Students reach out in concert to rural public schools

Rural K-12 students in several western Wisconsin schools will be able to savor a live classical brass performance, courtesy of a student trio from UW–Madison.

“Exposure to the arts has long been a problem for many rural public school districts in Wisconsin, primarily due to lack of funding,” says Ph.D. candidate Todd Schendel, trombonist, one of the Contrapunctus Brass Trio. “We propose to positively influence artistic diversity in a select group of rural communities through our new initiative.”

That initiative, funded through the Ira and Ineva Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, was among seven funded through academic year 2004-05, and the only one created and directed entirely by students. In addition to Todd Schendel, the other members of Contrapunctus are master’s candidate Gina Gillie, horn, and doctoral student Amy Schendel.

Amy Schendel says that each specific program will be specially tailored to the particular school and its community. Generally, each day will consist of classroom instruction, one-on-one lessons and coaching of the school’s musical ensembles. A school-wide presentation will take place in the afternoon, and a free public concert in the evening featuring various musical genres.

The schedule for the rest of the school year includes:

• Adams-Friendship Middle School, Monday, May 2;
• Hillsboro High School, Tuesday, May 10;
• Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton High School, Thursday, May 12;
• Royall High School, Friday, May 13;

“We want to give students and community members a sense of involvement – this is crucial in increasing awareness of artistic culture,” says Todd Schendel. But he adds that trio members also have goals of their own:

“As musicians, we are constantly thinking of new ideas to improve our skills in performance, teaching, finding funding resources and engaging in outreach activities,” he says. “This program involves all of those aspects.”

For more information on a Contrapunctus Brass Trio appearance, contact Todd Schendel, (608) 819-1223, tschende@hotmail.com