Three DuPage high schools named semifinalists for Grammy Awards

And the 2016 Grammy Foundation Signature Schools semifinalist status goes to: Waubonsie Valley and Metea Valley high schools in Aurora and York High School in Elmhurst.

The three DuPage County schools are among 119 nationwide to make it to the semifinalist stage in the annual music competition. A total of 11 Illinois high schools were named semifinalists.

Other suburban schools on the list include Batavia High School, Elk Grove High School, Harry D. Jacobs High School in Algonquin, New Trier High School in Winnetka and Prospect High School in Mount Prospect.

Recognizing that the seeds of great music and musicians often are planted well before artists are beckoned to the stage to accept Grammy Awards and saluting the benefits strong arts programs can provide for overall student development, the foundation created the program in 1998 as a way to foster and reward excellence among public high school music programs.

The semifinalists are chosen by the foundation based on the relative merits of each school's music program. The next step is for each semifinalist school to submit a more convincing case, including audio snippets, for review. Finalists will be announced in mid-March. The prizes are monetary grants of $1,000 to $6,000 to further enhance music education.

"It provides a recognition for the students and the community, that's tangible, for high-quality music and arts education," said Don Devany, Metea Valley's fine arts department chairman. "It's more evidence that what we're doing in this district is good."

Devany said many students in Metea's music program have years of excellent music instruction behind them.

"They start in kindergarten with great music teachers and that carries right into the sixth grade," he said.

With the support of the administration and the community, the district's high-quality music education continues through middle school and high school, when students first have the opportunity for Grammy recognition, he said.

Metea and Waubonsie, both in Indian Prairie Unit District 204, share a tradition of Grammy recognition that extends to the district's Neuqua Valley High School as well.

Devany said Metea first applied for the program in 2011. This year marks the fifth time the school has earned semifinalist status, he said.

Waubonsie has been a finalist seven times before, twice earning Gold status, an honor reserved for the top three programs. This is the school's 12th time as a semifinalist, said Mark Duker, fine arts department chairman at Waubonsie Valley.

Neuqua, the top national Grammy winner in 2005 and again in 2013, has attained the finalist level nine times and was not eligible to compete this year because of the recent overall win.

York won finalist Gold status in 2013 and was awarded a $5,500 grant.

"This is the fifth year in a row we've made the semifinalist list," said William Riddle, York's performing arts department chairman.

Riddle said grant funds were used for two projects.

"We piloted a program for freshmen band members, an online subscription program," he said. "We also purchased a cabinet built for us in the hallway to display pictures and awards."

Riddle's department is preparing its application for finalist status in 2016, which must be completed by the first week in December.

"You send it in anonymously. It's a blind judge," Riddle said. "We're excited to be considered again."

Duker said he and other members of the Waubonsie Valley music faculty also are currently listening to hours of audio performance recordings from the calendar year in an effort to cull appropriate selections for the school's bid for finalist status.

He said each music department may submit up to five minutes of performance from each of four categories: band, choir, orchestra and other ensembles.

"We usually submit four 75-second recordings," he said. The strategy is an effort to select the most sterling, flawless examples.

Devany said he and his music faculty staff are doing the same.

Steel band, jazz band and vocal ensembles are some of the other performance groups included in the fourth category, Devany said.

Duker said that during the school day about 650 of Waubonsie Valley's roughly 2,600 students participate in some aspect of the music program. And that's aside from after-school participation in extracurricular music activities.

"All of us came to Indian Prairie because we knew it was a great place for arts education," Duker said. "Since it got off the ground in the mid-'70s, it's always been a high-quality music program. Our daily goal is to make sure quality continues to grow."