December 29, 2004
Music makers score concert
685 TCAPS music students to perform at state conference
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Ann Arbor, here they come!
Making beautiful music, 685 choir, orchestra and band students of all ages in Traverse City Area Public Schools will be traveling to Ann Arbor in January to perform at the opening night concert for the 60th Annual Michigan Music Education In-Service Conference. The free concert will be given on Thursday, January 20, in the Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan.
These students range from fourth graders to seniors and are drawn from schools around the district. Performers include high school members of elite ensembles as well as junior high students deepening their skills and elementary age students who are just learning their instruments, whether band, orchestra or voice.
"For me it is so exciting that our elementary students, our general music students, are going to be included," said Wendee Wolff-Schlarff, music coordinator for the district. "We'll have approximately 70 fourth- and fifth-grade students representing general music components, the junior highs are combining forces and Central and West are sending 160 students per high school."
"We're trying to have as many students participate as we can," she added. "It's historic!"
Members of the Symphonic Choir at East Junior High rehearsed some numbers before the holiday break, their excitement high over the upcoming trip and performance.
"It will be fun because we'll be performing in front of a big audience and usually we perform only in front of our parents," said Jackie Voice, a ninth-grade student at the school. "We'll be singing a song in French and the girls are doing a song in Czech and we'll sing another in Latin."
Wolff-Schlarff noted that ten schools applied to give the opening night performance at this prestigious event, which will be held for the last year at Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium. The district auditioned for the slot last June and was notified that it had been selected by early July.
"It took us a while to be able to get permission to do this and we began the hunt to find out how much it would cost," she said, adding that each student would spend two nights in a hotel room and total costs per would be $200. "The board gave its approval in August and when the students came back in September, we had four to five months to raise $140,000 and do all the musical preparations."
Wolff-Schlarff said that it is a great tribute to the music students in the district to represent educational opportunities to music teachers from around the state.
"I've been here [in TCAPS] 18 years and I know I was required to attend this conference as a college student," she said. "For us to be featured as a way to demonstrate what we do is really an honor."
Moving hundreds of students hundreds of miles will take hundreds of checklists, not to mention the $140,000.
Students, parents, PTOs and the Music Boosters are in the midst of a fundraising frenzy to help defray each participant's expenses. From card and poinsettia sales to a car raffle and pop can drive, everyone is pitching in.
"Every school is doing something different," Wolff-Schlarff said. "We also have students contacting small businesses, families and friends, writing a letter and making personal contact, to get sponsorships."
Managing the logistics of the trip is consuming organizers' time. A few weeks ago, the caravan already numbered more than 740 cars, with the groups leaving in two different waves. The junior high and elementary school students will be gone from January 19-21 and the high school students will be gone from January 20-22.
"The elementary and junior high students will have a side trip to the Henry Ford Museum on Friday," she said.
A benefit concert is scheduled for Sunday, January 16 at 3 p.m. in the Corson Auditorium at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Tickets are $10 tickets will be on sale January 10-12. For more information on corporate or individual sponsorships, call the district's music office at 933-7570.