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 Offerings of Peace

The UWSP Department of Music is creating daily peace offerings this winter during our "Offerings of Peace" campaign. You can watch a short creative video made by a student or faculty member, posted here and to the UWSP Music Facebook page each day. These offerings were inspired by The Peace Studio's recent "100 Offerings of Peace," an initiative in response to the isolating COVID-19 pandemic and the revolution for racial justice. At the conclusion of the Peace Studio's campaign, they called artists worldwide to continue to offer peace, so as a department, we are answering that call.

Below, you will see peace offerings that take less than five minutes to experience, as well as a short biography about the artist who created each offering. For some, you will also see a call-to-action from the artist; this will be a small tangible thing we can all do in our daily lives to create peace. We are so proud to share our creative peace offerings with you and the rest of our community.


Day 1: Emma Burchall

Description of this Offering: I clear my head by going on lengthy drives in my car, alone and with friends, while listening to music and thinking my thoughts. It has given me clarity in times of immense trouble. This offering of peace involves me and my closest friend talking about the concept of inner peace with solo bassoon playing "Lasciatemi Morire" by Claudio Monteverdi.

About this Artist: Emma Burchall is currently a music education student at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. She hopes to inspire her students to love and cherish music as much as, or more than, she does. 

Call-to-Action: Find people who you can drive around aimlessly for twelve hours with and never get tired of. Also, maybe bike or walk instead. It's better for the planet. 

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Day 2: Zach Dunbar

Description of this Offering:  My main goal with this Peace Offering is to give peace in this time of turmoil.  To me, one of the most peaceful places is the woods. The woods is a place of relaxation where you can let all your stress and burdens in life float away. 

About this Artist: My name is Zach Dunbar and I am a Freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  I am majoring in Instrumental Music Education 

Call-to-Action: My challenge of everyone watching this is to create small acts of peace in everyday life. Anything as simple as volunteering at a shelter, recycling, or sending a friend an inspirational text is a step in the right direction. 


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Day 3: Abena Motaboil and Professor Midori Samson

Description of this Offering:  While the COVID-19 pandemic has been physically isolating, it has also been a time for us to reconnect with friends and collaborators across distances. We have been friends for years but have not created together until now! Recognizing the beautiful interplay between music and visual art, we created a 30-minute video of Abena painting to the sounds of Midori playing bassoon and worked with another collaborator, pianist Satoko Hayami. We’d like to offer this excerpt of that video, which features Abena painting “Movement; a collaboration piece” (mixed medium on canvas; tea, coffee, ink, watercolor, and acrylic paint) to Midori performing “Concert Etude No. 3” by Ludwig Milde.  

 About these Artists:  Abena Motaboli (she/her) is a Chicago-based educator, facilitator, writer, and visual artist; her art practice is performative, contemplative, and transformative. Known for her intricate plastic installations and meditative line-work found in her paintings, she is influenced by her home country of Lesotho and Southern African culture (http://www.abenaart.com). 

Prof. Midori Samson (she/her) is the Lecturer of Bassoon at UWSP, a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and a doctoral candidate in bassoon and social welfare at UW-Madison. Although she has had the privilege of performing as a concert bassoonist around the world, she is happiest marrying her two fields of study by facilitating musical projects that exemplify social justice, anti-racism, anti-oppression, and peace.  

 Call-to-Action:  Explore Abena’s installation—and the works of several immigrant artists—available at virtual2020.theimmigrantartistbiennial.com. It’s only available until December 18th, so use the next two days to experience these stories and artworks about identity, culture, and assimilation.  


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Day 4: Alexis Conkey

Description of this Offering: Marco Bordogni’s “Etude No. 1” is rooted in lyricism and operatic influences. To me, it has always felt somewhat like a lullaby - gentle and comforting, while still being operatic. My hope is that in these hard times, this small offering provides comfort and hope. Every day has the opportunity to be better than the last.  

 About this Artist: Alexis Conkey is a graduating senior bassoonist of UW-Stevens Point. She hopes that her work in and out of music will inspire and help others find what makes them feel whole.  


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Day 5: Sam Powell

Description of this Offering: My offering is an improvisation over an E cello drone. Since quarantine, the two things keeping me going is music and my friends, whether we’re hanging out virtually or in person for a short time. In these moments, laughs are shared, stories are told, and new memories form. Recently I visited my friends to try the hottest hot sauce I could buy, The Last Dab Apollo. 

 About this Artist: Sam Powell is a Junior at UWSP studying bassoon performance. Sam likes to listen to and collect vinyl records in his free time owning over 50 records in his collection so far. 



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Day 6: Josh Hazard

Description of this Offering: The offering that I decided to make is a combination of a reading of Mary Oliver's "I Worried" alongside a performance of Ben Moore's "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." Both of these pieces invoke peace in me and putting the two together brought about a product that brings me to serenity.  

About this Artist: Josh Hazard is a fourth year Voice Performance major. He is a student facilitator of the Student Coalition for Equity in Music, as well as an avid fan of opera! 

Call-to-Action: I ask that you take five minutes, which is about the duration of my piece, and free write to this prompt: Innisfree is home, safety, peace. Where/Who/What is your Innisfree? How do you feel when you are near this entity?  

 

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Day 7: Dr. Philip Rice and Dr. Sarah Manasreh

Description of this Offering: This offering of peace is an exploration of trauma and recovery. The photographs I took are from moments in time and places in Stevens Point that I found particularly profound. Additionally, as a professional clarinetist, I spend so much time trying to perfect my craft that I often grow tired of it. Sometimes I will just sit in a dark room and play with sounds - improvise - with no wrong notes, chord progressions, or restrictions. Every single time, it makes me fall in love with the clarinet all over again. This is my improvisation - Sarah Manasreh  

"What It Means to Fall" is an exploration of English language idioms and a meditation on how we experience, talk about, and embody change, trauma, and recovery. It also is about how I really don't like getting up in the morning. - Philip Rice 

About these Artists: Philip Rice (b. 1988) is a Northern Michigan-based composer, poet, and community organizer. He holds a DMA from Michigan State University and an MM with distinction from Westminster Choir College in Princeton. In 2015 he was a winner in the American Prize for orchestral composition, and a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Awards. He currently serves as the Program Director for the Mackinac Arts Council, and sits on the executive boards for Straits Pride and the Upper Peninsula Arts and Culture Alliance. He lives on Mackinac Island. 

Sarah Manasreh (b. 1983) is the Assistant Professor of Clarinet and Music Theory at UWSP. She holds a DMA from Michigan State University and an MM with distinction from Royal Northern College of Music. She frequently performs music that pushes the limits of the clarinet in solo recitals and often explores the possibilities of clarinet and electronics. When she isn't sitting in a dark room playing around on her clarinet, she is running around Stevens Point enjoying the incredible natural sights or conversing with her cats about her existential crises. 

Call to Action: After witnessing this poetry, music, and pictures, try to think of other idioms we use in English that use the word "fall." There are many more than initially listed in the poem. You might also ponder times you have fallen or recall times when you saw someone else (or something else) fall. How did you respond? What happened next? How has the earth's gravity affected you today? 


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Day 8: Brian Cyr

Description of this Offering: I composed Riversong in the fall of 2019 for vibraphone and violin. The piece takes a simple melody and chord progression and changes the texture throughout to portray the various speeds of a river. This recording uses midi as I have not had an opportunity to premiere it.

About this Artist: Brian Cyr is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He received his bachelor's degree from UWSP in 2020 in Instrumental Music Education and Percussion Performance and currently is the musician education graduate assistant.

Call to Action: When I composed this piece, I had just gone through a rather difficult time in my life. While the texture is set to depict a river, the melody is a reflective one as I had been spending a lot of time reflecting on the previous year when I wrote this.

I would ask that each of take time while listening and afterwards to reflect on this difficult year and take stock. Think about who you were at the beginning of the year, and who you are now. What has changed? Is it for the good? What have you learned about yourself? Use this information as we go into 2021, uncertain of what is to come.


 

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Day 9: Sarah Faltz

Description of this Offering: One night I was able to spend some alone time in Michelsen Hall, and while I was there I decided to record myself while I played. I often improvise on short melodies and try to create something more, which is what you'll hear in my offering. The possibilities are endless and each time something new can come from this, even with the same short melody. I find peace in allowing myself to relax, try things that may or may not work, and trusting the process to create something unique and beautiful. 

About this Artist: Sarah Faltz is a recent graduate of UWSP with degrees in Clarinet Performance and Business Administration. She plans on continuing her education in clarinet and finding new ways to learn and be inspired. 


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Day 10: Havilah Vang

Description of this Offering: This lyric video is an original song inspired by my grandfather's sugar shack in northern Wisconsin. I always find peace while walking through God's beautiful creation and singing about my lovely surroundings. The background picture is of my grandfather's woods.

About this Artist: Havilah Vang is a sophomore violin performance and music education major at UWSP. She hopes to someday travel the world teaching music to children in developing countries.

Call-to-Action: I would encourage everyone to find a special place where they can reflect on life and sing out every praise and worry, even if that beautiful place is only in your mind.


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Day 11: Samantha Weinkoetz

Description of this Offering: This offering is a tribute to my grandmother, Mabel, who passed away unexpectedly on December 11th, 2020. Shortly after she passed, I discovered a voicemail from her dating back to 2017, when she called to see how I was adjusting to college my freshman year. Listening to it after her passing, it felt like she was still checking up on me and seeing how I was doing despite her being gone. 

While life may never be the same, I've slowly found peace in taking moments of my day to be grateful for my friends, family, and the people who support me. These quiet, simple moments of life are the ones I find to be the most special. I hope anyone who watches this offering can also find solace in the simple moments of our everyday lives.

About this Artist: Samantha Weinkoetz is a senior at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point studying Music Education and Clarinet Performance. She is happiest using the clarinet and music as a voice to connect with herself and others.

Call to Action: Tell someone close to you how much you care for and appreciate them. This can be a friend, family member, pet, partner, co-worker, roommate, yourself, anyone! Gratitude has a profound positive impact on our mental wellbeing and brings us closer to the ones we care about.

 

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Day 12: Lexie Lakmann and Prof. Mathew Buchman

Description of this Offering: The pandemic has taken many opportunities for us to make music together, so we thought that a live performance of Peace by Horace Silver would be well-suited for the Offerings of Peace campaign. Silver recalls the feeling of an angel watching over him as he was composing the piece, so we hope it will bring you some serenity in this time of turmoil.

About these Artists:  Vocalist Lexie Lakmann is a senior Jazz Studies and Music Education major at UW-Stevens Point.  Accompanying her is Director of Jazz Studies, Prof. Mathew Buchman.

Call to Action: We challenge you to go to a place that brings you peace, let go of your worries momentarily, and reflect on the little things that bring you joy each day.


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Day 13: Dr. Anna Cromwell and Dr. Sarah Manasreh


Description of Offering: This peace offering is based in our mutual love for nature and our deep desire to collaborate musically despite the pandemic. As we were learning the third movement of Judith Lang Ziamont's Music for Two, we reflected on how it reminded us of the stillness and simplicity of the outdoors. We agreed that when we think of peace we think of nature.  In addition to just simply finding careful and caring ways to collaborate in a global pandemic, this movement exposes many of the differences of a stringed instrument and wind instrument. We learned to care for each entrance so that we could come in truly together. The photographs were taken by Sarah Manasreh in the Stevens Point area. 


About these Artists: Anna Cromwell is Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Dr. Cromwell has given numerous presentations at state and national conferences, and she can be heard performing chamber music on three Albany CDs: Dancing on Glass, Quest: New Music for Violin and Cello and Metal Cicadas. 

Sarah Manasreh is Assistant Professor of Clarinet and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. The final doctoral student of Dr. Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, she obtained her DMA from Michigan State University.

Call to Action: Think about a time or a place outdoors where you truly feel at peace. Is there an activity that you do in nature that brings you joy and peace?


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Day 14: Shelby Sparks

Description of this Offering: For my offering of peace, I played an oboe duet I wrote myself! I've titled it 'Chicken Songs'. I wrote the piece thinking about one of the things that brings me the most joy on the hardest days – my six chickens. The song is supposed to represent the adventures they take every day without hesitation.

About this Artist: Shelby Sparks is a senior at UWSP, studying music education. She aspires to make a difference in the lives of others through music.

Call to Action: My call to action is for you to do something each day to make the world a better place. Pick up litter, shovel for your neighbor, or even just hold the door for a stranger. Spread the kindness, acceptance, and love that you want to feel.


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Day 15: Courtney Buss and Elijah Schuh

Description of the Offering: Fauré's "Vocalise-Étude" was originally written for voice and piano, but we believe it's well-suited for organ! This performance was recorded at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Stevens Point. Whether you are religious or not, a church can be a wonderful space to find stillness and peace.

About these Artists: Courtney Buss is a senior at UW-Stevens Point studying Choral, General, and Instrumental Music Education. 

Elijah Schuh is currently in his 4th year at UW-Stevens Point where he is majoring in Music Education and Trombone Performance. 

Call to Action: We encourage you to look for a space where you can take some time to reflect and find a sense of calm in your life!


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Day 16: Samuel Barrett

Description of this Offering: My Offering of Peace is a recording of me playing the Prelude of Bach's Cello Suite no. 2 set to photos from my trip to Spain a few years ago. I chose the Bach because his cello suites are always so beautiful and have such depth to them. The trip I took to Spain was one of the best experiences of my life so far, I hope this piece and these pictures can bring you some peace!

About this Artist: My name is Samuel Barrett. I am an instrumental Music Education major and Spanish minor at UWSP. I play the clarinet as my primary, but specifically the Bass Clarinet. 


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100 Offerings of Peace


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