On Feb. 15, the UW-Eau Claire music department held its second annual Woodwind Day.
This was an all-day event open to the public, which provided learning opportunities for UW-Eau Claire students as well as local high school students.
The event was open to anyone over age 12 and had participants from as far as Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the Twin Cities.
The event’s schedule, which went from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., included small group sessions, faculty recitals and a guest recital.
High school students who attended the event were paired with a UW-Eau Claire student and got the chance to meet other music enthusiasts and tour the campus. This exposed high schoolers to UW-Eau Claire’s music program and connected university students to the local music community.
“If students are coming from a school where they are the only oboe player, here they can meet others who share their interests,” Christa Garvey, a UW-Eau Claire oboe professor, said. “It builds community.”
All the woodwind staff were present at the event to represent and teach their different instruments. This included Brian Allred, flute, Garvey, oboe, Powell, clarinet, Dr. Ramirez, saxophone and Dr. Widstrand, bassoon.
The guest artist, Dr. Bret Pimentel, was a skilled performer of multiple woodwind instruments.
Dr. Pimentel is a Music professor at Delta State University in Mississippi, and is the author of Woodwind basics: Core concepts for playing and teaching the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone.
Dr. Pimentel is also the author of a popular blog and creator of multiple web tools such as the Random Note Picket and the Woodwind Doubling in Musicals List.
Part of Dr. Pimentel’s presentation included the logistics of playing multiple instruments and helping students choose whether to do this.
“When I was in school, I took music pretty seriously, so I could come to events like these to find my tribe.” Dr. Pimentel said.
There were also several music vendors present at the event with specialty woodwind instruments for participants to peruse. Companies like Eckroth music, Schmitt music, and more were represented.
Instruments ranged in size from tiny piccolos to 4ft – tall saxophones and other provided instruments had special material or designs.
One company called Cool Winds was vending at the event, a local company that sells instruments and does band repair. The founder of Cool Winds is himself a UW-Eau Claire alumni.
Participants were free to explore the campus and vendors during lunch and the halls were filled with the sounds of many woodwind instruments.
At 1:30, the faculty and Dr. Pimentel gave a recital. The program included many duets of woodwind instruments with piano and included music from the 19th and 20th centuries.
A later concert at 4:30 included pop music songs such as a theme from Pokemon and Africa by Toto.
The recitals were interspersed with small group sessions focusing on technique. Participants were able to learn in groups specific to their instrument.
Woodwind day provided resources and an outlet for participants specifically interested in woodwinds instruments. The festival was one of many music festivals held at UW-Eau Claire. Upcoming festivals would include the Concert Band Festival in March and the Jazz Festival in April.
Sonnek can be reached at sonnekrl6881@uwec.edu.
