Guest Jazz Pianist-Composer to Visit ISU and Metcalf School

Date: 10/17/06
Contact: Marc Lebovitz

Jazz pianist and composer/arranger Robin Connell will spend Oct. 25 to 27 on the Illinois State University campus to work with both School of Music students and with fifth-grade children at Thomas Metcalf School.

Connell was a professional jazz musician for 12 years in New York City after graduating college and currently is a faculty member at Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan. She also is on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp, where two of her former students include Norah Jones and Eldar.

Wednesday, Oct. 25, will find Connell working at noon with Illinois State's Encore! an a cappella choral group that sings jazz and popular music. She will work with Metcalf fifth-graders after school, and at 6:30 p.m. will spend two hours working with University students in jazz combos. Thursday, Oct. 26, Connell will spend just over an hour with Metcalf students. At 2 p.m., she will give a jazz composition master class with Illinois State music students in Centennial East 224.

Eventually, Connell will compose a piece for Metcalf's Orff Club. The group is named for Carl Orff, a German music educator who developed the Orff Schulwerk, a way to teach and learn music. The process is based on things children like to do: sing, chant, rhyme, clap, dance and keep a beat on anything nearby. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing later.

Donna Zawatski of Metcalf School, established the Orff Club at Metcalf for fourth- through sixth-graders who are interested in increasing their music skills and making good music together. The Orff Club, which will be assisted each week by ISU elementary music education students, will perform at the Festival of Trees the morning of Nov. 17 at the Interstate Center.

Connell holds a doctorate in music theory and composition from the University of Northern Colorado. She was a recipient of a jazz composition study grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 1993-94 the NEA sponsored her jazz quartet for a one-year residency at a community college in Kansas. Her commissioned and published works include several big band pieces, including an original piece written for the Massachusetts All-State Jazz Ensemble.