Cedar Island Elementary School students rock out in Modern Band

The media center at Cedar Island Elementary School is a place of learning, books and… rock music! On the evening of Dec. 17, eighteen fourth and fifth graders in the Modern Band took over the media center to put on a show for their families and friends. 

Modern Band is an extracurricular activity for students at Cedar Island organized and led by music specialist Stefan Wolf and physical education teacher Michael Fruncillo. The band offers a way for students to immerse themselves in music that is of their musical vernacular, but isn't traditionally honored in the academic musical setting, making music fun, relevant and real for students.

“Modern Band is a relatively recent movement in music education, but has really mostly been confined to the middle and high school level. It is only more recently that folks have started to think about its possibilities in elementary school,” said Wolf. “As for me, I got my musical start playing in punk rock bands for many years. When I found out Mr. Fruncillo had also spent a large part of his life in bands, I asked him if he wanted to try this thing out with me.”

The band, who call themselves the “Wolf Pack,” consists of four vocalists, four guitarists, two bassists, four keyboardists, two percussionists and two drummers. The students took turns playing the instruments and singing for songs such as “Wild Thing,” “My Doorbell,” “Let it Be” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” before all coming together to end the show with “We Will Rock You.”

“I know from previous experience that extracurricular music ensembles really pay off not only for the kids in them, but for the greater musical community of the school. Students take pride in what they are doing and that pride and ownership of the music program really spreads out into the general music classes as well,” Wolf said.

The Modern Band is possible thanks to the Cedar Island Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), who purchased the instruments for the group. The band plans to rock out at another performance this spring.