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Teen of the Week: Frum sees music as a key for his future

By Brett Dunlap 6 min read

PARKERSBURG - The beauty of music helps keep Kaden Frum focused on his goals.

The 17-year-old senior at Parkersburg South High School has been involved in band and choir throughout his life and is looking at using that dedication in an engineering career after high school.

"For as long as I can remember, I have always loved listening to music," Frum said. "I can listen to any type of music."

In first grade, he started taking piano lessons and joined the band in the fifth grade, continuing to play the alto saxophone throughout high school.

"I really love it so much," Frum said. "It is a creative outlet for me.

"I get to express myself, and I get to just have a lot of fun. It is not very stressful for me. It really is just a nice pastime."

Frum is the drum major for the Parkersburg South marching band, something he said he tried just to see what it was like. He conducts the band out on the field during their halftime show.

"I didn't know if it was going to be fun or super demanding or a big growth experience," Frum said. "It has been pretty fun so far. I do miss playing and marching a lot, but it is fun to be up there and having everyone respond to you."

Each drum major has their own moves they perform before the start of each performance to signal to the audience they are about to begin. Frum spins, points his mace and does a step back.

"It is pretty cool," he said. "It is still a work in progress.

"It is starting to come together pretty well."

In addition to the marching band, he plays in the South Concert Band and the Blue Jazz Ensemble.

His favorite band pieces he has performed are "Second Suite in F" by Gustav Holst and "Moscow 1941" by Brian Balmages.

Frum also plays the piano, unrelated to any school activity.

"It is purely for myself," he said. "I get to do what I want pretty much with it, and that is enjoyable for me."

He picks out the music and plays what interests him the most and decides how he will play it.

His favorite compositions to play on the piano include "Vallée d'obermann" by Cole Anderson and Franz Liszt and "Barcarolle."

He also has a part-time job playing piano for the First Christian Church of Parkersburg.

Frum is in the choirs at South, including Chamber Choir, Madrigal Singers, Concert Choir and the a capella choirs.

"When I was little I was super afraid to sing in front of people," he said.

In eighth grade he had an empty period and decided to give choir a try.

"It went from there," he said. "I haven't stopped since then."

He sings in the bass section.

His favorite pieces to sing include "Miniyama Nayo" by Paul John Rudoi, which he said "sounded like gibberish but it was really fun to sing," and "Seal Lullaby" by Eric Whitacre.

Frum has auditioned for and been a part of state recitals in Charleston.

Frum has been chosen three years in a row to be a part of the West Virginia Music Educators Association's Honor Recital in Charleston.

"I sent in recordings, and I was selected to go perform there," he said of doing piano, saxophone and voice at different times.

Frum has also been a part of the American Choral Directors Association National Honor Choir his freshman, sophomore and junior years. He's also participated in the West Virginia ACDA Choir and All-State Band in the last three years.

"Music keeps me very disciplined," he said. "I do a lot of it for myself. When I do that it keeps me driven to keep doing it."

Frum credits a number of educators with helping him develop his musical talent: Eric Staats this year and Greg Myers for the last three years with his band programs at South; Jennifer Ratliff for the choir programs at South; Amy Rice for piano; Steve McDougle for saxophone/clarinet and Pam McClain for voice.

Frum likes to work out after school frequently.

"It is a very large part of my life as well, along with playing piano," he said. "It is something that is pretty much my thing that I get to do.

"It is not sports lifting. It is something that I get to do because I want to."

After high school, Frum is planning to go to college and into an engineering program with a minor in music.

"I haven't decided what school I want to go into yet," he said. "I do know I want to go down an engineering sort of pathway.

"I will minor in music as well so I can have opportunities for bands and choirs in college."

He is looking at Ohio University, Ohio State, the University of Chicago, Purdue and West Virginia University.

Frum started taking a calculus class this year that he really likes

"I was good at math and recently I have been liking it more," he said. "I really love calculus.

"It is really fun."

He is thinking about doing engineering for public works projects or chemical engineering.

"I want to make things as good as possible," he said.

Frum takes a lot of advanced placement classes. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the French Honor Society. He had previously been on the student council, but had to step away.

"My schedule is pretty much full," Frum said.

He is also taking online classes at West Virginia University at Parkersburg for high school and college credit and is maintaining a 4.5 gpa.

At WVUP, he is doing statistics, communications and psychology.

"I wanted to get a lot of general education requirements before I got to college," he said. "It is handy having WVUP here."

Frum feels being involved in music will help him in his future engineering career as learning and performing music both take concentration and discipline. .

"With engineering, it is a very big advantage," he said. "If I can put my mind into something, I really don't have to convince myself to do it. I can just do it.

"That really stems from doing music. Whenever I don't want to practice, which is almost never now, I would think about the results rather than the process. That is what keeps me very dedicated to what I do."

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