Interlochen's College of Creative Arts is hosting its annual Renaissance Music Retreat this week.
Sarah Huebsch Schilling is the Artistic Director of the Retreat, and her co-teacher is also her husband and fellow early music specialist Kelsey Schilling.
The theme for this year's retreat is the city of Ferrara during the Renaissance, where women and girls performed, composed and commissioned music for sacred and secular occasions.
The Schillings visited Studio A with pairs of recorders and crumhorns to demonstrate some of the music they're teaching and performing this week.
The crumhorn is a curved instrument with a double reed that has a "fun, buzzy sound that's really popular," said Sarah Huebsch Schilling. "We once had a sixth grader say it sounded like a snorkel full of bees."
In Studio A, the duo played two pieces for recorder by Michael Praetorius and one for the crumhorn by Andreas Schwarz.
Living with a fellow musician can have its advantages, but sometimes the Schillings have to get creative when they practice music at home - especially because they have two small children.
"We have our 10-month-old baby [with us at the Retreat], and last night it was raining so we couldn't go outside," Kelsey Schilling explained. "We couldn't leave the baby alone, so we went in the bathroom, turned on the fan and just played music in there."
Participants in this year's Renaissance Music Retreat will present their final concertthis Saturday, June 8 at 11 a.m. in the Mallory-Towsley Center for Arts Leadership building on Interlochen's campus.
The concert will feature vocalists, lute players, recorder players and music composed and commissioned by women.
Music performed in this episode
"Wies Gott Gefällt" by Andreas Schwarz (crumhorns)
Two pieces by Michael Praetorius (recorders)
Kelley DiPasquale engineered this edition of Studio A.
Emily Duncan Wilson is IPR's Digital Content Manager.
