We want to bid a fond farewell to Mr. Allen, our Oakland Tech Music Director.

After leading the Skyline Music Department, Mr. Allen arrived at Tech in 2016, and joined Ms. Jack as the second member of the music faculty. During his tenure at Oakland Tech, Mr. Allen has worked to rebuild the department. He has brought the Jazz department to the prestigious Monterey and Reno Jazz festivals in 2018 and 2019, and has brought home accolades from these venues (2nd place Reno, 2019). He has also worked to rebuild a full orchestra which this year boasted 30+ students. And, has joined Oakland Tech to the choirs renaissance that Oakland schools enjoyed this year, but were prematurely cut from performing due to COVID-19.

Mr. Allen is a prestigious composer and arranger and those skills have benefited the OT music department with new arrangements and compositions that his students were able to debut, including our latest addition Yes We Can Can arrangement for the virtual concert. He brought to the classroom his dry sense of humor and chill demeanor along with his years of experience;  his ability to compose and provide arrangements for the most disparate and unconventional instrumentations. His persistent and unwavering dedication to music education, performance, and recording artistry have been his life’s work. He sought to connect and collaborate with fellow musicians within the district and outside of the educational environment fostering for the benefit of his students.  This year, the choir collaboration between himself and Adam Green, director of Music at Skyline and a former alumni of Mr. Allen, and the OT and Skyline choirs.

We want to thank Mr. Allen for everything he has brought to Oakland Tech’s Music Department. For his efforts in rebuilding this program. We want to wish him a wonderful and well deserved retirement with plenty of health, travels and musical explorations or wherever his next endeavors will take him be they musical or otherwise.

Thank you Mr. Allen.

The Music Department came together one more time to create a version of the Pointer Sisters’ Yes We Can Can, by Allen Toussaint, and the participation of students from Jazz Band, Orchestra and Choir .

After the cancellation of many of the years usual performances due to COVID-19. Our students came together one more time. We want to thank Mr. Allen for assembling and putting this performance together from providing arrangements, to coordinating students, and the innumerable hours of  assembly required for this video. Thank you!

The music department’s virtual performance of “Yes We Can Can” will be part of the graduation video productioning streaming at 6:00 pm Wednesday evening. (tomorrow 5/27).  A cool coincidence – one of the celebrities speaking during the graduation is Anita Pointer, of the Pointer Sisters! (You can’t plan this stuff, sometimes it just happens!)

Other contributions from the music department will include Emile Serper’s terrific cello ensemble production of “Eleanor Rigby” and Tyler Jeung’s piano performance of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Please enjoy our virtual performance at this link

During this time of social separation for the good of the community, many future performances have been cancelled across the school district and this affected our students participating in Muse VIVO! Their March 24th forthcoming final concert was also cancelled.

So, on March 12th, they came to gether at their thrusday afternoon for one last rehearsal. We captured them performing for eachother and in making music together perhaps provide some solice in music in a time of great uncertainty.

We want to thank Ms. Beth Vanervennet, Ms. Stephanie Holmes, and Ms. Linda Green our stalwath leaders for providing this year’s musical selections that have elevated our students’ musical skills, self confidence and leadership yet again, and for their continued support and enrichment of our music students accross the the district.

To next year!

Please enjoy the videos captured at the links below:

Florence Price – String Quartet 2nd Mvt.

Brahms – Serenade No 1 in D, Mvt 5- Scherzo Allegro (see below for shortcut)

Georg Philip Telemann – Viola Concerto in G, Mvt. 3 -Andante

Soon See Newbold – Orion and the scorpion

POSTPONED

MARCH 11, 2020

According to a directive issued by the district this afternoon there cannot be any off-site fundraising events until after spring break. Because of this we will have to postpone our event at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle that was scheduled for Friday, March 13. 

The music department’s annual fundraising event is quickly approaching on 3/13, please join us. This year we want to provide support for our future and the expansion of the program,  and in that vain are  raising money for new music storage lockers. Please consider joining us in supporting the performing arts at Tech, and in particular the Music Department.

You can also contribute to our fundraising efforts at this GoFundMe campaign.

On March 04, the OUSD Orchestra Festival took place at Roosevelt Middle School. Nine schools, six choirs over 400 student musicians from both High Schools and Middle Schools across the district participated at the festival. After a pre-performance rehearsal of the all-student pieces, under the baton of Maestro Michael Morgan of the Oakland Symphony, the students were provided with dinner.

The Oakland Tech orchestra, this year 30 musicians strong, performed the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofe, arranged by Douglas E. Wagner. We also have several musicians that joined the MUSE VIVO Orchestra for their rendition of Hungarian Dances of Bela Bartock. And, finally, our musicians joined the the OUSD Grand Orchestra and Choirs for a beautiful rendition of Glory – arranged by Mr. Allen – and, Ode to Joy, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

We want to thank Roosevelt MS for, once again hosting our schools for this yearly festival and showcase our students’ talents; Maestro Morgan and the Oakland Symphony for supporting music education in OUSD; The VIVO orchestra mentors; Mr. Allen for working with our students and re-establishing a strong and thriving music program at Tech, and all the parents that support our music programs throughout the district and at Oakland Tech.

Please enjoy the videos at the following links.

Grand Canyon Suite
On A Clear Day
Hungarian Dances (Muse Vivo)
Finale Glory (see shortcut below)
Finale 9th – Ode to Joy (see shortcut below)

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