One Student’s Path to Birch Creek

Back home, Birch Creek student Preston Jones pays $500 for one percussion lesson. That’s because Preston lives on the Hawaiian island of Maui and his instructor, Darren Duerden, is located on Oahu.

“Well, it isn’t just the flight,” Preston said, referring to the necessity of having to take an airplane between islands. “Dr. Duerden is professor [of music and percussion] at Brigham Young University-Hawaii, which is one and a half hours from the airport. We have to rent a car to get from the airport to the university.”

Birch Creek percussion students come from across the country, and it is always interesting to discover the path that leads them to Birch Creek. For Preston, links to Wisconsin from Hawaii seem obvious…but can be misleading.

The friendship between the Jones family and Maui native Geraldine Grine, now conductor and music director of the Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra, might suggest a natural connection. After all, Geraldine and her husband Jim are long-time friends of Birch Creek, and in January 2008, upon the invitation of Grine, Preston traveled with Zenshin Daiko – a group that teaches the ancient Japanese art of taiko (literally, “drum”), which was founded by his parents, Valerie and Anthony Jones – to perform with the Oshkosh Youth Symphony.

Although only a few hours away geographically, Egg Harbor might as well have been across the world for the young Hawaiian musician. It wasn’t until he was back in Hawaii that Preston read about Birch Creek’s percussion sessions in Percussive Arts News and was impressed with the program’s quality.

Preston’s enthusiasm about his opportunity to study percussion in Egg Harbor is evident in each performance, and there are only a few more opportunities to hear Preston, other percussion students, and faculty members perform in this year’s percussion series which wraps up on Saturday, July 19.

Birch Creek Music Performance Center is located three miles east of Egg Harbor on County Highway E. Concerts begin at 8 pm in the Dutton Concert Barn, with student prelude concerts in the gazebo at 7:30 pm.

Tickets are $27 for adults, $10 for young adults (ages 12 through 20 and college students), and $6 for children 11 and under. For complete information about Birch Creek or to reserve tickets call 920.868.3763. Also check http://www.birchcreek.org for additional information.