Foundation News
young musicians from greater south-cen- tral Wisconsin with three full orchestras, a string orchestra, brass ensemble and award winning percussion ensemble.
For Marvin Rabin, the “Wisconsin Idea” (the boundaries of the campus are the boundaries of the state) meant just that. He traveled the entire state offering classes to string teachers to help them improve their programs as well as offerings to band directors who were willing to start a string program in their school. He served the largest schools, the small town schools and Milwaukee’s Inner City pre-schools.
In some ways, Madison became a “model” for his philosophy and strategies. In 1966, the combined number of strings in its four high schools would barely be enough to call it an ensemble. Working with the teachers in middle school and high school it took a few short years before Madison had a string festival with over 2,000 string players of school age. This model has been replicated around the state and nation. To this day, string and orchestra programs are the one area of school music that continues to grow. Marvin Rabin brought string pedagogues from all over the world to Wisconsin for workshops. He initiated the National String Workshop, which not only served Wisconsin teachers but those from the entire country and beyond. His students are located around the globe.
Writing in the March 13 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal, Gayle Worland highlighted a recent presentation of the Rabin Youth Arts Award at which then Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton presided.
“But first,” said former Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, chairwoman of the Wisconsin Arts Board, as she handed out the Rabin awards at a gathering of arts profession- als, “we have to talk about Dr. Marvin Rabin. The man known for founding the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and putting music in the hands of genera- tions of Wisconsin children “is one of the greatest natural resources drawn into and anchored in Wisconsin that I can think of,” said Lawton, who admitted to the
Wisconsin School Musician 43
crowd – which included Rabin, dressed in a sharp dark suit – that she is “quite besotted with this man and all that he’s done for us.”
“Marvin has always believed that all children deserve to have music and beauty in their lives, and that mak- ing music can transcend cultures and economic traditions,” said Michael George, the executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Music Educa- tion, who performed under Rabin’s baton as a high school musician in the late 1950s at a summer music clinic at UW-Madison.
An advocate for connecting music to all children, regardless of income or back- ground, Rabin, said George, also has that rare quality that “when he speaks with you face-to-face, he gives you the sense that you are the most important person in the room – sometimes the only person in the room.”
Marvin Rabin celebrates a lifetime of helping youth achieve excellence through music.
4.75” x 4.875”
On May 21, Marvin Rabin will not be the only person in the room. He will be sur- rounded by friends, colleagues, students and family as he is honored with the Life- time Achievement Award of the Wiscon- sin Foundation for School Music. If you wish to receive an invitation, contact the foundation at 608-850-3566 or by email to
jkember@wsmamusic.org.
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