The Cornell Department of Music is very grateful to Ronni LaCroute, the Office of Ethics and Public Life, Susan Murphy, Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs, and the Cornell University Council for the Arts for their early and generous support of the CU Winds Costa Rica Partnership.
The Cornell University Wind Ensemble CU Winds, comprising up to 50 of Cornell’s best undergraduate wind and percussion players, returned to Costa Rica for a performing and outreach tour during Winter Break in January 2010. The CU Winds tour fulfills Cornell’s mission to unite education and service and deepen the educational lives of involved students.
Cornell’s Director of Wind Ensembles, Cynthia Johnston Turner, reached agreement with a number of key individuals in Costa Rica on the vision for this joint venture. Costa Rican collaborators include North American Cultural Center executives Jerry Ledin and Manuel Arce; composer and performer Eddie Mora from the University of Costa Rica; Miguel Pena, National Director of Sistema Nacional Educacion Music (SiNEM), Olman Chavez, Music Director, Liceo de Poas, Pablo Sunol, SiNEM director, Pavas; Willberth Vargas, Director of the San Isidro Conservatory; Rita Diaz, SiNEM director, Limon; and Lyn Statten, chair of the outreach committee of the Canadian Club of Costa Rica.
In January, 2010 CU Winds performed 11 concerts in 12 days, gave master classes and workshops at 5 schools and donated 95 instruments plus music books and accessories.
Cultural and language exchanges are integral to the experience. CU WINDS students learn some Spanish in preparation for the Costa Rica tour. This deepens their experience and increases the opportunity to develop longer lasting friendships with the students they interact with in Costa Rica. CU Winds student leaders also aid in the planning and execution of travel and cultural exchange.
CU Winds offers students an intense, transformative experience. Students are challenged to commit many months of work to the group’s goals of making music and performing service. They move from the known to the unknown and live in an environment in which they are expected to call upon and discover reserves which they were not aware were theirs to command. Professor Turner’s experience with similar groups shows that music is able to function as the critical tool to unify the group both internally and across cultures. In addition, students learn how, through their full commitment, that the group becomes larger than the sum of their individual identities, thus encouraging them to increase their own wills to achieve as well as their standards of performance and behavior.
After three service-learning and performance tours, CU Winds now has an active musical partnership with Costa Rica’s SiNEM. CU Winds has commissioned Costa Rican composer, violinist, and University of Costa Rica faculty member, Eddie Mora, to compose 2 new pieces for Wind Ensemble that unites Costa Rica rhythms and other musical elements with modern Western Classical composing techniques. Eddie will composer another piece for the January 2012 tour.
Professor Johnston Turner has traveled to Costa Rica on several occasions to consult for SiNEM. She has recently completed a report outlining pedagogical recommendations to improve this already successful governmental project. CU Winds students are honored to continue touring to Costa Rica to help with on-going education of SiNEM musicians, perform joint concerts, and join in the SiNEM mission to “bring artistic and cultural awareness to at-risk populations to facilitate coexistence and positive relationships consistent with the Costa Rican democracy that is founded on peace, dialogue, exchange of opinions, and the fostering of social relations to help lower rates of violence and criminality in the country.” Cornell students benefit equally from this partnership. CU Winds tour alumni has stated that tour, “has changed my life,” ” is probably the most significant thing I’ll do in my life,” “is an incredible experience,” and “taught me the true meaning of service.”
Although SiNEM provides instruments for their students, the instruments are of poor quality, and many schools don’t have enough instruments. CU Winds continues to accept donations of musical instruments in the United States that they then leave behind in Costa Rica. Equally important are musical supplies (single and double reeds, neck-straps, cleaning supplies, etc.) which are very expensive in Costa Rica and not provided by SiNEM. The Cornell students have several local (NY) partners to help with instrument reconditioning (if needed) and logistics. Plans for CU Winds/Costa Rica III in 2012 are already underway. Communities that we plan to visit include Leon XIII, Cristo Rey (the two poorest barios of San Jose), as well as Montezuma, Puntarenas, and Pochote on the Nicoya Pennisula.
If you can contribute:
Please e-mail Cynthia Johnston Turner at cpj6 {at} cornell(.)edu with details and she will work with you on valuation, shipping, and gift receipt for tax purposes.
Your support will help enable Cornell students, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, to learn leadership, civic engagement, and the benefits of serving others through the CU Winds/Costa Rica partnership. If you would like to contribute financially, you can do so using the the secure online donation form with the designation “CU Winds/Service Learning”.