Hi-Tech Harmony
By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2005
Even a Rolling Stone recognizes the importance of music education. Keith Richards, the legendary guitar player for the Stones, recently donated more than $2,500 to the Wisconsin Center for Music Education (www.wsmamusic.com/center), a digital nexus of music education and performance space for Wisconsin students that's set to open this summer in Waunakee.
"We just got a check in the mail," says a slightly incredulous Kevin Thays, spokesperson for the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA), a nonprofit education organization that will oversee the center.
While Richards isn't on the syllabus to teach a guitar clinic—yet—Thays says visitors will be more than satisfied with the center's offerings. Public and private school students statewide will be able to login for online music classes and record their own music in an on-site digital sound studio, while budding 21st-century Beethovens can cut loose in an electronic keyboard lab.
A Music Technology Center will feature the latest tools for music study, composing, arranging, and performance, plus special classes for youth and adults utilizing the Yamaha "Music in Education" Program.
Eventually the center hopes to expand their offerings to out-of-state students and their teachers.
In the face of shrinking budgets for arts education nationwide, WSMA understands how crucial music education can be in a young person's life. The center will also offer early childhood education classes for its smallest students, so toddlers can learn to bang on a drum all day, too.
The launch is already attracting the attention of some high-profile professionals. Steve Miller, of the Steve Miller Band, recently presented an award on behalf of the new center to electric guitar inventor Les Paul. And "nationally known conductors" have donated their personal music collections to the center's library, says Thays.
The 16,900-square-foot facility is scheduled to open this July, with $1.1 million needed to complete construction. Hey, if Keith Richards could be moved to donate, maybe Bruce Springsteen or Eddie Van Halen can lend a hand, too.
