Darrow School Song, "Simple Gifts," Featured in Inauguration Ceremony
Darrow students and teachers cheered when watching the
inauguration on January 20, as their school song, “Simple Gifts,” was played
just prior to President Obama’s oath of office. The new work, “Air and Simple
Gifts,” composed by John Williams, was performed by cello great Yo-Yo Ma, along
with Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano, and Anthony McGill on
clarinet.
Comments from alumni, parents, and friends have been rolling
in via e-mail and phone calls and on Facebook.“I loved that—felt like coming
full circle in a lot of ways,”said one alum about the thrill of hearing
“Simple Gifts,” while another simply added, “Amen.” A third alum took the time
to share these thoughts: “I am sitting at my desk, unemployed, hopeful but
restless, and watching the inauguration of our newest president, Barack Obama.
His introduction was preceded by a recital of John Williams’s reworking of an
old Shaker hymn, ‘Simple Gifts.’ It is a piece that has spoken to me since
hearing it played at a multitude of events at my old high school, Darrow. It’s
a piece that speaks to me of hope, of friendship, and of the valuation of
things that cannot be bought or gathered, but might simply be achieved . . . by
understanding, by belief, by hope and by appreciation. Simple gifts are the
things we give each other, not from the hand, but from the heart.”
Note: You'll recognize the Darrow tune about 1:30 min into the clip.
Darrow School Featured in the Albany Business Review Friday, October 17, 2008
Private Schools—Tuition up, enrollment down
Some institutions buck the numbers trend, as parents still see value in pricey schools
by Robin K. Cooper Katelin Smith’s parents scaled back on their retirement savings, and they’re not socking as much away for her college tuition as they’d hoped.
J. Eric Smith, Katelin’s father, said these are sacrifices that he and his wife were willing to make to cover the $41,200 annual fee for Katelin to attend Darrow School, a boarding school in the Columbia County town of New Lebanon.
Their daughter excelled academically in the North Colonie public schools as a freshman. But the Latham family agreed a small private school with more teacher interaction would help her develop faster and give her an edge getting into college.
Katelin, now a 17-year-old senior, is one of more than 10,000 students attending the region’s 50 largest private schools. She’s part of a shrinking population. Private schools ... Click for a link to the complete article.
