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tinleyjunction.com life & Arts
the Tinley Junction | March 21, 2019 | 25
Band director named to Midwest Music Hall of Fame
Will O’Brien
Freelance Reporter
Vince Aiello has been
the band director of Tinley
Park High School for more
than two decades. And for
more than two decades,
he’s entered the band in
the Midwest Music Festival,
where the ensemble
performs challenging
pieces and more often than
not finishes in the contest’s
Top 5.
All that happened again
in February, but this year’s
event also featured a special
touch: Aiello being
named to the long-running
festival’s prestigious hall
of fame.
The recognition, which
has only been extended to
a small, accomplished set
of directors, was due after
Aiello’s many years of
consistent excellence, said
Mike Madonia, the festival’s
long-time executive
director.
“He wants to get better
all the time,” Madonia
said. “He wants the band
to get better all the time.
He cares a lot about those
kids. His groups are simply
phenomenal.”
Aiello, 53, was presented
with the honor in front
of family, friends, peers
and, of course, his studentmusicians.
“My band kids were really
rowdy, jumping up
and down and cheering
for me,” Aiello said. “That
probably meant the most
to me. They’re why I do
it.”
Aiello arrived at TPHS
in 1993. He’d been teaching
in Michigan, had
recently completed his
master’s degree and was
excited at the prospect of
moving to the Chicago
area and building a career.
Pictured is Tinley Park High School band director Vince Aiello (left) rehearsing with members of the high school band. Aiello was named to the
Midwest Musical Festival Hall of Fame in February. Photo submitted
The life-long musician,
who started out
with trumpet and built
his skills playing with
various groups, said Tinley’s
marching band had
about 20 members at the
time.
“I remember thinking
to myself, ‘Well, the only
way you can go is up,’”
Aiello said.
And up he and the bands
went.
Tinley’s groups — symphonic
band, concert band,
percussion ensemble,
two jazz bands — consistently
score well in their
various competitions, and
the marching band now
numbers about 100, or
nearly 10 percent of the
school’s student population.
In 2015, Tinley won
the University of Illinois’
SuperState Concert Band
Festival.
“I always push the kids,”
Aiello said.
That dedication to improvement
is what makes
the Tinley instructor a
stand-out, Madonia said.
The Midwest Music
Festival, hosted annually
at Lemont High School,
draws about 40 bands each
year from Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa and Wisconsin.
Directors are allowed to
place their ensemble in
one of three categories
matching the difficulty of
their music. Tinley always
competes in the most challenging
category, reserved
for those performing college-level
scores.
“Vince has constantly
raised the bar every single
year,” Madonia said. “His
bands are so strong, so musical.”
Getting the bands that
way requires long hours.
After a full day of instruction,
Aiello often sticks
around to give extra lessons
and work with small
groups on particularly
tricky passages. He’s also
on the board for Community
Consolidated School
District 146, which feeds
into Tinley High.
“Working with that age
group is very rewarding,”
Aiello said, explaining
young students respond
well to structure and want
to be pushed.
Madonia has known
Aiello since he arrived in
the Southwest Suburbs,
serving as something of a
mentor as Aiello learned
the particulars of Illinois’
musical education system.
Madonia, now with
Robert Morris University,
has nearly 40 years
of experience leading
band programs at area
high schools and colleges.
The two have long been
friends.
He said Aiello’s approach
to music and to
teaching perfectly reflect
what he’s tried to accomplish
with the festival over
the decades. Namely: dedication,
constructive instruction,
inspiring young
musicians and exposing
them to opportunities to
express their talents.
Aiello said that’s been
his mission all along.
“I’m trying to teach
them that nothing worthwhile
is easy,” he said. “It’s
going to take hard work,
and if you’re not going to
dedicate yourself to it, it
won’t happen. Performing
— and performing well —
is the fun part. But getting
there takes a lot.”