately sent words of support and encouragement as well as a performance of Claude T. Smith’s classic band work ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’ which they dedicated to the members of the NIU Wind Ensemble as well as the entire campus community,” he said.

The Wind Ensemble will also perform “Hammersmith” by Gustav Holst, “Handel in the Strand” by Percy Grainger, and “Symphony No. 3, Slavyanskaya” by Russian composer Boris Kozhevnikov.

Additonally, the All-University Band will perform “Scenes from the Louvre” by Norman Dello Joio and “Variations on a Korean Folk Song” by John Barnes Chance.