Thursday, March 28, 2024

Community music school hosts final spring recital

May 18, 2014
Photo by Sierra Lay | The State News

The MSU Community Music School hosted their final All-School Recital of the spring semester Saturday. The recitalists spanned generations with performers as young as six years old sharing the bill with adults.

The recital featured performers demonstrating their skills on the piano, flute, trombone, violin and cello.

Debra Hobert, an accompanying pianist and piano instructor at the school, said she has taught students from ages five through 93.

Hobert played accompaniments for several of the performers at the recital. She said she works to help students garner a love of music-making that they will have their entire lives.

"(The goal) is not to win competitions — it’s not to get their name out there and be well known,” Hobert said. “I’d rather have them learn to play the piano for their own enjoyment ... to use in the community themselves.”

Bassoon instructor and host of the event Cindy Duda said the school offers music for every age, and presents programs such as music therapy for people in any situation.

“We want everyone involved in music in some way,” the MSU alumna said. “Even some moms come before their children are even born to expose their children to music.”

Recitals involving the entire school provide students with a chance to hear instruments that are not familiar to them in one place during one performance.

The MSU Community Music School frequently partners with MSU’s College of Music to create a mix of East Lansing community members and MSU students.

“It’s an opportunity for other students to hear other instruments (and) other voices,” Duda said. “It gives us an opportunity to bring the community together in a different way.”

Some MSU students become teachers at the school to pass their knowledge on to the school’s variety of students.

MSU alumnus and trombone instructor Steven Kandow began teaching private lessons at the MSU Community Music School three years ago. One of his students performed at the recital, a trombone player he instructed this past semester as a senior at MSU.

Kandow said he chose to recycle his knowledge back into the communities of East Lansing and MSU because he felt obligated to do his part to keep the arts alive.

“I think one of the best things you can do with knowledge is transmit and transfer it,” Kandow said. “It’s always impressive to see what other teachers here are doing with their students.”

Discussion

Share and discuss “Community music school hosts final spring recital” on social media.