Keith Wessel
Rebecca Hale leading the Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsal at Eas
A moment of concentration as East’s Rebecca Hale leads the Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsal.
It’s seventh hour rehearsal time and, largely thanks to orchestra director Rebecca Hale, the Madison East Philharmonic Orchestra is not just for nerds anymore. Ask varsity football player and string bassist Billy Gerst. “People respect her because they can tell how much knowledge she has,” he says. “And she makes it really fun.”
The proof is in the numbers. When Hale started at East four years ago there were a total of 65 members in the combined grade-level orchestras. Today there are 130. Those numbers bounced because of Hale’s knowledge and magnetism — which she has in abundance. But it’s also the result of recruiting middle school musicians before they get to East. Hale’s effort in this area would leave an NFL scout in the dust. “Getting more students in the orchestra is job security!” she laughs.
On this cold afternoon in January, Hale is buzzing through a lesson on harmonics with her very attentive AP music class. Answers came from students all over the room to her flow of questions.
“What do they mean by requiring counterbalance?”
“What is a counter-melody versus playing a chord?”
The instruction had a definite beat to it, as though she’d counted off the lesson at the start of class like a piece of music. She hums a phrase, reminds the class what they learned yesterday, and raises the next question. Often in one breath. In classical music, the term “allegro” means “speed and joy.” Rebecca Hale is the personification of allegro.
Hale, born in the Shandong province of China, in the city of Linyi, came to music early. Hale’s mother was a violin teacher who taught her the instrument. Hale and her twin sister left for college when they were 16 to attend William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on a scholarship. “They wanted some international students,” she says.
After graduation, Hale’s sister returned to China. Hale stayed, earning a master’s degree in music theory at University of Southern Mississippi, then taught middle school orchestra in Mississippi (in a trailer) for several years before accepting the job at East in Madison.
What’s the difference between teaching high school students in Mississippi and Wisconsin? “One thing I learned coming here is that the kids are very independent,” she says. “They speak their mind, right? They don’t like something? They’ll just tell you.” Some teachers coming into that cultural switch may have been overwhelmed. Hale saw it as a learning opportunity. For her.
“I learned how the kids are sometimes right,” she says. “We are all in this together. Let’s figure out a way that we can both be happy and keep this orchestra together.”
Experiencing community playing in an orchestra is at the top of Hale’s goals for the students. “Where else during high school do you have the opportunity to be in the same daily class with the same group of students for four years in a row?” she asks.
She believes the experience teaches soft skills that are essential in the hard world beyond high school
“This kind of ensemble class teaches kids how to collaborate with other people. In orchestra you don’t just have to know your own part, you must know what the others are doing, too,” she says. “And I think you can’t get that from any other classes.”
Keith Wessel
Student Lucas Bardsley, left, and Rebecca Hale.
Student Lucas Bardsley, left, says Hale’s enthusiasm is ‘contagious.’
The warm winter sunlight fills the new rehearsal space on the second floor at East. During “Serenade,” a piece in four movements composed by Josef Suk, Hale lets her baton do the talking. The orchestra has been working on the first movement for a couple months. It shows. Dynamics are intact, instrument sections advance and retreat upon her command. There’s no avoiding the robust sound in the room. I see a smile break across senior cello player Lucas Bardsley’s face.
Bardsley isn’t yet sure where he’ll go to school next fall but he knows music will be a part of the next segment of his life. He’s absorbed Hale’s knowledge but also a large dose of her enthusiasm. “She’s always, like, ‘I’m excited to be here, and you can be, too.’ It’s contagious.”
Senior Abbott Carlson, who will attend UW-Madison in the fall and plans on auditioning for the university orchestra, reflects on his four years with Hale. “Playing cello is what I love to do most,” he says. “Keeping it up, and it being something that I can share with others, is super important.”
Hale thinks success comes to teachers who can be themselves. She embraces her own cheerful high energy and doesn’t hold back. “You can’t shut me up. And then, I’m also really awkward. You just be yourself, yeah? And young people pick up on that,” she says. “They can spot a phony 100 miles away.”
