By Travis Richmiller

On Saturday Feb. 4, Quincy University hosted Clarinet Day in the Connie Niemann Center for Music.

Christine Damm, assistant professor of music at QU, founded the event in order to bring local students to campus so that they could meet with other aspiring musicians. She loves that it gives QU students a chance to work with high school musicians, which will help them in their music fields.

“I love Clarinet Day because it allows all of us to get to share our passion for music with one another,” she said.

Senior Music Education major Jacob Schumacher had many tasks on Clarinet Day. He helped with the planning process, made food and even ran the rehearsal with the junior high and high school students, who played at the event. Schumacher believes that Clarinet Day is a great way to recruit new students to Quincy University, and he thinks it was also a great learning experience for himself.

“It is a great experience working with junior high and high school students, especially since I’m running rehearsals. It’s great to see and help out with the planning process,” he said.

Kirstie Rossmiller, a senior at Clark County High School, performed during Clarinet Day. Rossmiller has been playing clarinet since she was in the sixth grade. She has played in many counties and state districts and even performed solos and ensembles on the University of Missouri’s campus. She plans on going to college to become a high school music teacher.

Rossmiller believes that events like Clarinet Day are a great thing to go to because they let her connect with others who share a passion for music.

“Music is the only thing I do, and I want to make a career out of it,” Rossmiller said.

Clarinet Day featured a performance by Damm on clarinet. Minjung Seo, assistant professor of music at Western Illinois University, accompanied her on piano, and Bill Machold, assistant professor of music at QU, accompanied her on percussion.

Their performance was followed by performances from local junior high and high school students.

The high school students performed many pieces, including the hit song “Somebody That I Used to Know.”

Damm performed “Grand Duo Concertant” by Carl Maria von Weber, “A Better Day” by Gary Schocker and “Viktor’s Tale” by John Williams. Machold joined her on percussion for a performance of Libby Larsen’s “Corker,” with Seo accompanying on piano.

Students also performed “The Galway Piper” by G. E. Holmes, “Ave Verum” by W. A. Mozart, “Sarabanda and Gavotta” by Arcangelo Corelli and “Falling Leaves” by Percy Hall.