Xylophones, cymbals, drums, and other percussion instruments on campus are now being led by the school’s new percussion director Alex Rodzewich. Recently Wingspan caught up with Rodzewich to find out a bit more about who he is and plans he has for the percussion department.
Wingspan: What made you decide to step into this new role?
Rodzewich: “I served as the assistant percussion director at Liberty for the past year, and when Mr. Jadvani left, it felt like a natural transition to go from the assistant to the head position. I knew how the program operated, the culture of the percussion studio, and how it needed to operate to continue to grow. I absolutely loved my time here over the past year and I can’t wait to make many new memories with this crew!”
Wingspan: How has teaching been so far? What have been some highlights of your first few weeks?
Rodzewich: “We have had a very solid start to the school year in the percussion program. Every program goes through growing pains, but I am very happy with where we are at this point in the year. The biggest highlight so far this year happened at a marching band rehearsal held in the auditorium. As we played through our ballad, which is typically the movement with the prettiest sounding music, I had a moment of connection with the other directors. The students were playing so well that we got lost in the music and just enjoyed the sound of the room. Moments like that remind me why I do what I do.”
Wingspan: How does your current role compare to the role you took previously?
Rodzewich: “In my role as the assistant, my primary focus was the pedagogy of all things percussion related. I taught the music, the mindset, the technique, and everything else that goes along with that. I still do all of those things, but in a much larger capacity as well as overseeing all the logistics of what we do. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into what we do to ensure the student experience is top notch. These students deserve to have the most educational experience possible, and it is my job to make sure that happens.”
Wingspan: What are some goals you have for the percussion team?
Rodzewich: “There are so many goals I could discuss here, but I’ll try to boil it down to the top three. Number one and probably most important is the student experience being the best it possibly can be. There are many elements that go into that, but it comes down to every student having fun through improvement on our instruments. Being good at any skill is fun, but it is an amazing experience to get to do that with other, like-minded people. Second, I want everyone in the percussion team to learn how to move their arms in a healthy way. Percussion is a very physical activity involving the arms (and rest of the body if we’re talking about marching band) and injuries are all too common in our field. I can say from personal experience that these kinds of injuries are no fun to deal with. There is a healthy way to do everything we do, but it is not always taught that way. Finally, I would like to reach out to the community and get our program’s name out there. It was a tradition in the past to take our drumline and steel band to local venues to play for the public, but like many other things, COVID made this difficult. Music is all about sharing our passion and joy with others and the more opportunities these students get to do that, the better.”
Wingspan: What are you looking forward to when it comes to your new job? What are you excited about for the future?
Rodzewich: “The thing that excites me the most is the potential I see in the students. They are coming off a year where they won one of the most prestigious competitions in our field, but that’s nowhere near the peak of what they can achieve together.”
