A holiday tradition comes to IU South Bend

By Kate Luce

A holiday tradition for Discovery Middle School’s Piano Lab will continue at a new and welcoming venue: IU South Bend.

Discovery Middle School students performed their holiday recital at IU South Bend in December 2019. In total, 150 Piano Lab students traveled to IU South Bend to perform.

Christopher O’Riley was the fall’s first artist in the IU South Bend Piano Series. Before the IU South Bend concert, he visited Discovery School with Cory Iwaszewski, Media and Community Outreach Manager, and Ketavan Badridze, interim Martin Endowed Chair of Piano. O’Riley performed nearly an hour and had a Q & A session with the students. The budding students were thrilled. From that short visit, the relationship was forged.

“Christopher O’Riley was our first pianist for the piano series. The kids absolutely adored him. They even wrote him thank you notes, 150 thank you notes,” Dean Marvin Curtis shared. After the cancellation of the Discovery School’s engagement with University Park Mall, Tammi Bilotta, Piano Lab teacher at Discovery, got into contact with the Arts to propose the idea. Iwaszewski immediately agreed to have the piano lab students perform on the campus during the holiday season.

“We had a wonderful experience with him [Christopher O’Riley], and I was hopeful that we could partner with IU South Bend again for my students’ December performances. Cory took my request for the performances to other key people at IU South Bend, and to my delight, they all loved the idea and worked with me to create a plan for how we would hold the event. I feel like IU South Bend and the Raclin School of the Arts rolled out the red carpet for us, and I am very excited and thankful for the opportunity that my students will again have to perform at the University Grill this coming December,” Bilotta says.

Piano students worked together in duets and performed holiday and winter classics such as Jingle Bell Rock, Rockin’ around the Christmas tree, Sleigh Ride, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Carol of the Bells, Deck the Halls, The Little Drummer Boy, and many more.

For the sixth-grade piano studio students, this will be one of their first times performing. These students worked hard in practicing the songs in sections both independently and with their partners. They practiced for their songs right up until the date of their performance.

“This duet project is an annual event for my students, and they love it! Getting to work on a song with a partner is a treat for them as most of what they do is very individualized. They are highly motivated to learn their songs independently because they love getting to work at the same piano with their partner and put their parts together,” Bilotta says.

The Piano Lab students were excited to come to IU South Bend to perform. The School of the Arts, students and

family members turned out to support the middle school pupils. After the performances, Discovery students lunched in the Grill with their families, which was a bonus feature.

“The students are going to play at a college campus, which is their request. Mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa can sit for the performance. IU South Bend offers an opportunity for the entire family to come out and support the children. The students will also be able to eat lunch in the cafeteria,” Curtis explains.

The School of the Arts made this a free performance, however, they did ask that attendees donate a non-perishable food item in exchange for coming to watch the students perform. All proceeds went directly to Titans Feeding Titans, IU South Bend’s food pantry.

“We were there to receive the food and talk to people about food insecurity not only in the city, but on campuses. I am excited to be involved in it,” Anne Drake, Disability Support Services, shared. This concert had several benefits. It was a way for students to perform in a space more accommodating to guests. The talented students performed for family, friends and fellow students as the new relationship between Discovery and the School of the Arts took the center stage.

With these concerts happening during finals week, IU South Bend students were encouraged to stop by for a break; donate a non-perishable food item and get into the holiday spirit.

“Our goal is to showcase the students and give them an opportunity to show off what they have learned throughout the semester, as well as bring our campus together. Dr. Curtis described our mission this semester as collaboration. This was a great opportunity to collaborate with talented students of our community. We were also fortunate to give back to the students of IU South Bend while hosting these wonderful middle school students. We labeled this event the Arts Give Back because we are saying thank you. Every week, we have events or a performance, it almost seems like every night actually, and we are always inviting people to come to these events and support us and our students. This is kind of a way for us to give back to the campus and the students,” Iwaszewski explained.

Discovery Middle School will return for the 2020 holiday season on December 14,15 and 16. They will once again partner with the Raclin School of the Arts in giving back to the community, as well as providing holiday entertainment for the University.