Russell Wiley, the founder of Midwestern Music Camp and longtime KU Director of Bands, was rather more generous and included Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and even Texas when he formed his concept for a 'Mid-Western' music camp at the University of Kansas. His original idea was to have a traveling music camp that would stop at various national parks across the Midwest and camp and play concerts along the way. Even though he eventually settled on the beautiful KU campus as an ideal location for his music camp, the name stuck.
Since 1936, instead of traveling out from KU, students have been traveling from all across Kansas, the Midwest, all fifty states, and even other countries to make music together in Lawrence. The total now stands at over 65,000 young musicians who have made great music and lifelong friends here, to include many current staff members, and even our current director.
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Now, belatedly, we would like to honor Russell Wiley's intentions and get out and tour the Midwest. But with a twist: we will be visiting schools to see where all the young musicians we see each summer come from. We will profile each school's music program, to get some idea of what is going on behind the scenes and what teachers and students are working together to create. We also hope that music teachers and students all over will be able to draw inspiration and useful information from these portraits, set against the backdrop of the places we travel through to get to each school. We hope to convey some idea of the beauties and quirks of this place we call home, the Midwest.
Our first three visits will be to:
- Union High School - Tulsa, OK, + feeder schools
- Wichita East High School - Wichita, KS + feeder middle schools
- Olathe East High School - Olathe, KS + feeder junior high schools
-Patrick Flor,
Director, KU Midwestern Music Academy
(at left: a snapshot across the Kansas Flint Hills, or if you will, across the Midwest.)
