Lawrence Academy of Music

Tag: Lawrence Academy of Music

Lawrence Academy of Music Girl Choir spring concert presents “Elements”

The Lawrence Academy of Music Girl Choir program explores “Elements” in its annual spring concerts Saturday, March 24. Two performances, featuring 300 singers in seven choirs representing grades 3-12, will be staged at 2 and 7 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Tickets, at $12 for adults, $8 for students and seniors are available online at go.lawrence.edu/buytickets or at the Lawrence Box Office in the Music-Drama Center one hour before the show.

Group girl choir photo
Seven different choirs will perform as part of the Lawrence Academy of Music’s Girl Choir annual spring concerts.

The 90-minute program examines multiple elements — of music, of the natural world and of life.

“In constructing this concert, I encouraged our teachers to think beyond the words,” said Karen Bruno, director of the Academy of Music and conductor of the Bel Canto choir. “They guided their singers to consider questions such as: how did the composer use music to depict a particular element? What elements of music are most impactful in this particular piece? Do elemental emotions exist? If so, how do they manifest during a musical performance?”

Selections for “Elements” include two settings of the poem “Windy Nights” by Robert Louis Stevenson, Gustav Holst’s “Homeland,” a Filipino children’s song, the traditional Scottish farewell song “The Parting Glass,” and a song built on Sami (Norwegian) yoik that was used in the Disney movie “Frozen.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Appleton Area School District Honored with 2012 Lawrence University Collaboration in Action Award

For more than 150 years, Lawrence University and the Appleton Area School District have been in the business of educating young people. Through partnership and collaboration, the two institutions have bolstered their common missions of providing the highest quality instruction and rich learning environments for their students.

Lawrence President Jill Beck honored the Appleton Area School District Oct. 9 with the third annual Lawrence University Collaboration in Action Award.  The presentation was highlighted the college’s fourth annual “Report to the Community.”

Renee Boldt, a 1985 graduate and member of the college’s Board of Trustees, served as the event’s emcee and Cathie Tierney, president and CEO of Community First Credit Union, was the featured speaker.

The Lawrence University Collaboration in Action Award recognizes an individual or organization, who, in partnership with Lawrence, has provided exemplary service to the Fox Cities community through strategic vision, leadership influence, long-standing commitment and enthusiasm, financial contributions and/or volunteerism. Previous recipients of the award include the Mielke Family Foundation (2010) and the YMCA of the Fox Cities (2011).

FRONT ROW (L. to R.): Cassidi Wing, kindergarten student, Edison Elementary School; Kyan Wing, 2nd grade student, Edison Elementary School. SECOND ROW: Justyce Schultz, 5th grade student, Edison Elementary School; Barbara Wing, grandmother of Justyce, Cassidi and Kyan. THIRD ROW: Monica Rico, associate professor of history and Pieper Professor of Servant Leadership, Lawrence University; Kristi Hill, director of volunteer and community service programs, Lawrence University; Karen Bruno, director of the Academy of Music, Lawrence University; Jim Donnellan, Edison Elementary School principal; Lisa Sprangers, Grade 5/6 teacher at Edison Elementary School. TOP ROW: Sharon Fenlon, AASD board president; Stewart Purkey, associate professor of education and Bee Connell Mielke professor of education, Lawrence University; Brian Bartel, chemistry teacher, West High School, and 1997 Lawrence University graduate; Lee Allinger, AASD superintendent of schools; Jon Meyer, director of the Young Band Project, Lawrence University; Adam Tenasaputra, Lawrence student and LARY Buddy.

“The Appleton Area School District is an essential partner to Lawrence University, as it provides unmatched opportunities for our students interested in serving our community and working with youth,” said Beck.

Superintendent Lee Allinger said the Appleton Area School District is “proud to be recognized with this award.

“The partnership between the AASD and Lawrence has a rich history and continues to evolve,” said Allinger. “We are appreciative that Lawrence University leadership continues to provide opportunities for both their faculty and student body to engage in meaningful initiatives in AASD schools.”

Among many collaborative programs conducted between Lawrence and AASD are the LARY Buddies mentoring and VITAL Tutoring programs. Each has connected Lawrence students with area elementary students for decades.

The Lawrence Academy of Music has worked closely with AASD school administrators and music teachers to develop the Young Band Project and Strings Project. They enhance the music offerings of local schools and provide music instruction to students who otherwise might not have the opportunity.

Jerry Koleske, Lincoln Elementary School band teacher, sees the music programs as a classic win-win situation.

“Lawrence students receive teaching experience and are mentored by seasoned music teachers. The elementary students receive regular music instruction and consistent teaching that is greatly enhancing their level of competence,” said Koleske.

The AASD also has provided fertile student-teaching opportunities for aspiring Lawrence student educators.

“Although we are confident Lawrence students make a positive contribution to the Appleton school community while engaged in these activities, the fact remains that we could not certify Lawrence students for licensure as public school teachers without the cooperation and good will of AASD teachers and administrators,” said Stewart Purkey, Bee Connell Mielke Professor of Education.

Many Lawrence graduates go on to teach in the AASD. Those same teachers — along with many others from the area — often return to Lawrence for valuable professional development such as the college’s Mielke Summer Institute in the Liberal Arts, in which area educators explore new ideas and examine timely issues of social and cultural importance from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Other Report to the Community highlights include:

•  Lawrence’s “Adopt-an-Agency” program, which helps graduating students pass their work seamlessly along to other students, providing improved continuity and building lasting relationships between local nonprofits and student organizations.

•  A collaboration with the History Museum at the Castle that involved Lawrence students and faculty assisting with exhibition research, creating a historic walking map of Riverside Cemetery and, in conjunction with the museum’s “Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion” exhibition, youth programming focused on the inventor’s legacy as both scientist and artist in conjunction with the AARD and the Appleton Public Library.

• A summer seminar series focused on a wide variety of topics geared toward Fox Valley community members led by Lawrence faculty and local experts.

• The community “Chalk Talk” art project that brought together Lawrence art students and clients of the Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities. Together they explored probing questions like “What are you?” and “How do you think others see you?” that formed the basis for portraits reflecting each client’s “sense of self.” The portraits became part of a May 2012 community exhibit that countered stereotypes about homelessness and poverty.

• A project designed to reveal the human emotions — fear, loneliness, pain, shame — people hide behind invisible masks. The result was a theatre production that melded together vignettes interpreting the gamut of emotional experience, based in part on contributions from a suggestion box at Harmony Café. Community members submitted their own script ideas, including personal thoughts, memories, poems or quotations. Project participants also constructed their own papier-mâché masques as a way of exploring emotion through physical action.

• A profile of some of the more than 1,600 Lawrence alumni who make their home in the Fox Cities and northeast Wisconsin.

Lawrence’s commitment to integrating civic service into the curriculum and campus culture was recognized with its sixth consecutive selection to the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. Lawrence is one of only two Wisconsin institutions that has been cited every year by the Washington, D.C.-based Corporation for National and Community Service since it launched the honor roll program in 2006.

During the 2011-12 academic year, 706 Lawrence students volunteered more than 9,525 hours of service, including 7,676 hours at 79 different Fox Cities charities and schools.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Lawrence Academy of Music New Horizons Ensembles Looking for Participants

The Lawrence Academy of Music will host an informational session for its New Horizons Band and Orchestra on August 22 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Shattuck Hall, room 163, located in the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, 420 E. College Ave.

The New Horizon ensembles offer adults the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument in a band or orchestra—even if they have no prior musical experience. As a member of a New Horizons Music ensemble, adults have the opportunity to meet new friends and work as a team to learn music for concerts and other performances in the community. New Horizons ensembles perform many times each year in venues ranging from formal concerts to parades to parks and retirement and nursing homes. There are also a number of annual music institutes that participants can attend that cater to New Horizons musicians in locations such as Door County, Aspen, Colo., Lake Placid, N.Y., Palm Springs, Calif., and Sydney, Australia.

Each ensemble offers three 10-week sessions. The New Horizons Band, which includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, meets Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning September 12. The New Horizons Orchestra, which includes violin, viola, cello, and string bass, meets Thursdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning September 7. Both ensembles meet at Trinity Lutheran Church, 209 S. Allen St., Appleton. The cost is $99 per 10-week session or $270 for all three sessions.

For more information on the New Horizon Music ensembles or to register, call 920-832-6632, e-mail acad_music@lawrence.edu, or visit www.lawrence.edu/dept/acad_music.

Lawrence University Art Director Wins Design Award for Academy of Music Logo

Lawrence University art director Marsha Tuchscherer has been cited with an Award of Excellence by the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) for her redesign of the Lawrence Academy of Music identity program logo.

The logo, which includes two one-sixteenth notes tied together, will be included in a display during the UCDA’s 2003 Design Show in October in Boston as part of the association’s 33rd annual conference. Tuchscherer’s design was one of 201 award-winners selected from more than 1,500 entries in the UCDA’s annual design competition.

The logo citation was the fourth time Tuchscherer’s work has been recognized with an award by the UCDA. She has served as the art director at Lawrence since 1996.

Lawrence Academy of Music Awarded NEA Grant to Expand Jazz Education Efforts

The Lawrence Academy of Music has been awarded a $28,000 arts education grant by the National Endowment of the Arts to support its growing jazz education programs for area youths.

The NEA grant will support the Academy of Music’s summer Jazz Odyssey program — a five-day camp that begins July 21 — as well as two new initiatives that will begin this fall. In September, the Academy of Music will launch both a new after school jazz program and a Saturday morning jazz component designed to enhance current school music experiences and provide creative new opportunities.

Both programs will be open to area students in grades 6-12 who are currently playing an instrument or singing. Led by a staff of three or more instructors, the two new programs will feature specialized offerings in the history of jazz and its Afrocentric roots, jazz improvisation and composition and small-group combo performance experiences.

Fred Snyder, director of the Lawrence Academy of Music, is hoping to attract 25-40 students for both the after-school and Saturday morning programs, which he said will be designed to augment, rather than compete with, music programs currently offered in area schools.

“Jazz is extremely popular in this area and we’re very excited about the possibilities this difficult-to-come-by NEA grant will provide,” said Snyder.

“We’re confident the launch of these two new initiatives targeting area middle and high school jazzophiles will provide them with the kind of opportunities that aren’t currently available elsewhere in the Fox Valley. One of the reasons we even applied for this grant was as a response from area school music educators who were asking us for this kind of assistance. We’re hoping these new jazz programs can help meet some of those needs.”

The Lawrence Academy of Music was one of only four Wisconsin arts organizations awarded a grant by the NEA for 2003 in the organization’s arts education category.

Founded in 1874 as a division of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, the Lawrence Academy of Music provides personalized music instruction to community residents. Originally established as the Preparatory Program, it became known as the Lawrence Arts Academy in 1990. Last summer, it changed its name to the Lawrence Academy of Music to better define its role as a music education provider.

Featuring a staff of close to 50 music specialists, the Academy of Music serves nearly 1,900 area students ranging in age from six months to 18 years old through a variety of enrichment and instructional programs, including early childhood music, private instrument lessons and classes in music theory, voice and chamber music.

The Academy also sponsors eight ensembles, including five girl choirs, two bands and a string orchestra. Its summer Odyssey program features a series of day camps that explore topics on music fundamentals, creative dramatics, singing, eurhythmics, creative writing, visual arts and more.

Lawrence Academy of Music Holds Open House March 2

The Lawrence Academy of Music will hold an open house Sunday, March 2 from 2-4 p.m., offering information on its extensive student music programs as well as live lesson demonstrations, group mini-performances and model early childhood classes. Door prizes, refreshments and a musical instrument “petting zoo” will also be provided.

The Academy of Music, which offers high-quality music instruction to more than 1,800 area students of all ages and levels of advancement, is located at 100 Water Street, Appleton, across from the Fox River Mills apartments. For more information, call 920/832-6635.