The Post-Crescent, Appleton (http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/)
Tue 15-May-2001
Music festival performers handle delay without skipping a beat
By Kara Patterson
Post-Crescent staff writer

[PHOTO]
Kaukauna High School saxophone choir members (from left) Casey Haen, Michelle Verboomen, Matt Schuller-Rach and Kris Scanlan warm up outside at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Monday before performing at the Wisconsin School Music Association State Music Festival. Post-Crescent photo by Kristyna Wentz-Graff

OSHKOSH - Near flute professor James Grine's post at the Wisconsin School Music Association state festival Monday, young performers thumbed through music, adjusted outfits and snacked with friends between events.

To Grine, it could have been a "normal Saturday," the day on which annual music association state festivals typically run at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

"Except there are fewer parents," Grine said.

This year's solo ensemble event, more than two weeks overdue, was postponed April 28 when UWO guitar professor Charles Combe was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.

Combe is recovering at home and plans to return to UWO for the fall semester.

But according to music association Executive Director Michael George, 90 percent of the festival's more than 3,000 registered vocalists and instrumentalists were able to attend the rescheduled event.

Performers rose to Monday's occasion, accepting the extra homework that would follow later in the week.

Neenah High School freshman Lydia Haug missed Monday's geometry quiz and English class. But the 15-year-old viola player had earned her eight minutes in front of a judge, and she got them.

"It worked out OK for me," Haug said. A school bus shuttled festival participants between Neenah and the university every hour.

The festival was not without its inconveniences, however.

Haug said she regretted not having friends in the room during her solo. Because university interim classes limited available space, faculty members converted their studios into mini-stages and restricted audience size.

Haug's accompanist and piano teacher, Sherry Klitz of Neenah, said her supervisors at Heartland Label Printers in Little Chute understood her need to take some time off Monday morning.

But some students weren't so lucky.

"Lydia's orchestra leader had four accompanists who couldn't come, and there are students who are through because of it," Klitz said. "You could play unaccompanied, but it's a factor in the judging. They want to see how a soloist plays with accompaniment."

In some cases, both student and accompanist took advantage of the grace period the rescheduled festival allowed.

Stockbridge High School choir director Mary Karls requested a substitute teacher for her classes so she could accompany her 18-year-old daughter Shana, a Stockbridge senior who prepared piano and saxophone solos for the festival.

"The extra weeks gave us more time to prepare," Shana Karls said.

Others found it hard to regain the momentum that had propelled them toward April 28.

Although violinist Andrea Smiltneek, 17, had psyched herself up for the weekend event, she said she wasn't so enthusiastic about its substitute.

"We can't drive ourselves, so we can't go and get food," the Neenah High School senior said. "And my parents were planning on coming because it's my last festival I'll be in. But they're working."

After-school activities made earlier performance times the coveted slots.

Appleton East junior Ryan Wagner bounced from vocal octet to varsity tennis match.

The 17-year-old singer, who spent most of his morning at the university, planned a return to school around 1 p.m. His tennis match started at 3:30 p.m.

George said this year's judges used a team approach that shortened the festival by at least one hour, accommodating students' after-school commitments and relieving their colleagues. Replacement judges came in over lunchtime so the festival could wrap up around 3 p.m.

The Post-Crescent, Appleton (http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/)
Thur 3-May-2001
Organizers reschedule state music event for May 14
By Kara Patterson
Post-Crescent staff writer

The rescheduling of the annual state solo and ensemble festival for May 14 at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh will go down in Wisconsin School Music Association history.

According to Linda Petersen, the association's director of programs, the festival's postponement was a first since the original state event took place in Madison in 1949.

"We once had to cancel a district festival because of snow, but we've never had to cancel a state music festival," Petersen said.

The event, which was originally planned for last Saturday, was canceled after a UWO music professor was diagnosed with meningitis. University officials then closed down the campus.

Petersen encouraged administrators to understand students' participation in the all-day event, which takes place on a Monday

The event affects more than 3,000 students from at least 50 schools in east-central Wisconsin, including the Fox Cities.

So far, the phones have been surprisingly quiet at the association's end.

"I think people are trying to make this the best for students," Petersen said. "People are working together to work out bus schedules. Accompanists may have to take time off. Parents may take a day off work."

The association sent teachers copies of the original event schedule and asked they fax in attendance revisions by Thursday.

"If one member from an ensemble can't make it, they would be able to perform without that person, but can't make a substitution at this point," Petersen said. "Teachers are aware of that."

To accommodate changes in room availability at the university and any students who may withdraw from the festival, the association must redo the original schedule, Petersen said.

Kenneth Liske, coordinator of choral and general music education for UWO, said it is not unheard of to run a music festival on a weekday "I think people understand this is an emergency."

The day of the festival coincides with the university's first day of interim classes, which will tie up regular classrooms in the Arts and Communication Center. Liske said music department faculty members volunteered their offices and studios as festival performance rooms. Because of space constraints, "only parents or relatives, directors, accompanists and judges will be in the room" with performers.

[SIDEBAR]
The annual solo and ensemble festival will run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 14 in the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh's Arts and Communication Center.

The Post-Crescent, Appleton (http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/)
Sat 28-Apr-2001
Thousands to miss out on music festival
By Kara Patterson
Post-Crescent staff writer

A bacterial meningitis case at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh set off warning bells Friday for the Wisconsin School Music Association.

Due to the illness of music professor Charles Combe, university officials indefinitely postponed the association's annual state solo and ensemble contest for more than 3,000 young vocalists and instrumentalists. The contest would have run all day today.

Music association staff members helped spread the word at participating schools.

Neenah High School band director Gary Lemieux shared the disappointment with more than 100 competition-bound students.

"Thankfully, we received the news during the last part of the school day, when we were having some of our music rehearsals," Lemieux said.

He said his students were not particularly upset about the change in plans.

"The kids I've talked to are more concerned about the professor who is sick than they are about rescheduling," Lemieux said. "It's just something we'll wait and hear on, and hopefully it's not a major health problem the university will have to deal with."

Deborah Lind, one of Appleton North High School's choral directors, told her group of 60 students to contact their accompanists.

"There are probably about 25 accompanists out there in the Appleton community planning on driving down to UW-O to meet their performers" today, Lind said.

The cancellation takes the pressure off of Neenah High School's music-minded prom-goers. The dance starts at 8 p.m., and the competition would have closed its doors at 5 p.m.

"All the girls tried to get early times, because they have hair appointments," said 18-year-old senior percussionist Nick Kraus, who prepared two solos. "It would've been stressful."

Oshkosh West High School parent Mary Haave, whose daughter Rachael rehearsed a duet with fellow junior Aubyn Evey, said it was better to cancel the event than to get somebody sick.

"That means also that I can go when they reschedule," said Mary Haave.

This weekend's family trip to UW-La Crosse for oldest daughter Sarah's gospel choir concert now can include Rachael, Mary said.

For Rachael, the last-minute announcement in her seventh-hour class came as a shock.

"We kind of wanted to get the duet over with. We were ready to do it," she said.

The cancellation turned preparations for the festival into a game of pick-up sticks.

Early Friday afternoon, UW-Oshkosh facilities crew members had hurried to ready 22 performance stages for the event.

Not long after the announcement, university staff removed pre-set performers' risers, music stands and percussion equipment. They also put away tables and chairs they had set up for more than 2,000 onlookers, adjudicators, accompanists and campus volunteers, said Kenneth Liske, university choral and general music education coordinator.

"We just went about putting things back," Liske said, "so they were ready for classes on Monday."