MONROE, CT — Aryan Ramnaress, 11, took piano lessons at age five, when his father encouraged him to learn to play an instrument, but soon fell in love the violin. Now a Jockey Hollow STEM Academy sixth-grader, Ramnaress is reaching new heights. This Saturday, he will perform in the Western Regional Middle School Music Festival at Wilton High School.
The region’s most talented young musicians took part in competitive auditions for the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) event on Dec. 7, and out of 300 possible points, Ramnaress had a perfect score.
“That is really an amazing accomplishment,” Lisa Homann, a strings director for Monroe Public Schools, said Thursday. “I don’t think that has really happened to be honest.”
Though the competition is open to sixth graders, Monroe usually only invites seventh and eighth graders to audition. Seray Goktekin, Ramnaress’ private teacher and president of the Shubert Club, a local nonprofit, encouraged Homann to allow her younger pupil to try out.
“I said, ‘he’s deserving. I think you should give him a chance,'” Goktekin recalled. “She was great. We were doing something out of the norm, so she needed approvals from her higher ups.”
Hundreds of students audition and a minimum score in the 280s is needed to pass.
“I was actually very prepared,” Ramnaress said during an interview at his family’s home last Saturday. “I thought I would get a good score, but not a perfect score.”
This year, four students from Jockey Hollow’s STEM Academy and main campus made the final cut to perform this Saturday, including Ramnaress and Eleanor Alvord, a seventh grade celloist, for strings; and band members Liam Thomas, an eighth grade concert baritone saxophone player, and Marcelo Valecillos, a seventh grade jazz trombone player from STEM.
“Eleanor is definitely developing into a leader of the cello section,” Homann said of Alvord, who is one of her students. “She’s very enthusiastic and works hard to improve. She also takes private cello lessons. In this Western Region. If you don’t take private lessons, it’s hard to get in, it’s so competitive.”
To illustrate the high level of competition, Homann said no musicians from Masuk High School made the cut this year.
“We have very strong competition and without private or pull-out lessons it is really hard to make it into these festivals,” Jockey Hollow Principal Julia Strong agreed.
Valecillos and Thomas perform in STEM and Jockey Hollow’s combined concerts under the direction of band teacher, Mark Bilotta.
“He’s a great teacher. He’s really inspiring,” Valecillos said during an interview at Masuk Thursday afternoon. “He’s also a trombone player.”
Valecillos first started learning to play the trombone as a Monroe Elementary School fifth grader. “It has a good sound and it brings a little bit of excitement into every song,” he said.
Of being able to perform at Saturday’s festival, Valecillos said, “I’m happy being there and I want to do it next year too.”
In addition to Homann and Bilotta, the town’s middle school music teachers include Amanda Morrison for chorus and James Bettincourt for strings on the main campus.
“Our music teachers at JHMS have a long tradition of providing extension and enrichment opportunities for any student who wants to pursue music performance at a higher level,” Strong said. “I am so grateful for our music teachers’ never ending willingness to go beyond the classroom for any student who wants to take on additional challenge. They are inspiring a lifelong love of music for Monroe’s students.”
Though Jockey Hollow does not send its chorus students to the regional/All-State competition, Strong said its singers participate in the ACDA fall festival (a non-competitive, teacher nominated statewide festival for singers).
Strong said a former Stepney and Jockey Hollow chorus student, who is currently studying Musical Theater at RCA, performed with the National Honors Choir at Carnegie Hall earlier this month.
Among recent and upcoming events, Patrick Korczienseki (cello), Karina Samudosky (cello) and Reyansh Shivalingaia (violin) made it to the Grade 6 Honors Festival this year, and Homann said the Honors Elementary School Festivals grade 4 to 6 is next week.
“I recommended the sixth graders and three were accepted,” she said. “None takes private lessons, but they are a special group this year. They work very independently. They have a natural talent for music. We work on the pieces together at school to prepare them for the festival.”
If the school district had more music teachers, Homann said there could be more instructional time, creating more opportunities for Monroe’s aspiring young musicians.
“These competitions are an opportunity for them to play with all these great people from the region,” she said. “Hopefully, it will be a great experience just to see what’s out there and what’s possible.”
Saturday’s Western Regional Middle School Music Festival will be held at Wilton High School from 2 to 4 p.m.
Aryan pushes through
One recent Saturday morning, Ramnaress sat down for an interview in his family’s living room with his parents, Shushil and Patricia, and his private teacher, Seray Goktekin.
“Patricia and I have no music background at all,” Shushil said. “I think it speaks to how serious Aryan takes it.”
Shushil said he and his wife wanted their son to learn music to become more involved in extracurricular activities, so he could be more well-rounded. “Then I hoped it would help him academically, and we did see a translation to that,” he said.
“I was learning skills and tricks and exercises to be more agile on the violin,” Ramnaress said of how easily the earliest lessons came to him.
But then Ramnaress tried to learn composer Friedrich Seitz’s “Student Concerto No. 5.” “It was much harder than the other pieces I played,” he said.
“I challenged him,” Goktekin recalled. “I felt confident Aryan could handle it. What I genuinely liked is he did push through. The greater resiliency of music is it teaches you perseverance.”
“I overcame many challenges, but this is one of the biggest challenges I ever faced,” Ramnaress said. “It gave me confidence in extracurriculars at school across the board.”
“He’s definitely a student who enjoys being challenged,” Patricia said of her son.
“When he does get bored, Seray keeps him challenged and interested,” Shushil added.
Goktekin praises her student’s appreciation of the music, care for his instrument, natural curiosity and desire to experiment, deep sense of ownership and accountability to his music education. She said Homann told her Ramnaress is a good team player, who is always willing to help his peers.
Goktekin recommends music camps, recitals, festivals and competitions to keep her student performing as often as possible.
Ramnaress takes orchestra class at school, performs in the orchestra for grades 6 through 8, and is in the Super Strings Club, a STEM Academy orchestra led by Homann, who Ramnaress said invites him to play in concerts with seventh and eighth graders.
Ramnaressis is also involved with the Norwalk Youth Symphony and he won first place for his performance at a festival hosted by Suzuki School in Westport.
Goktekin said she wants Ramnaress to be a well-rounded musician. “I’m secretly looking forward to him playing in musicals,” she said with a smile.
“Early on, he had a fear of performing,” Shushil said of his son. “We talked to Seray about ways to make him more comfortable.”
“In kindergarten, I talked to everyone, but being on a stage in front of a crowd, it gives you confidence,” Ramnaress said of overcoming his fears. “I really like the challenge. In my opinion, violin isn’t like other activities. It helps you persevere through challenges.”
He said playing at the Western Regional Middle School Music Festival this Saturday could be a humbling experience, being among the more advanced musicians, as well as something to inspire him to improve his craft.
Ramnaress’ parents said they are both encouraged at seeing his growth over the years.
“We’re extremely proud of what he’s accomplished … all the highs and lows — and he’s made it through,” Patricia said. “He never ceases to amaze us.”
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