The Well-Tempered Ear
Why isn’t music education in Madison better, ranked higher?
11 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear saw where the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation recently announced its annual list honoring cities, school districts and individual schools in the U.S. for outstanding music education.
Here is a brief explanation:
“Now in its 24th year, the 2023 Best Communities for Music Education program recognizes 830 school districts and 78 schools across 43 states for the outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community leaders and their support for music education as part of a well-rounded education for all children.”
Here is link to the overview of the award program:
I figured with its active music life, Madison should be, even must bet, on the list.
And I did find Madison.
But it was Madison New Jersey — not Wisconsin.
I found no mention of Madison, Wisconsin.
It disappointed me, since study after study shows the importance of music education in academic achievement.
It also perplexed me.
How could music education not be noteworthy in a city that is home to nationally famous Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (below is UW’s Hamel Music Center)?
In a city with Edgewood College’s music department?
With the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra — all of which have educational outreach programs?
With the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Willy Street Chamber Players, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Oakwood Chamber Players and so many other chamber music and early music groups?
Where the statewide, nationally recognized Wisconsin School Music Association is located in nearby Waunakee
In the same city where the pioneering Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (below) has been located for 57 years and is building an impressive new headquarters with teaching facilities and a concert hall on East Washington Avenue?
Take a look for yourself.
Here is a link to the list which can be filtered and narrowed down alphabetically by state, city, school district, school and past history: https://www.nammfoundation.org/articles/bcme-2023-schools
In Wisconsin you will find Dousman, Richland Center and Salem listed. But not Milwaukee or Green Bay or LaCrosse or Eau Claire or Appleton.
And no Madison.
What explains it?
What do school boards and administrators have to say about it?
What role do budget cuts, curriculum and staffing priorities play?
Is the list somehow biased?
Does not being named to list jibe with the reality of music education in public schools in Madison and nearby communities?
Why isn’t music education in Madison better and more noteworthy?
What do teachers, parents and students themselves have to say about the problem — and the solution?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, administrator, alphabetically, Appleton, Arts, audience, award, Bach, best, bias, blog, budget, budget cuts, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, city, Classical music, Concert, concerto, curriculum, Dousman, Early music, Easy Claire, Edgewood College, Education, educator, Facebook, filter, foundation, Green Bay, Hamel Music Center, honor, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, LaCrosse, link, list, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mead Witter School of Music, Milwaukee, Music, Music education, music student, music students, NAMM, National Association of Music Merchants, New Jersey, noteworthy, Oakwood Chamber Players, opera, Orchestra, outreach, Overture Center, parebnts, Parent, Piano, priority, problem, quality, rank, reality, Richland Center, Richland Center Wisconsin, Salem, school, school board, school district, share, solution, Sonata, staffing, state, Student, symphony, tag, Teacher, The Ear, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, WAUNAKEE, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin School Music Association, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO
Classical music: University of Wisconsin-Madison flutist Stephanie Jutt will survey Spanish and Latin American music at her two recitals with pianist Thomas Kasdorf this weekend in Madison and Richland Center. Plus pianist Mark Valenti performs music by Ives, Bach, Beethoven and Debussy for FREE on Friday at noon.
1 Comment
ALERT: Pianist Mark Valenti will perform this Friday at the weekly FREE Noon Musicale in the Landmark Auditorium of the historic First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. His program includes: “The Alcotts” movement from the “Concord” Sonata by Charles Ives; Four Preludes and Fugues (three from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier) by Johann Sebastian Bach; Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109, by Ludwig van Beethoven; and “L’Isle Joyeuse” by Claude Debussy.
By Jacob Stockinger
This Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music flute professor Stephanie Jutt will perform recitals that survey flute masterpieces from Spain and Latin America.
Jutt (below, in a photo by Paskus Photography) will perform her program for FREE on Saturday at 8 pm. in Mills Recital Hall; and then again on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Richland Center, where it is presented by the Richland Concert Association. The address is: 26625 Crestview Drive, Richland Center. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students and FREE for students with UW-Richland ID.
Jutt — who is also known as the principal flute of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and as the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Madison-based Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society –- has sent the following notes and background.
“I have received a grant from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to record Latin American and Spanish masterpieces for flute and piano. Recording will take place in New York in August of 2014, with Venezuelan pianist Elena Abend and Uruguayan pianist Pablo Zinger. The music was collected and researched during my sabbatical to Argentina in 2010.
“The pianist for my recitals is the impressive Thomas Kasdorf (below), a Middleton native who studied at the UW-Madison with pianists Christopher Taylor and Martha Fischer.
“While at the UW, he won many award and prizes, and was an inaugural member of the Perlman Piano Trio. He has also studied at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with Martin Katz and been very active in Madison-area concerts including being a vocal coach for the University Opera and working in dozens of productions of musical theater, especially works by Stephen Sondheim.
“Thomas is the co-director and musical director of the Middleton Players Theatre’s production of “Les Miserables” and has performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Middleton Community Orchestra. He has also performed and appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio.
“The theme of my concert is “Evocaçao” (Evocation), and it features music from Argentina, Brazil and two distinctive ethnic regions of Spain.
“The program includes works by South Americans: the “the Schubert of the pampas” Carlos Guastavino (below top, 1912-2000), whose popular and beautiful song “The Dove Was Confused” s on the program and can he heard as a song with guitar accompaniment in a YouTube video at the bottom); Heitor Villa-Lobos (below middle, 1887-1959); and the “New Tango” innovator Astor Piazzolla (below bottom, 1921-1992):
Also included are the Barcelona Catalan composer Salvador Brotons (b. 1959) and the Basque composer Jesús Guridi (1886-1961).
For more information, here is a link to the UW-Madison School of Music’s website. Click on events calendar and then click on Feb. 1 and the concert by Stephanie Jutt:
Tags: Argentina, Barcelona, Basque, Brazil, Carlos Guastavino, Chamber music, Charles Ives, Classical music, Claude Debussy, Compact Disc, First Unitarian Society of Madison, fugue, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus Guridi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Latin America, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Middleton, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton Players Theatre, Pablo Zinger, Piano, Prelude, Richland Center, Richland Center Wisconsin, Salvador Brotons, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Sonata, Spain, Sunday, Thomas Kasdorf, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Richland, University Opera, Well-Tempered Clavier, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | welltemperedear on What do you think of the… |
 | Scott on What do you think of the… |
| welltemperedear on Yunchan Lim’s Chopin etudes ar… |
 | bratschespeilerin on What do you think of the… |
 | MARVIN P WICKENS on Yunchan Lim’s Chopin etudes ar… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 