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Students Listen to Chamber Project Saint Louis, Participate in Music and Dance Workshops

For the first time, the live sounds of classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach floated through the air in the Multipurpose Room of Building D on the Wyvetter H. Younge Higher Education Campus (WHYHEC).

Bringing the melodies of the German composer to life at 12 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, via the clarinet, double bass, viola, violin and cello was the partnership between the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music and the SIUE East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts (ESLCPA) program. The collaboration is part of the SIUE Department of Music Summer Chamber Music Festival.

The free, hour-long concert, performed by Chamber Project St Louis (CPSTL) for students and staff on the WHYHEC, opened the project that is offering a classical music concert for all, and music and dance workshops for ESLCPA students. SIUE Jazz workshops will be held Thursday, June 26.

“This is my first time working with the students in the Performing Arts program, and they have such talent, work ethic and potential,” said Marc Schapman, DMA, Chair, Department of Music, who devised the idea of the alliance. “It is the perfect collaboration. And I couldn’t be more impressed with the staff and faculty at the SIUE East St. Louis Campus. They care such a great deal for the students. The work they are doing is inspiring, and the talent level of the students is exceptional.”

Schapman was able to bring the CPSTL and offer music and dance workshops by current and former SIUE staff because of Creative Catalyst funding from the Illinois Arts Council. He wrote the grant more than a year ago to find ways to engage in music outreach.

CPSTL members participating in the June 18 performance included SIUE’s Professor of Cello Marta Simidtchieva, CPSL Director Dana Hotle, clarinet; Tim Weddle, double bass; Laura Reycraft, viola; and Kyle Lombard, violin.

“It is always great to bring live acoustic music into places where people already go but there is no music there,” said Hotle, after CPSL’s “Bach into the Future” concert that featured Bach and composers: Morton Gould (1913-1996), Rebecca Clark (1886-1979), Paul Wiancko (b. 1983), Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) and Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967). “We play in many places – such as libraries, museums, breweries and traditional concert halls. I love bringing music to these kinds of spaces because it tears down barriers to classical music.”

“This is my first time on the SIUE East St. Louis Campus, and I hope to come back and bring more of the community with me,” she added.

After the class, the ESLCPA students, ranging in ages 7-17, dispersed to workshops according to their ages.

“How will you know what kind of instrument you want to play?” “Is there an instrument you don’t like playing?” These were a few questions directed to Lombard, who opened the first music workshop on June 18.

Lombard, Hotle, Reycraft and Simidtchieva fielded questions. The musicians encouraged the students to be inquisitive and not afraid to try both familiar and different choices of instruments, because one may not realize where their heart and passion may lay.

Next door, students were holding their rib cages and singing the musical scale under the watchful eyes and listening ears of Schapman.

“Hold your face, so you can feel the vibration of the vowels,” voice coach Schapman said to the class. “OK. That sounds pretty good. Do you all know what it means to sing with diction? Open your mouth and pronounce all the words.”

In Building C in the large studio, more than a dozen pair of feet slide, spin and stomp under the direction of former SIUE Adjunct Dance Instructor Gwen Meeker.

Meeker doles out the routine in small bites, adding more moves as the students’ progress. Looking at her class in the big mirror, she picks up who seems to be lagging and rewinds the steps and music, until class is moving as one.

“They did a fantastic job,” said Meeker, who taught the dancers a hip-hop combination from “Hamilton: An American Musical.”

“We are excited to bring different art forms, genres, and our faculty to the Performing Arts program in East St. Louis,” said Schapman. “We want to inspire students to continue to pursue performing in the future! I hope we can continue our collaborations. This relationship has a great deal of potential."

Central to SIUE’s exceptional and comprehensive education, the College of Arts and Sciences offers degree programs in the natural sciences, humanities, arts, social sciences, and communications. The College touches the lives of all SIUE students helping them explore diverse ideas and experiences, while learning to think and live as fulfilled, productive members of the global community. Study abroad, service-learning, internships, and other experiential learning opportunities better prepare SIUE students not only to succeed in our region's workplaces, but also to become valuable leaders who make important contributions to our communities.

SIUE East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts has a long, rich history. The legendary dancer, anthropologist, and social activist Katherine Dunham founded the Center for Performing Arts at the SIUE East St. Louis Center in 1964. At its peak in the 1990s, the East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts provided year-round instruction to more than 1,000 youth and became a training ground for professional artists of all disciplines. For decades, the East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts has provided performing arts classes to students and community members to develop local talent and to cultivate a love of the arts. The program serves children ages 7-17. Students study beginning piano and guitar, drums, bass guitar, West African drumming and multiple styles of dance. Classes often culminate in musical and theatrical productions.

The Performing Arts After School and Summer program is supported in part by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Arts Council Agency. 

PHOTOS:
The SIUE Department of Music and the SIUE East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts (ESLCPA) program collaborated to bring ESLCPA students live classical music concerts and music and dance workshops. Performing a live concert is the group Chamber Project Saint Louis.