Saxophone quartet provides educational clinics for students

More than 1,300 Michigan grade school students learned about performing, chamber music, the inner workings of a saxophone and college in general, thanks to the S3J Quartet.

The quartet is a student saxophone group consisting of Grand Valley musicians, including Matt Kobberstad, ’15, soprano saxophone; Mike Mitrovich, ’15, alto saxophone; Karsten Wimbush, tenor saxophone; and Kevin Bays, baritone saxophone.

S3J recently completed a tour of Michigan grade schools, during which they customized their appearances based on class curriculums at each school. At times, the quartet facilitated mock chamber ensemble rehearsals, Q&A sessions, workshops, “show and tells” detailing the varying sounds of a saxophone or simply performed. 

Schools visited included: Byron Center High School, Northview High School, Coit Creative Arts Academy, Holland Woods Middle School, Sparta Middle School, City Middle and High Schools, Wyoming Middle School and Jenison Middle School.

Wimbush said this tour was not only an excellent professional development opportunity for the quartet, but more importantly, it acted as an outlet raise excitement about careers in music.

“The value of our tour was to excite students about the wide variety of music available to musicians, show what college music is like and demonstrate the flexibility of the saxophone,” said Wimbush, a senior majoring in music education and performance. “Often times middle and high school students don’t get exposure to advanced music. We saw an opportunity to encourage students in their musical endeavors and provide some guidance as to where one can go with music.”

Now that two of the four quartet members have graduated from Grand Valley, Wimbush said a new saxophone quartet, with a new name, will be formed in September.