By FRED KRONER
If there is music going on in the Heritage school district, and an accompanist is needed, then chances are Angie Ruwe is seated at the piano.
“Since 1976 I have only missed two years of solo and ensemble contests,” Ruwe said. “In 1994, I was nine months pregnant with my daughter Hannah, and then this past year because of COVID.”
Ruwe works with students from kindergarten through high school seniors. She helps them prepare for concerts or Illinois Music Education Association auditions. She is behind the scenes for plays and holiday performances as well as with the band and choir for solo and ensemble entries.
“I don’t have a preference for working with individuals or groups,” she said. “I enjoy following a soloist and being the background to their music, and I enjoy being the steady beat and pitch behind a group of singers or musicians.”
Ruwe and her sister (Heritage speech teacher Pam Tate) got their musical start at a young age.
“My parents were instrumental in my learning to play piano,” Ruwe said. “My dad said my sister and I would learn, so we took lessons from his sister, my aunt Karen (Taylor Dohme).”
Sometimes it took consistent prodding when it was time to sit at the keyboard.
“Mom saw to it that we practiced,” Ruwe said. “Sometimes it took the back side of a hair brush to get me to do it, and I am very thankful to her for it.
“It takes an enormous amount of parental involvement for a younger child to stick with it.”
Among Ruwe’s jobs now is as a private piano instructor. She doesn’t take just anyone.
“I won’t start anyone younger than third grade,” she said, “and the older the better.”
She has had as many as 21 students in her studio, but currently has two that she is tutoring.
“It was something I could do and still raise my family,” she said.
Before graduating from Jamaica High School in 1984, the former Angie Hill was active in music extra-curriculars.
“In fifth grade at Jamaica, I took my first piano solo to contest,” Ruwe said. “By eighth grade, I was accompanying other kids at contest.
“In high school, I also accompanied for our choir. I would rather play than sing. I started giving private lessons my junior year of high school.”
Dohme was the long-time band and choir director for ABL (which consolidated with Homer and is now Heritage) and Ruwe said, “I accompanied for her for many years for the solo and ensemble contest.”
After Ruwe and her husband of 34 years, Don, moved from Fairmount to Allerton in 1996, she renewed her commitment to the Heritage district.
“When our oldest was in sixth grade, the director here asked for help with contests,” Ruwe said. “The next year or two, after Ms. (Amanda) Sylvester came to be director and she didn’t play much piano, I started accompanying all of her choirs, most rehearsals, solo ensemble contests and organizational contests.
“Mr. (Justin) Lee came in 2006, and I continued to help him. He added in kindergarten through fourth-grade music, so I got to help with that, too.”
Her contributions haven’t gone unnoticed.
“She does a great job working with Justin Lee and the music program, and as a parent in the district,” Heritage superintendent Tom Davis said.
Ruwe has enjoyed watching the students progress throughout the years.
“It is amazing to see the transformation in the kids as they grow into their voices and see them excel at their instruments,” Ruwe said.
It’s not the monetary compensation that Ruwe finds so appealing with her work.
“My reward for playing piano at school is the bond I make with the kids,” she said. “I am always greeted with hugs – pre-COVID – and smiles.
“I think my biggest reward for playing is honoring God with the gift He gave me. I am not the best, I don’t transpose on the spot or add in a lot of flowery additions, but I do enjoy being the music behind someone singing, and following the director when he or she wants to go faster or slower or softer.”
Ruwe and Lee have worked together for 15 years. During that time, she has become a trusted part of the team.
“Mr. Lee lets me change the music to fit our group,” Ruwe said. “We sometimes will repeat a filler song that is better, for a song that doesn’t work as well.
“There are always a ton of cuts because we don’t have the time to learn 5-minute dances, and do not need the extra music for them, so we add and cut music as we need to. That is incredibly fun for me.
“It has been a learn-as-I-go thing for me, a ton of work and a ton of fun. It is also a way to push my abilities and learn new music. Sometimes I think I have bitten off more than I can accomplish, but in the end, it always works out.”
Though she teaches, Ruwe is not a teacher.
“I always say I am qualified, but not certified,” she said. “I am allowed to take over for Mr. Lee in his absence sometimes, but there is always a qualified sub or a teacher next door that is the ‘official’ sub in charge.”
Her accompanist jobs force her to wear different hats.
“Preparing for contests and IMEA requires a more exact technique, counting, pitches, phrases, dynamics and so on,” Ruwe said. “I know what the judges are looking for.
“I know most of the judges from my many years at contest. One of them was my drum major director at the Smith Walbridge Drum Major camp I attended for two years. I can help with many techniques, but Mr. Lee is there for the tone qualities, special vowel sounds, and those kinds of things.
“For the concerts and plays, we are more relaxed and can change things to fit our groups.”
Ruwe’s children and grandchildren have a long-time association with the music program at Heritage.
“Mr. Lee has become a member of our family,” Ruwe said. “He came the year Zach (now a freshman) was born. He has spent a night or two on our couch when the weather got bad too fast for him to get home.
“He is very special to my granddaughter, who calls him Mr. WEEEEE. She will run down the hall to his room and jump in his arms.
“Mr. Lee even conducted a concert holding baby Zach. It has been great raising my family and being able to be the staff accompanist.”
Ruwe has enjoyed being a part of the travel party.
“Mr. Lee is the best at planning trips,” she said. “Together we have been to Disney twice, Branson, Cincinnati, Chicago.
“I took many trips with the junior high to Indiana Beach, but our big trip to New York was cancelled this year due to COVID.”
That wasn’t the only time the pandemic played havoc with a school-planned event.
Seven months ago, Heritage was on the verge of putting on its Spring play when COVID-19 resulted in a sudden halt to the production.
“On Wednesday, March 11, we had our dress rehearsal for our Spring play, Guys and Dolls,” Ruwe said. “On Thursday, March 12, I was finishing up my cuts for our six-man pit and opening night, when Mr. Lee called and told me he was pretty sure we would cancel for Thursday night because Champaign County had a positive case of COVID.
“By the time I got the call back that it was a for-sure thing, the play had been put on a postponed position, and of course before long it was completely cancelled. Some costumes had been rented and needed returning. In June, Mr. Lee, two costume moms and I tore down the set, put all the props away, loaded costumes that needed cleaning and ‘put the play away.’ All music and scripts were turned in and sent back.”
As for what is next for Ruwe, that is still to be determined.
“I should have two binders full of music, one junior high and one high school,” Ruwe said. “I did get to play for the high school choir last week and we started Christmas songs.
“It is a well-known fact that I play and listen to Christmas songs all year long,” she added. “We should be preparing for the Veterans Day Program at school, I should be polishing up the service songs, but I am not sure what is going to be allowed yet, so I am on hold. Our church is not doing a Christmas cantata, so I am not working on that.”
Ruwe is the pianist for the First Baptist Church, in Fairmount.
Her musical background includes more than piano. She started playing the clarinet as a fifth-grader and continued with that instrument through high school. She also played alto sax in high school and a drum major as both a junior and a senior.
Whenever the Marching Band at Heritage is in action, Ruwe is on the scene as a volunteer.
“I am the band mom with the backpack full of anything the band might need, especially peppermints, Jolly Ranchers, duct tape, bobby pins and safety pins,” she said. “We have many band moms that help out, too. It takes an army of moms to get them dressed for performances, instrument case and hat boxes back on the trailer while they are performing, unloaded again to pack and put back on the trailer.
“I have in the past braided long hair on the bus all the way to competitions.”
Perhaps Ruwe’s greatest contribution is the ability to pass along her passion for music.
“All (six) of our children have played an instrument and piano in various levels,” she said. “All sing in their churches, and we have great sing-a-longs when they are all home.”
In addition to her own music endeavors, both privately and at Heritage, Ruwe is also a licensed cosmetologist and cleans houses.
Not all of her times seated at the piano, however, have provided fun-filled memories.
“I have also played for many funerals,” she said.
