The Cornwall Music Department didn’t write the song “Hot Cross Buns,” but it’s an integral part of the school district’s music program.
The English Folk Song has few note changes. If you wanted to sing it, the words are simple
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot Cross Buns
For Cornwall’s fourth-grade musicians, “Hot Cross Buns” is an introduction to the music program. It’s the first song, they learn to play.
Once a year, the school district musicians come together for a day. The younger ones get a sense of what they can achieve. The older ones recognize how much they have accomplished.
Orchestra students have been doing this for a long time. The different grades perform for one another, and then they combine for a group performance. The band students will have a similar experience when they get together for their first Band Expo this year.
“Music is collaborative,” Department Head Anthony Ravinsky says, “It’s about everyone coming together as an ensemble.” In that way it’s very much like the team experience in sports.
Mr. Ravinsky shared his opinions on Dec. 9 after spending a weekend at the statewide music festival in Rochester. A select group of high school students performed in an auditorium with thousands of people; Zachary Hommel and Anna Uhl represented Cornwall. Both of them come from families with professional musicians. But, in all likelihood, their music experience in Cornwall started with “Hot Cross Buns.”
Mr. Ravinsky meets with the music teachers from the lower schools once a month for “vertical articulation” — a discussion of what’s happening at the upper and lower levels. The choral students emulate the band experience every other year. They gather in the high school auditorium for a district-wide workshop. Mr. Ravinsky has mentioned that at the college level, a cappella groups are the “new pop thing.” Several Cornwall students have pursued music after graduation.