Music did not stop on the Northwestern campus this weekend.
Music Marathon, the first 26-hour music festival organized by a subcommittee of the Bienen School of Music’s Student Advisory Board, raised more than $15,000 for the People’s Music School, a tuition-free school for children in Chicago.
The festival opened at 8 p.m. Friday at Regenstein Recital Hall. The concert continued until 7:00 p.m. Saturday, when the event moved to Pick-Staiger Concert Hall for a performance by the NU Chamber Orchestra until 10 p.m.
Russell Rolen, a second-year music doctoral student and chairman of the subcommittee that organized the festival, structured the event in a similar manner to Dance Marathon, though he said it was not quite up to DM’s scale. Students and faculty signed up for 15-minute time slots, during which they could play or do whatever they wanted. But for every 15 minutes, performers had to raise $100 in donations.
Organizers managed to fill all of the time slots about a week-and-a-half before the event, said Billy Robin, a member of the subcommittee. Robin said getting people to participate was a gradual process, as some were hesitant about the project at first. Some even said they thought they had to play for the entire time.
“It was the same kind of thing with DM,” the Music junior said. “People were asking ‘Can I shower?’ I kept harassing people until they realized it was a great cause. There were people who went above and beyond.”
Rachel Schiff, a Music senior, played in a group at 2:30 a.m. and had a solo performance with her guitar at 5:15 a.m. early Saturday morning. She said five people were in the audience at Regenstein at the time, and she used the performance as an opportunity to work on a piece for her senior recital.
“The performance was great considering the time,” Schiff said. “I was really tired at that point.”
The festival was also streamed online at the festival’s Web site. Schiff’s brother is an engineer in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Afghanistan, and she said the time difference made it easier for him to watch.
“It ended up being a chance for us to connect as well,” she said.
The founder of the People’s Music School, Rita Simo, said she started the school in 1976 because she “began to understand if you don’t have money, you can’t learn.” Costs per student are $1500 a year, and the total annual budget for the school is $500,000.
“It’s not easy to find,” Simo said. “We were not expecting this. It was a surprise, and it was a nice surprise.”
Schiff called the festival “remarkable.”
“The experience of knowing you’re performing so someone else can do what you love, that experience is irreplaceable,” she said. “It really hits home. It’s probably one of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had.”
The festival will “definitely” take place again next year, according to Robin.
“When you raise this much money once, there’s no good reason not to do it again,” he said.
