Music department gets creative in accessing arts funding for concerts, musicals

Fa-La-La-La-La. That familiar tune of the holiday season rings out in choir rooms, at nursing homes, and in the community through the West Madrigals. The majority of students, aside from choir-kids, most likely don’t know that “Madrigals” is something West offers, or what it exactly is. Aside from underrepresentation, underfunding is also an issue the music department may face as December, not-so slowly, creeps in.

Madrigals has been a part of the West choir department since its inception. It derives from the renaissance and baroque eras and was originally an unaccompanied 2-8 voices, traditionally one voice per part (alto, tenor, bass, etc.). Obviously, the music group has evolved through the changing of modern times, but the carols have remained the same. 

Madrigals is a way for students to connect to the community through song. Bethany Meyer, the director of Madrigals, ‘coaches’ the group through the craziness of the holiday season. 

“The Madrigals are a select group of audition students who learn traditional carols and holiday songs for the holiday season in December,” she said. 

New to last year, Madrigals is now a class that students can get credit for. A one semester, twice a week,  class where music is worked on for the months leading into December, with traditional old-timey garb.

“They rehearse during zero-hour, September through November, and then they travel around the city in December sharing the songs that they have learned in traditional renaissance dress,” Meyer said. 

However, the Madrigals' season can get hectic, with gigs almost every day of December and the frantic practicing of music on November 30 every season. With the chaos of it all, stress and drama may ensue throughout the group. Meyer notices the stress of the season, never discounting the hard work students put in.

“Favorite part of Madrigals can’t be when it’s over, right? But when it’s over it’s kind of nice because there’s just so much that goes into it,” she said. “Getting the group together and planning, and having students actually go out and sing, it’s kind of exhausting.”

Meyer has been teaching choir for 9 years here at West and 14 years total, and has seen the effect Madrigals have had on the community. 

“The best part, I think, is being out in the community, and sharing the gift that these students can give to our community members,” she said. “The smiles they get to see and the compliments that they get; you can’t recreate that in any other space.” 

Meyer sees the positive impact the group may have on the school as a whole.

“It’s good for our music department, it’s good for our school to get our students out there to do this volunteer work to spread the holiday cheer,” she said.

Junior Nava Lomena has been involved in Madrigals since her freshman year. She sees Madrigals as a way to express her love of music. 

“I like being with a bunch of people who also like singing, and just being goofy together. We just get to sing and have fun,” she said. 

Junior Julia Skinner has been involved in Madrigals since her freshman year and feels the sense of community throughout the Madrigal season. 

“I love the people and the fact that we’re all a big family. I also love that we can spread holiday cheer and sing songs around the community,” she said.

Junior Alyssa Vigil has also been in Madrigals for three years, and has been an avid member of the choir community. She feels similarly that the Madrigals are a safe space for her, as well as something where she can just sing and have fun. 

“My favorite part is probably the people, that’s what makes me look forward to going,” she said. 

Sophomore Jacob Schaefer appreciates that he is able to be in a group of people he loves, doing what he loves. 

“My favorite part is performing the gigs all together. I’m with my friends and I just get to sing,” he said.

Meyer also acknowledges the importance of music education in general, and how rewarding it can be in her day-to-day life as a choir teacher. 

“I tell people every day that I love my job, it’s so fulfilling to me,” she said. “There is nothing better than when a group of students get something that you’ve been working on for a really long time, and they sing with joy and passion and courage. To me, that is the best feeling,” 

Meyer sees the way art classes, beyond just the M-wing, can teach students how to be better people, and to navigate life outside of high school. 

“Our art classes are not just creating art there, they’re learning how to be good people,” she said. “We get to reach people on a level that is so deeply ingrained in all of us that we don’t even realize. It can make them laugh, make them think, and music is a great tool to make that happen.” 

Meyer sees the arts as something that can be universally understood. It can transcend cultures and language. 

“Every culture in the world has music, and music is used to communicate,” she said. “I think that’s really just one of the best things about the arts and humanity is that it is a worldwide language that everybody can understand.”  

Music departments across the country are often underfunded and underrepresented. Because of this, it can be difficult to pay for performance spaces, new music, and, in band and orchestra, new instruments. Meyer recognizes the potentially excessive requirements music departments possess and how that may lead to issues. 

“Music just tends to be underfunded because our needs are high,” she said. “In the band world, you can’t use those instruments for decades. So, are we underfunded? Sure, but we’ve learned to make do with what we have.” 

Recently, there have been strides in the direction of giving more money to the music departments here at West, and throughout the community of Oshkosh.

“The Ash Crash Community Foundation put on an arts gala last year and raised a ridiculous amount of money for our arts and music programs here at school,” Meyer said. 

Meyer explains other avenues that the choir department gains funding through programs the community offers. 

“The district has a program called set aside, that sets aside a certain amount of money every year for bigger purchases,” she said. 

Musicals are an integral part of the West Choirs. Every year during January, Meyer puts on a musical, such as Spongebob last year, 9 to 5, and Beauty and the Beast. But, musicals can cost a lot of money with sets, costumes, and rights to the shows.

“Could we always use more money? Absolutely. Buying new music and having money for musicals are beneficial because they are very expensive,” she said.

Principal Lewis Malczewski has been personally involved in the arts within his high school career, and has seen first hand just how expensive musicals can be in particular. He hopes to limit the need for fundraising in both drama and musical theater here at West. 

“I have experience in the arts. I was in choir and Madrigals and show choir, and I know they can be expensive,” he said.

Having enough money is the first step of success in anything.

“If we got more funding, then Mrs. Meyer and our music directors would be able to do more things that we would want to do for the choir,” Lomena said.

Investments at the high school level pay dividends in life, according to Meyer. 

“Arts are important everywhere in life, because we are all surrounded by art every single day,” shen said. “And that’s not just music, it’s visual art, it’s performance art. When you get in your car, you listen to music. You see commercials, and those are people acting. Everything around you is designed by someone, built by someone, created by someone. Art is with us every single moment of your day.”

by Sophia Rigoni

Published on October 30, 2023

Oshkosh West Index Issue 120 Volume 2