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Issue date: March 03, 2000

Emerald evening for the arts

by Karen Willemsen

"Look at this! I made this. It's a car and it swims and it flies!" exclaimed Annie Donahey, showing off the finished product from her toymaking class. Eagerly hopping from table to table Annie points out each project she had done during her midwinter break art camp at Community School of Music and the Arts.

"It's wonderful to watch her, how she wants to share everything with you," the Community School's development director, John McGuirk remarks. "That's what makes it all worthwhile, to come here and visit the kids and see that they are having a great time. At the beginning of the week they can be kind of wild, but by the end they are just proud of their art and they want to share it with everyone."

Community School's mission is to provide as many children as possible with that experience.

This St. Patrick's Day, March 17, CSMA officials hope the "Luck of the Irish" will smile on them as they present "An Emerald Evening," a celebration of the school's 31st year, to raise funds for financial aid and merit scholarship programs. Rudolph & Sletton, Hubbard Structures, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Sletton Foundation are sponsoring this year's gala. KRON Channel 4's Emerald Yeh will play emcee the benefit, which will feature dinner, student and faculty musical entertainment, and an art exhibit.

After dinner Yeh will lead a silent auction where revelers can bid for a variety of prizes. Among the offerings are dinner for four at the Fire Station, cooked by Fire Chief Hugh Holden, Latin dancing lessons for two taught by local dance instructor Juan Aranda, and dates with two handsome firefighters at Valley Bar & Grill. Other treats include items of jade jewelry, and a tour of KRON-4 with Ms. Yeh. Cooking classes, jazz festival tickets, and a trip to evergreen Palm Springs round out the selections.

Keeping auctioneers in the mood will be pianist Taylor Eigsti, who is among those student musicians receiving a merit scholarship from CSMA. One of the evening's featured musicians, Eigsti has played with Dave Brubek and David Benoit. He credits the Community School with helping him develop his musicianship and his passion for jazz.

At the school Eigsti keeps company with fellow music students Kurt and Max Rose. Their mother Betsy Rose is grateful for the financial aid she received to help her sons develop their budding interest in music. Herself an enthusiastic pianist and bassoonist, Betsy first introduced Kurt to the bassoon with the promise that "every group needs a bassoonist, so you'll always be welcomed by other musicians."

"Max was a tougher match. At six he wanted to play rock guitar. I made him study classical here, the Suzuki method, which is very focused and precise. Now he's into Flamenco music."

Betsy explained how her own relationship with the Community School changed. Max and Kurt started out paying full tuition. Then when she and her husband divorced she earned their lessons by doing work study at the school. She studied piano as a way of modelling her commitment to music and to learning for them.

"The financial aid we received then got us through a rough period. Without it they couldn't have kept up the lessons," said Rose.

"Then they won merit scholarships, which was wonderful for their self confidence. I can see the connection to their other school work. Their memories are very attuned. And Max is soaring in math. It's connected to the music," she added.

Started in 1968, Community School of Music and Arts has grown to become an integral part of arts education in Mountain View. The teachers -- all professional artists and musicians in their own right-- teach through the public schools' Arts in Action and Music in Action programs. They also sponsor numerous after school, vacation, and teacher work day camps. Currently student art, together with the instructor's pieces that inspired them, are on view at the City Hall rotunda, in a show entitled "Reflections". Even start-up company NetBoost boasts a mural by Community School summer camp students in the lobby.

The school, in conjunction with SGI, presents a family concert series year round. In December they featured Taylor Eigsti and Friends in a jazz trio performance, and this June the CSMA faculty will perform one of the city's first outdoor concerts of the summer. Professional musicians from the classical, Pacific Rim, and European traditions.

For those who know and would like to get to know the people and activities at the heart of Community School of Music and Arts, An Emerald Evening is an invitation to find out what wonders await them at the end of the rainbow.

@lethd:Community School of Music and Arts presents An Emerald Evening:

Friday, March 17, 2000, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel, 4290 El Camino Real in Palo Alto. Tickets are $85 per person. Call Christine Catura, Outreach Coordinator, for tickets and information: 961-0342, x. 314.