For Ken Noreen, music isn’t a job or even a calling. For Noreen, music is life itself.
“A note is just a note, until a musician breathes some of their life into it,” Noreen said. “The more life experience a musician has, the more they have to put into the music.”
Noreen has plenty of experience.
[box]The Shoreline Concert Band will perform at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Shorewood High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at the door: General admission $8, seniors and faculty $6, SCC students with ID $4. [/box] He started 50 years ago as a student teacher in the Shoreline School District. He became band director at Shorecrest High School, a position he held for 24 years before retiring from the school district, but not band life. Noreen took his baton across town to Shoreline Community College where he has been directing the Shoreline Concert Band for the past 20 years.
When you put in that much time, you’re bound to see some familiar faces go past now and again. At a recent Monday-night band practice, Noreen was coaxing what his ear wanted from current college students, former Shorecrest band members and even parents of former Shorecrest students.
One relatively recent addition to the band is John Hopperstad. The Q13 TV news reporter played for Noreen as a Shorecrest student. At a recent practice session, Hopperstad brought a Q13 videographer. The story is scheduled to air on Thanksgiving, Hopperstad said. The time slot hadn’t yet been determined, but Hopperstad there would likely be further airings.
“Being in band is like being in a family,” Noreen said. “We have a lot of family here.”
That doesn’t stop Noreen from being a task master to get the sound he’s looking for a practice. Frequently stopping in the middle of a score, he works respectfully but insistently with each section as necessary, sometimes breaking it down to individual notes. “It’s not the note, it’s the style,” Noreen implores, using voice inflection to demonstrate his goal.
A fan of University of Washington athletics, Noreen likens the band to a sports team that plays better when it works together. This practice comes one night after Noreen attended a UW basketball game. “The first half was all them,” Noreen says. “In the second half, the Huskies worked together. It was a completely different game.” The message is clear: Listen to the director and play as a team.
After 50 years of holding the baton, one might imagine the enthusiasm and drive would wane just a bit, but not for Noreen. An hour into practice, his focus remains laser-like and the patter is nonstop. “We’ve got to get this right by Dec. 3,” he says, referring to the next concert date.
The Shoreline Concert Band is a community band. Affiliated with the college, the 80-piece band was founded in 1984 to offer community members an opportunity to perform in a quality concert band alongside college students. The band performs concerts in the communityand provides music for the college’s annual Commencement Ceremony in June.
I was in the first year of the shoreline band…and many more. Good memories. I also had the good fortune of having Ken Noreen as my band director at Shorecrest High School. He is a class act.
Ken,….errr….Mr. Noreen! This picture is exactly what I remember from being in your Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble, and marching band, class of ’81. It’s that look of, let’s hear it guys! Show me what you have! And invariably, someone would blow you away with their phrasing and tone or even I surprised you after mastering some licks that Jack Toker taught me. The year that boasts incredible musicians starting with Jeff Kashiwa, Vince Green, Mike Perkins, Dan Loschen, Mike Archibold, Dave Bentley, Jeff Volkman, myself on drums, Jim Weldon on percussion, Greg Sanders, Pete Nicholof, etc., etc. There’s a reason that most of these people made a career out of music. I only wish that I did. After becoming a quadrapalegic I learned to play my drums better and with more feel than ever before. You , Ken, made a lifelong difference in all of our lives, and we love you for that!