Organizations help jazz up elementary schools

Joe Hornaday
Greensburg Daily News

Fri, May 16 2008

— Elementary school students from all over the county are being treated to a live musical performance this week, courtesy of Greensburg’s Psi Iota Xi sorority with help from the Arts and Cultural Council of Decatur County (ACCDC).
As part of the Young Audiences program, jazz musician Cathy Morris, accompanied by a jazz group called Collage, has been invited to and will be performing at each of the county’s elementary schools. Morris herself has performed on tour in Japan, in New Orleans, opened for the Indianapolis 500 event and played in front of the President of the United States.
According to Psi Iota Xi sorority president Susan Burkhart, Morris is an energetic jazz musician that the ACCDC brought to Lake Santee last year. It was there that Morris expressed her interest in working with the schools, noting that she had worked with the Young Audience of Indiana program before.
The Young Audiences of Indiana is the only statewide organization that targets getting arts education programs to schools and other sites.
“It was easy to set up, the Young Audience program takes care of most everything,” Burkhart said.
Morris was recently voted Indianapolis Woman’s Favorite Local Female Musician/Vocalist for the second year in a row. At her performances throughout the county, she played a variety of different violins, and her group has been playing contemporary jazz music for the area students lucky enough to have already seen the show.
Burkhart said she is always excited to offer an opportunity like the jazz event to area students, but noted that the programs had been expensive in the past. After a lull in activities and with help in the form of a grant from Jazz Indiana, getting students to hear music they might not otherwise be exposed to has become one of Burkhart’s goals.
“It’s a great show too,” she added.
Cathy Morris and Collage performed a few shows Monday at Greensburg Elementary, Tuesday at North Decatur and St. Mary’s and the group will perform two shows Wednesday at South Decatur.
At the performances, students are invited to participate in a variety of ways, including singing, clapping and stomping their feet. While exposing the kids to music is an important function of the event, Morris also tells jokes and gives the students some history about their music and instruments while offering several anecdotes about her life.
“We’re going to give you a taste of all the music we’ve been playing for the last few years,” Morris announced to the crowd.
After a brief music lesson and an explanation of how the violin works, Morris had the students pick out the different sounds they were hearing. While the North Decatur Elementary students were quiet and hesitant at first, the crowd quickly got behind Morris and became part of the show.
“You’re part of the band!” she told her audience as they clapped and sang with the music.
The set consisted of songs with different influences, including a song with a big band sound, one with a Caribbean feel and one about the tour in Japan. When the group finished, Morris offered some final words to the students.
“I gave myself permission to play and be happy and have fun, and that’s what you have to do,” she said. “You have to be honest with yourself, and find out honestly who you are. That’s the key to success.”

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