One of the main jobs of elementary music teachers is to get their young, impressionable pupils excited about music, to spark an interest that will stay with them for years to come. And as various music teachers have shown over the years, there’s no better way to get students excited about music than by using the music that truly excites you. That notion has brought about some impressive arrangements and student performances of Phish songs over the past few years, including an award-winning high school percussion ensemble whose “Divided Sky” performance caught the attention and praise of Trey Anastasio himself.
Mark Filoramo, the vocal music teacher at Woodbridge, NJ’s Ross Street School, took the “Phish as a teaching tool” idea and ran with it, writing an original stage musical based around the music of Phish. The not-for-profit play, dubbed Contact: The Quest for the Black Circle, features songs like “Halley’s Comet”, “Birds of a Feather”, “Bouncing Around The Room”, “The Wedge”, “Sparkle”, “Simple”, “Character Zero”, “My Sweet One”, “Theme From The Bottom”, “Blaze On”, “Contact”, and “More”. It will be performed by Ross Street School’s 4th and 5th graders on May 22nd.
As the synopsis for Contact: The Quest for the Black Circle reads:
In a far-away planet where animals rule the world, the small animals gather for their weekly pow-wow where they meditate and focus on important aspects of life. A cool animal named Jezmund announces at the end of a pow-wow that he has discovered a mysterious “Black Circle” in the woods and that he wanted a group of volunteers to explore with him and find out what this “Black Circle” is. A group of animals agrees to accompany him on his mission and head out into the woods. During their trip, they encounter what they think is a scary group of big vicious animals carrying weapons, however, they soon find out that they are harmless creatures that are actually carrying instruments for their band.
They eventually become friends and explain to them about their quest to find the “Black Circle”. The band recommends that they see the “Man Mulcahey” who can lead them to the “Black Circle”. The two groups set off together and eventually find the “Man Mulcahey” he was able to lead them to the “Black Circle”. When they finally found it, he was quickly amused at discovering that it was only an old car tire. The animals were disappointed that there was nothing magical about the tire and they wondered why there was not more to life. The “Man Mulcahey” assured them that life is about the journey and spending time with loved ones and not about stuff we find along the way. The animals all learned their most valuable lesson.
Notes Mark Filoramo, “Phish’s music has been such a huge inspiration to me in my musical career. It completely shifted my entire mindset on what music is all about. When I teach elementary music, I always try to bring positive energy and love through my music just as this music has done for me.”
Filoramo explains that a Phish musical is something he has mulled over for years before finally writing it over this past winter break. He adds, “I started with about 100 song ideas and cut it down to 12. I am thrilled to see my students absolutely absorbing this music. They beg me to sing the songs regularly! I can’t wait for the performance!”
Below, you can watch a video of Filoramo’s students singing “More” at a rehearsal for their upcoming performance of Contact: The Quest for the Black Circle, complete with choreography for the song’s “vibrating with love and light” chorus. Spoiler alert: It’s adorable.
Ross Street School 4th & 5th-Graders Chorus – “More” [Phish cover]