Thoreau Elementary had an exciting Artist In Residency with Ken Lonnquist, songwriter/performer, during the Fall 2005 semester. Ken worked with each class to write a song. Collectively, each grade wrote a song (1st grades wrote two songs!) and performed them in October. The concert was taped by MMSD-TV and can be seen occasionally on Cable Channel 10.

In addition, a CD was created of all seven songs. With the help of parent George Marcus, we recorded our CD in November. A CD design contest was held among students and 4th grader Desia Xiong's design was selected for the CD cover. In addition, artwork by Alex Bach and Rose Walters was included in the layout on the inside of the CD panel.

With another parent's help, Jim White, the CD pamphlet and layout was put together and finally shipped off to Florida where 1,000 copies were made of our CD! Professionally packaged in shrink wrap, our CDs arrived the day we came back from break. Each child at Thoreau Elementary received a copy of the CD at no charge to the student. Our music and lyrics can be found on the school's music website at http://www.mmsd.org/thoreau/lyrics.htm.

This Artist In Residency and CD creation was made possible through the following grants: Dane County Cultural Affairs with additional funds from the Madison Community Foundation, the Overture Foundation, and the American Girl Fund for Children; Wisconsin School Music Association; and our own cultural arts budget and Parent Teacher Organization. This was a huge undertaking and was well received by all involved. Our hats are off to all involved in the process!

Related MMSD Links

• Thoreau's CD Pamphlet