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Rock River Times

MT. MORRIS, Ill. — Jim Kanas will return to the Mt. Morris Band Shell July
11 with special guest violinist Randy Sabien.

Kanas is an American folk musician, jazz guitarist and producer with the
Illinois Arts Council’s ArtsTour program who has conducted numerous school
music residencies for more than 20 years. He was featured this past spring
on WTTW-11, Chicago, PBS’s Arts Across Illinois, and has performed at
colleges, festivals and broadcast medium throughout Illinois. His American
Folk music programs trace the development of American music through its
ethnical roots and incorporates a large assortment of conventional,
homemade and world instruments.

Randy Sabien is a bluesy, rockin’, swingin’, funky, jazz violinist. With
an intensely rhythmic, vibrant and inventive style, he has captivated
audiences worldwide, playing with scores of bands and musicians of all
stripes. He founded and was chairman of the String Department at Berklee
College of Music in Boston. Since then, he has gone on to teach
internationally and is co-author, along with Bob Phillips, of the
acclaimed Jazz Philharmonic Series by Alfred Music Publishing — his
teaching method for alternative strings.

With Randy’s growing reputation as a pioneer in modern string education,
performances are almost always coupled with a workshop or a visit to a
nearby string department. In fact, with more than 30 years of hands-on
experience, he is reprising his role of starting a college-level
alternative string department. This time, it’s at McNally Smith College of
Music in St. Paul, Minn., where his students receive bachelor and master
degrees in alternative string education from an extraordinary working
musician and a gifted teacher who’s been there and back.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see and hear these master musicians
ply their craft in a peaceful outdoor venue for a free two-hour show
starting at 7 p.m., July 11, at the Band Shell at Front and Wesley, two
blocks south of Route 64.

The Leaf River Methodist Church will be serving its well-known delicious
Italian beef sandwiches, chips, pop, water and desserts starting at 6 p.m.

Posted July 10, 2014

http://rockrivertimes.com/2014/07/10/jim-kanas-violinist-randy-sabien-at-mt-morris-band-shell-july-11/

wttw11 PBS writes about jim...
Roots Music

The sirens of Greek myth were said to lure travellers with their music.
Illinois roots musician and jazz guitarist Jim Kanas may have followed
their call, but he hasn't been led astray.

Kanas has been playing music for almost as long as he's been alive.And
when that life-long passion got wind of American folk music, Kanas knew he
had to leave suburbia to and move to the country to fully experience the
rural traditions that spawned the art form.

Now living in Kings, Kanas hones his craft while sitting on his porch,
playing in DeKalb clubs, or teaching the next generation about American
musical traditions through in-school programs. A student of jazz early in
his career, Kanas continues to explore all facets of musical expression,
whether he's bowing his fiddle, plucking the banjo, strumming his acoustic
or banging on drums.

published article with video link

SchoolZone

AroundTown,Vll
Lisle, IL, Sept, 2001

Fiddling around

Students learn American culture through folk music

By Kathy Cichon STAFF WRITER

    The sounds heard inside the music room at Schiesher Elementary School throughout the month of September were as diverse as the history of the music being made.
    During one class, the group of third-grade students played limberjacks, an Appalachian percussion instrument. A little later, they clapped along as Jim Kanas sang a folk song and played the fiddle. As the students learned about the music's sounds, they also learned about its origins.
    Kanas, a member of the Illinois Arts Council's artist-in-residence program, spent the past month exploring many facets of American folk music with third- through fifth- grade students at the school.
    "It's people's music, and (with) everything we have done here, the vehicle (has been) folk music,"he said. "Folk music is a living oral tradition that has taken us on our journey."
    The music residency was funded mostly by a grant awarded to Schiesher from the Lisle Education Foundation. The remaining portion was funded by the Schiesher Home and School Organization. This is the first time that students at Schiesher have been able to work with an artist-in-residence in the area of music performance and composition.
    "They are having a most delightful time in his class," said Schiesher Principal Gale Wiedman. "They are dancing and singing and playing the instruments. It's a very lively, energetic opportunity for them."
    The students began working with Kanas in early September. During an opening assembly, he traced the development of American music through its ethnic roots.
    "American music is multi-cultural," Kanas said. "Everything (music) is multi-cultural, and that has been going on since the beginning of time."
    That point set the tone for the rest of the month's lessons.
    Students worked with Kanas in the classroom for six half-hour sessions. Activities included call and response singing, singing and discussing topical songs, improvising music, learning clogging steps and juba rhythms, playing simple instruments such as the dulcimer, spoons and limberjacks.
    'That is so much fun for them," Kanas said.
    In addition, the students played international instruments, such as shakers, cabasa, claves and guiro. They also made their own dulcimers from a kit.
    As the students traced American music history, they found themselves going back to other cultures. They learned of English, Irish and Scottish African and Latin
influences on American music.
    'They are learning that they don't live in a bubble in Lisle," Kanas said. 'There's no doubt about it, it is an American music program. But today we did chanting in Swahili!"
    Music teacher Arlene Leonard said that sometimes the students are not fully aware of the composition of American culture. The residency program allows the students to learn about music that people have been playing for hundreds of years she said "things that came before rock 'n roll."
    "It just didn't appear," she said. "It came from somewhere. "
    Just the music has a multicultural background, so do the folk instruments.
    "There are not many (instruments) that are really indigenous of America." Kanas said.
    While the students got to play the limberjacks and the dulcimer, another American instrument, they heard Kanas play the fiddle, has origins in Europe, and the banjo, which came from Africa.
     In order for all the children to have the same experience, the students took turns playing the instruments.
     Kanas, who is also a certified teacher, says that the music residency can dovetail into existing programs in different ways.  One is to take an interdisciplinary approach in which history , math, science, literature and writing are taught through music. Fourth-grade students who will be studying a unit on Illinois learned Illinois songs to help them prepare for the lesson.
    The residency program is interdisciplinary by nature. This takes they one facet of an arts program and dovetails into another.
    "It's taking the arts program, expanding it and taking it to a different place," he said.
     For instance, the students spent two days making the dulcimers instruments. from kits. Then, they played them in class. The dulcimers were then scheduled for a lesson by the art teacher. The students were to decorate the instruments,
 combining the both the visual and the musical aspects of art.
     "It's really been a wonderful experience," Leonard said.

Kanas kicks off Folk Fest series

HERALD NEWS SERVICE

The Woodstock Folk Festival group announces the line up for its Fall 200 1 Folk Music Concert Series.
Tickets arc $10 all he door and $5 for students and seniors.
For information, call (815) 338- 4245.
The series kicks off with a performance by Jim Kanas at 8 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Corner Room, 303 Hoy Ave.
Kanas will perform mostly folk, some bluegrass, swing and jazz on his fiddle, guitars, banjo and more.
He is a regular performer at the Washington Street Mercantile.
Karen Mueller will perform at 3 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Mast House, 528 E. Calhoun St.
 Mueller is the 1986 International Autoharp champion and the 1985 National Dulcimer finalist. She will entertain with Appalachian, Celtic and contemporary Folk.
Songwriter Dennis Warner, will perform at 3 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Woodstock Corner Room, 303 Hoy Ave.

Local folk musician/jazz guitarist, Jim Kanas, has been nominated and elected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in Midwest (forthcoming 22nd edition). This honor is based on his work with school children throughout the state of Illinois, contributions to human understanding, and achievement in the arts and education. Kanas, of Malta, has been teaching guitar lessons in DeKalb for over 12 years. He is an artist-in-residence with the Illinois Arts Council and performs regularly throughout northern Illinois. He appeared at this year’s DeKalb Corn Fest.

CAR-RT SORT                  

Postal Patron 

Bulk Rate U.S. Postage 

Paid at DeKalb, IL 60115 

Permit No. 103 

Volume 22, Number 40, October 4, 1989                  

DeKalb County’s Largest Circulation Newspaper                

Star
Newspaper
L  o  c  a  l (October 5, 1995)

Greenwood students broaden horizons with folk music

By Timothy Oman
Correspondent

A curious young finger, slightly sticky, plucks a string. Sound travels through a strangely silent classroom.

For the third consecutive year, Greenwood Elementary School has applied for and received grants from the Illinois Arts Council allowing students to broaden their horizons beyond that of normal curriculum.

This year, Greenwood was able to procure Jim Kanas to share his knowledge and expertise in American folk music.

Kanas has been playing musical instruments since he was in fourth grade. He is accomplished in many instruments including the guitar, five-string banjo, mandolin, harmonica and the fiddle. His jazz background is seasoned by the many country, popular, bluegrass, folk, classical, and contemporary groups with which he has worked.

About ten years ago, Kanas blended his professional musical ability with his love for kids and developed an educational program.

Kanas, an award-winning jazz guitarist, has three main goals to accomplish during his brief visit at Greenwood. First, expose students to American folk music. Second, give the teachers a wider variety of activities and new experiences that will enable students to thrive in other areas. Finally, simply to demonstrate the value of all art forms in the total growth of Greenwood students.

Kanas worked with the staff and students during this past week to prepare for a performance Thursday.
The presentation, beginning at 7:00 p.m., will be held at Greenwood School. A core group of 90 fourth graders will helping Kanas and the remainder of the student body perform for their parents and the entire community.
 

ROCK FALLS, IL
2001

Artist-in-Residence
Dillon School hosts informational
demonstration by folk musician
 

CINDY KNICKREHM:

"With all the instruments he had available
and a teaching background,
he seemed to fit our needs,"

BY LISA FAYE
STAFF WRITER

Through music, Jim Kanas opens a window to a world known only as history. Kanas is a folk musician and the artist-in-residence at Dillon School in Rock Falls for the month of October. On Wednesday, he conducted a parent workshop, high- lighting some of what he is teaching students about the roots of American music.

Seated with a wooden dancing board sticking out at the side of his chair, Kanas transports the audience to a different time. Holding a stick with a wooden cutout of a dog at the end, Kanas hits the dancing board, making music as the dog "dances' on the board.

The instrument is called a limberjack, which is one of only a few American folk instruments among the instruments Kanas carries with him. Other instruments include a guitar, violin and banjo.

Parents and students in attendance Wednesday afternoon soon got their chances to play the limber jacks. as their colonial American ancestors might have done

Next. Kanas moved to Native American music, He talked about the uniqueness of the flutes that Native Americans played. The flutes were used for courting:' he said. "If you wanted to get married, you'd go to a flute builder, and he'd make a flute just your size, "' The flutes all sound different, but the music is similar:' Kanas said the flutes usually were played with other instruments, so he passed out instruments to audience members There was a rain stick, chimes, a saw, a goat rattle, hand drums. and cans and bottles filled with rice or beans. Kanas directed the music, pointing here or there to a student or a parent with an instrument As each sound blended with another, the gymnasium became the Great Plains, bringing to mind Native American ceremonies and rituals. Kanas added the flute to the mix of sounds, until gradually, all were silenced.

At the end of the parent work- shop, Kanas sang a song about the Rock River Valley. which mentioned Blackhawk and Abraham Lincoln.

Next week. Dillon's fourth-graders will be recording a CD with the Native American style of music, Kanas said.

 Kanas and several students will be the featured program at the District 13 board meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday. An all-school performance will take place from 1:30-2:30 p.m. next Thursday at the school. Parents are invited to attend.

The school was able to have Kanas as its artist-in-residence through a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Teacher Cindi Knickrehm, who helped bring the program to the school, said Kanas seemed like a good match for the school. "With all the instruments he had available and a teaching back- ground, he seemed to fit our needs." she said.

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