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the ElmTreefor the alumni and friends of Lawrence Academy Spring 2009 First Word Prisoner of His Own Sound: A Profile of Jon Abrams ’01 by Andrew J. Brescia, director of communications On November 7, 2008, Gene Batiste, vice president Longtime music teacher Peter Hazzard and Jon remember for leadership education pretty much the same story of the first time he fingered and diversity at the its keys. Jon ventured into the recording studio and asked National Association of the music teacher he had met only once before if it Independent Schools, would be OK if he played the piano. Of course; that addressed an audience at would be absolutely fine, came the reply. A few minutes our annual Board of later, the choral director recalls, he heard “some pretty Visitors’ meeting. In his incredible piano music coming from the Recital Hall” keynote address, he spoke and he thought, “Wait a minute—did he bring in a of three critical phases that boom box with some recordings that he was trying to schools must complete to Head of School D. Scott Wiggins listen to and play?” fully realize the dream of becoming inclusive communities. Intrigued, Peter stepped into the 100-seat hall to find the Steinway’s lid propped open and Jon lending his voice During the Q&A that followed Mr. Batiste’s talk, a and hands to a performance of Billy Joel’s “Scenes from board member asked where Lawrence Academy was on an Italian Restaurant.” According to the veteran music Batiste’s developmental spectrum. Reflecting on the work teacher and former instructor at the Berklee College of we have done in these past six years, I answered that I Music, Jon “proceeded to go into several other Billy Joel believe we have advanced to the second developmental tunes complete with piano renderings that were virtually phase and that, though we still have a good distance to identical to those that I had heard on records all go, we are determined to reach that third phase. Wonjen Bagley, Lawrence Academy’s director of diversity those years.” initiatives, concurred with my assessment. The progress Now, only a few years later, Jon is performing many of we have made during this time is the focus of my the same songs to halls seating thousands of paying photo by Joan Marcus remarks in this issue of The Elm Tree. customers. As a result of not straying from his passion To describe the good work that has been and is being Jon Abrams ’01 landed his dream job in November 2008 when and dream to lift himself and done on campus in our quest to become a more inclusive he became one of two professional pianists touring as Billy Joel others with music, in community, I want first to summarize the three phases of in Movin’ Out. November 2008, at 25, diversity development as described by Mr. Batiste in Jon became one of two his remarks. Speaking in the Williams Arts Center Recital Hall, none professional pianists to of the Ninth Grade Program teachers could have possibly perform the role of Billy Mr. Batiste noted that in the first phase of development, known just how difficult it was for Jon Abrams ’01 to schools think that they have been successful if they have Joel in Movin’ Out, a Tony pay attention. The teachers might as well have spent the achieved “numbers diversity”—that is, if they have Award–winning Broadway first two weeks of classes blowing bubbles for all the brought in a fixed number of students and teachers who musical on yet another effect their words had on the 14-year-old from Lowell. are of different races, ethnicities, socioeconomic national tour. Jon could think of little else than the new apple of his backgrounds, and the like. The problem with “numbers continued on next page diversity” is that if the numbers take on primacy and eye—the Steinway standing silently against the wall. little attention is paid to cultivating an environment where all groups and individuals feel supported, valued, and comfortable, there will be an exodus of those made to feel unwelcome. In Mr. Batiste’s words, “working for diversity isn’t about having others come in, but building a community to maintain what in fact you’re able to achieve.” Maintaining the “numbers” is the work of the second phase of diversity development, which he refers to as the multicultural phase. In the multicultural phase, schools examine and reframe their policies, programs, and practices with an eye toward building communities out of differences. To do this, schools need to expand their notion of the representative types of students and teachers who will be found and welcomed within their communities. Schools that describe this representative profile narrowly tend to force students and teachers into roles with which they are neither comfortable nor experienced. However, when schools embrace differences and celebrate all community members for who they are, a natural drift from the deliberate to the automatic takes place, which signals a transition to the equity and justice phase of diversity development. Board of Visitors – Students For a Day continued on page 3 see page 4 Inside: The Obama Brian Feigenbaum Campus News, p.14Beth Penney Class Notes, p.25 In Memoriam, p.33 Inauguration, p.7 Faculty Profile, p.10 Faculty Profile, p.18 Jon Abrams, continued from page 1 First Came Roy Orbison On May 3, 2001, Jon capped his career at LA When Jon arrived at Lawrence Academy, he was already with a CD-release concert and party; in “When I get up in the morning, I have addition to a professional trumpet player, a much-practiced musician with an ear like few his a fantastic job,” Jon says. “So many age have. Duncan Pelletier ’02 and Paul Meniates ’02 joined Andy Whitegiver in backing up the theatres and so many hotel rooms look In addition to his skills as a singer and pianist, he was featured musician. Peter Hazzard served as the adept at playing the guitar and the bass, and even sounded event’s impresario. Among the songs performed alike, and every show sounds the same, good when he sat down with a drum set. “In other was “Waltz for Claire,” composed by Jon for but I don’t ever want to get used to it words, here’s a kid who had a terrific musical ear and had his mother. taught himself to play a number of instruments. He was or take it for granted.” no jack-of-all-trades, master of none; he was a jack-of-all- Later that month, at graduation, Jon was trades and master of many,” Peter Hazzard recalls. saluted by his mentor in a way undetected by anyone else at the ceremony—in a Beatles riff of a Over the next four years, Jon admits, he continued to be mere five notes that Peter had buried in a brass ensemble Becoming the Piano Man, Again—for Real distracted from his coursework by that Steinway and all performance piece composed in honor of the graduating On Broadway soon after its creation in 2003, Movin’ Out the music he played on it. As a first-grader he had fallen class, of which his daughter Laura was a member. Nearly is part concert and part modern dance, relying on 24 for the sounds of Roy Orbison, and that certainly helped eight years later, could Jon recall anything special about songs by Billy Joel and choreography by Twyla Tharp to to charm his mentor, whose a cappella group SLACS the ceremony? What springs to mind is watching as the form a modern dance story. In two acts, a cast of 24 has, over his years as its director, performed “Pretty head of school covered the microphone and instructed a dancers brings to life the fictitious characters from Billy’s Woman” to the delight of young and old audiences alike. nearby graduate-to-be to put out a very big cigar. “That songs, including Brenda, Eddie, and Anthony from But it was more than the Grammy Award–winning was pretty good,” he smiles. Two beats later, his smile “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” The audience artist’s sound that made an impression on Jon. widens. Yeah, he remembers “this one lick that was pretty follows the story, which passes through the mid-’60s and the Vietnam War and into the early ’80s. In this musical, “As a young kid, I liked the fact that people could play much lovingly stolen from the Beatles, from Sgt. Pepper’s however, there is no overlooking the band. Led by its or sing music and have that be their job. That’s what I —actually from “A Day in the Life”—it was the part piano man, the band is suspended above the stage for always wanted as a kid growing up, but no one tells you with the horns,” he says, before reproducing the sound all to see. how to get those jobs.” It was not long before Jon turned we might all recognize but might not notice embedded his attention to the music nearly everyone falls in love in a brass ensemble’s performance of a graduation-day As soon as he had the chance, Jon’s Lawrence Academy with at some point growing up. “Most of my life was recessional: “I heard the news today, oh, boy ….” mentor was in the audience. “It’s like going to a Billy Joel taken over then by the Beatles. I would say that from One Gig Leads to Another concert that’s being interpreted dramatically with full 1991 until 1997, I listened only to the Beatles.

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