Artist-In-Resicence Lonnquist Brings Creative Song / Story Process To Lakeshore
By Laurie Ottery, Fond Du Lac Reporter
Artist Ken Lonnquist spent a week at Lakeshore Elementary in Fond du Lac as the artist-in-residence. The Madison musician, songwriter and singer met with classes several times to take their stories and put them into one cumulative effort complete with songs representing each grade level at the school.
“"Many of my ideas come from my own childhood,â€" said Ken. “"I was the youngest of eight children and had to make a lot of noise to be noticed. I’m not above making animal sounds, imitations, or silly faces to capture the attention of a young audience, even if only for the length of a song. Face-to-face time with children and no TV is the most valuable thing we can offer.â€"
At age twelve, Lonnquist received his first guitar and today uses the instrument in the classrooms to work with students writing and singing original songs.
At Lakeshore School, the main story was about a grove of pepper trees which continually spread clouds of pepper making everyone sneeze.
“"Before I arrived, each grade picked out a story or theme the oincorporate into our project,â€" said Ken. “"We used that knowledge and their ideas to give us background information toward the end result. Together, we wrote on cumulative story and songs that related to each grade’'s chosen theme.â€"
The end result was a performance at the Performing Arts Center on March 25, with students narrating the story and Lonnquist singing the songs with the classes. They managed to take an original idea, and using their combined effort, along with a vast knowledge of creativity, composed one story, complete with a problem-solving ending.
Besides performing around the country, Lonnquist also composes for the Children’s Theater of Madison, and has written ten musical theater productions. To his credit are CDs of original children’'s songs including the illustrations on the jacket covers. If anyone is interested in his recordings, they are available at www.kenland.com.
The successes of his songwriting workshops, residencies for schools, universities, teacher and environmental conferences become part of his song repertoire, many from working with children. He has received several awards for his efforts including Entertainer of the Year by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry.
With thousands of songs composed and over 300 recorded, Lonnquist is an artist the Lakeshore children will remember for a long time to come. The time spent together gave them the opportunity to
be composers themselves.
