Pawcatuck Middle School Band To Play Original Piece At Concert

Tonight, members of the Band will play several pieces of music for their evening concert but what will be different this year is that one of those pieces is very personal, created just for them by 23-year-old Curt Dumas, who just happens to be the son of Band Director Rich Dumas.

“My initial reaction to the song was that it was amazing,” said Dumas, who has been teaching for 36 years, the last 20 years at Pawcatuck Middle School. When the 7th graders first heard the music they “erupted into an applause… spontaneously,” Dumas said.

 The score (a piece that the conductor follows) was a Christmas gift, written for the school band from his son Curt who also made a digital rendition, which is a recording of all the instrument sounds.

“It is five minutes long which is a bit of a stretch for them endurance wise but they are getting it down,” he said.

The piece is titled “Journey to the Sea” and is about the total commitment involved in playing an instrument, it is a “constant journey, not like anything else,” Curt explained. Though it took a couple of months to write, the idea “came instantly,”  he said. From there was the more involved process of thinking about the ranges and levels that the students can play and that took some time, he said. 

And Curt would know. A grad student at NYU, studying film scoring he has always been fascinated with music.  His passion developed at Hoffstra University where he studied music theory and composition as an undergraduate and managed to create 15 to 20 scores for films during that time. “Once you do it, it's like rapid fire,” Curt said of his work. 

 For Curt it all started at a very young age with the influence of his father.

 “I was exposed to so many facets growing up,” This, explained Curt, “has shaped who I am as a person.” 

He still listens to a wide variety of music, partly because his work requires it but mostly because it is who he is. Currently on his iPod, John Williams, Todd O and some pop music, “I’m all over the place,” he says.

His father Rich has been a member of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony as a trumpet player since 1977 and since 2002, also as the Personnel Manager. 

“It is a pleasure working with conductors and seeing how they interpret music which I try to bring back to my students,” Rich said. 

Times are different now and Curt said the music industry is constantly changing because of developing technology and new creative techniques that are more involved.  Although there has always been music it is “a new art form now,” Curt said. Film scoring is also very competitive and involves a vast amount of knowledge of all types of music. “It is developed over time you can’t just jump into it, there is too much to consider.”

Naturally Rich is proud of his son. “It’s beyond words, I can’t believe this kid who was playing with Tupperware has evolved musically from one genre to the next and he did it all on his own, “ Rich said. 

Some advice for all those struggling musicians, Curt compared playing an instrument to a sport except that you cannot put down an instrument for a week “you must be dedicated and always have a belief that you will get better.”

The concert takes place May 10 at Pawcatuck Middle School at 7 p.m..