Caine percussion students perform in New York City
During a trip to New York, a group of faculty and students from USU were able to reach out to a variety of groups including elementary school students.
The group was able to perform at the Chamber Music America Conference for elementary students and attend a performance for the Metropolitan Opera, a rehearsal for the New York Philharmonic and a Broadway musical.
The Logan Canyon Winds, the faculty woodwind quintet, and the Caine Percussion Ensemble, a student percussion group, were invited to perform at the Chamber Music America Conference. Nicholas Morrison, clarinet player for the Logan Canyon Winds, said this is a rare opportunity as USU was one of only three groups invited. The Chamber Music America has a book of members about an inch think, with 15 pages of telephone book-type entries for groups just in New York.
The Caine Percussion Ensemble has five members, ranging from freshmen to seniors. Sam Bryson, Tristan Wardle, Robyn Peterson, Alissa Kirk and Mike Hylton each had a different favorite part of the trip but agreed it was a great opportunity to perform at a “very prestigious” conference.
“Getting to perform in New York as an undergraduate student is a big deal,” Morrison said.
Bryson agreed, saying having the opportunity to play with these professional musicians is like playing on a different level and gave the students the opportunity to see what they can accomplish.
The students and faculty were able to not only share musical experiences but were also able to learn more about each other.
Morrison said although he has had the students in the classroom, traveling to New York with them was a new experience.
“These students are going to be great teachers themselves,” he said.
Dennis Griffin, who heads the Caine Percussion Ensemble, said being in the cultural environment New York has to offer and being able to take it all in was beneficial to the students and faculty.
The areas in which the groups were able to reach out were, according to Morrison, their performances at the conference, because they were teaching others about outreach they could do, the faculty group and student group performing together, both groups performing for elementary students and the faculty teaching the students how to perform for the elementary school.
“Every time you play you are teaching… Each act of performance should and must be an act of teaching,” Morrison said.
The Logan Canyon Winds was formed on the belief that students should be able to see their teachers perform, or walk the walk, as Morrison said, because teachers can’t just stop playing and expect to still be able to teach. The members, Leslie Timmons, Bonnie Schroeder, Steve Park, Carolyn Bodily and Morrison, are also all instructors in the music department. While many of the members are involved in other groups, students wouldn’t be able to see these performances on campus.
Also allowing the top students in the music program to perform with a professional group such as the Logan Canyon Winds is an opportunity students at other universities don’t get.
-albaugh@cc.usu.edu