Bellingham Students First to Perform “Ad Lib” Composer Boysen Created Musical Piece in Memory of BMS Student Ian Shumaker

By J.D. O’Gara 

On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, Bellingham Public Schools music students in grades 5-8 performed a concert, which, as a highlight, featured the world premiere of “Ad Lib,” by composer Dr. Andrew Boysen, Jr. The piece, performed by students in grades 6-12, was commissioned to honor the memory of Ian Shumaker, a BMS student who passed away. 

“I had Ian for almost a year and a half,” says Ian’s former music teacher, Timothy MacDonald, who reached out to Dr. Boysen, with whom he had a personal connection. Ian was a percussionist in 5th grade band and then in jazz band, he says. “He was a very kind and gentle person, and he really thrived in music. His parents told me that band was the place where he started to really open up,” adds MacDonald, noting that Ian “was a really brave kid, wasn’t afraid to improvise, to take risks or make wrong notes. I think in that regard he inspired a lot of kids to take more risks and be more brave.”

In fact, “Ad Lib” includes a jazz section in the middle of the piece called “The Concert” which symbolizes Ian’s participation in musical performances. This section gave the Bellingham students an opportunity to “be brave like Ian,” with their improvisation.

“The beginning (of the piece) is a slow and more contemplative section called ‘Crosby’s Big Brother,’ because Ian’s younger brother’s name is Crosby, and then the final section of the piece, titled ‘An Adventurous Spirit,’ combines the two sections in a much faster pace and percussively rhythmic portion of the music.” In the final section, says MacDonald, students had a chance to pick up a set of drumsticks and improvise, backed by the percussion section. The teacher notes that the entire musical composition was written around a particular melody drawn from Ian’s final improvised solo in jazz band. 

“We had a recording from Cable 8, and we took a sequence of notes and recurring melodies from that piece,” says MacDonald. 

Funding for the commissioned piece came from Bellingham Educational Foundation, Bellingham Memorial School PTO, Bellingham Friends of Music, BHS National Honor Society and Vic Firth Percussion Company.