TIP/School of Music’s guest artist visits high school band

The University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Music presents guest artists throughout the year, usually in short residencies that feature a recital and one or two master classes. In the case of current guest artist James Jenkins, who plays the tuba, the model has been expanded to include an outreach activity at one of Madison’s public high schools.

On Monday (February 5), Jenkins will visit the wind ensemble at James Madison Memorial High School during its regularly scheduled class period (11:11 a.m. to 12:03 p.m.). He will listen to the band perform under its director, Paul Ulrich, and offer comments about their technique and musicianship. He plans to take his tuba to the class and will most likely play a selection for the students. And he will wrap up the session giving impressions of his life and career as a professional musician.

Jenkins is a native of Florida, where he was raised in the Liberty City section of Miami. He graduated from the University of Miami, studying tuba with John Stevens, then of the Miami faculty. Stevens is now professor of tuba and euphonium at UW–Madison and the host for this residency. Jenkins has held a number of faculty positions himself, was principal tubist for Santa Fe Opera for six seasons, and has held the principal tuba position with the Jacksonville Symphony since 1995.

But there’s another part of his career that marks Jenkins as more than a musician or educator. In 2000, he founded “Body & Soul – The Art of Healing,” a non-profit organization that seeks to enhance the quality of health care through the arts. In its nearly seven years of existence, Body & Soul has offered the talents of hundreds of Jacksonville’s musicians and artists to thousands of patients, family members and staff at a number of Jacksonville’s health care facilities, including nursing homes and hospices. Jenkins continues to serve as Body & Soul’s executive director.

The complete schedule for Jenkins’s residency follows. All events at the School of Music are free and open to the public. The School of Music thanks the Anonymous Fund for supporting the Guest Artist Series and Jenkins’s residency at UW–Madison.

Jenkins’s visit to Memorial High School is made possible with funds through the office of Julie Palkowski, fine arts coordinator for Madison Metropolitan School District.

– Saturday, Feb. 3, at 2 pm, Morphy Hall, Humanities Building-Lecture-discussion on “Body & Soul” (free);

– Sunday, Feb. 4, at 10 am, Room 1341 Humanities-Tuba master class (free);

– Sunday, Feb. 4, at 4 pm, Morphy Hall-Recital with pianist Vincent Fuh (free);

– Monday, Feb. 5, at 11:11 am, Band Room, James Madison Memorial High School-master class with Memorial H. S. Wind Ensemble, Paul Ulrich, director.