Rebecca Mueller/Winonan

When most of us think of University Improvement Day, we think of a few different things. We think of fewer classes and an opportunity to sleep in or have extra time for homework. We think of a day to volunteer with a club or in the city of Winona.

When I think of University Improvement Day, I think of the Instrument Petting Zoo. This event is a special opportunity for music education for elementary school students.

During the Instrument Petting Zoo, the Winona State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble volunteers their time at a local elementary school, either in Winona or in one of the surrounding communities

Our goal is to interact with the children and get them excited about music. To do this, we let them try to play our instruments after we show them how. We also perform a short concert including a few of our pep band pieces.

This year, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble visited Lanesboro Elementary School,  an hour’s drive outside of Winona. In the past, we have also visited Central Elementary School and Washington-Kosciusko Elementary School, both in Winona.

Our two buses left the Performing Arts Center at 7 a.m. on University Improvement Day. This way, we would arrive in time for the start of the school day, around 8 a.m.

The event, run by the entire Symphonic Wind Ensemble and led by the Student Band Organization Executives,  worked hard to plan the event and make sure it ran smoothly.

As a member of the SBO Executives, I was in the PAC by 6:15 a.m. At this time, all of the Executives load all of the equipment onto buses. We also made sure that the entire Symphonic Wind Ensemble was on the bus and checked for attendance so that the buses could leave on time.

We began the day with a short concert of pep band music for the elementary school. After the concert, the students returned to their classrooms and we quickly moved to the gym to set up the instrument petting zoo.

There were separate stations for each instrument, including flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, tubas, and percussion. There were also three stations for conducting, where children could conduct pep band pieces played by members of the band. Each class would have 35 minutes to learn as much as they wanted.

The most popular station was the percussion station. No little kid can resist playing the drums.

Most members of the band worked their respective instrument’s stations. Some people worked at the conducting stations, either playing or showing the children how to conduct. Others were tour guides, showing groups of students the different stations.

I helped out with the clarinet station and was a tour guide for the kindergarteners when they arrived. When younger kids came to the clarinet station, we turned the mouthpiece around so they could blow into the instrument while we moved the keys. Older kids got to play the instrument all by themselves. It was a challenge at times to help the children produce good sounds instead of duck quacks, but it was satisfying to see their faces light up when the right notes sounded.

On University Improvement Day, we introduced the students of Lanesboro Elementary School to the magic and possibilities of music. Perhaps they will come to Winona State for college, and even join the Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
I hope that we have inspired them to become musicians when they grow up. They are sure to go far in their future musical careers.

Contact Rebecca at [email protected]