Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 414/832-6590
For Immediate Release						April 15, 1997

Lawrence University Saxophonists Win National Competition 


	APPLETON, WIS. Ñ What began last summer with 10-hour a week rehearsals
ended triumphantly earlier this month when four Lawrence University
saxophonists  were named first-place winners at the Music Teachers National
Association (MTNA) national competition in Dallas, Texas.

	Junior Lisa Rhoades, alto saxophone, came home a double winner, after
placing first in the collegiate artist performance competition for woodwinds
and helping the Lawrence saxophone quartet win the woodwinds chamber music
competition.  Seniors Javier Arau, tenor saxophone, Paul Gronert, baritone
saxophone, and Matthew Livingston, soprano saxophone, joined Rhoades in the
chamber music competition.  The quartet received $3,000 for winning its
competition, while Rhoades received $2,100 as a first-place prize in the
collegiate artist category.

	The MTNA finals in Dallas were the final stop in an arduous three-stage
competition.  Last October, the Lawrence saxophonists won the state competition
in Eau Claire, advancing to regional competition.  In February, they earned a
trip to the nationals by winning the regional competition in Ann Arbor, Mich. 
Seven regional winners competed in Dallas.

	"This competition is a major one for student musicians," said Steven
Jordheim, Lawrence associate professor of music and Rhoades' teacher.  "You
have to be able to perform a variety of styles and composers.  Some students
can play well for 15 minutes, but in this competition, you're required to play
a complete recital, including four full pieces covering three different
historical musical periods."

	The quartet, which began practicing for the MTNA competition last
summer, featured in its 40-minute program works by Bach, French composer Lucie
Robert, "Jelly Roll" Morton and Jean-Baptiste Singelee's "Petite Quatour," the
first saxophone quartet piece ever written.  For her program, Rhoades performed
works by Bach, Brahms, Lars-Erik Larsson, Jacques Ibert and Rudolf Kelterborn. 
She was accompanied by Douglas Schneider, a 1995 Lawrence graduate and former
Down Beat magazine student college award winner. 

	"For a saxophone quartet to win a chamber music competition is pretty
unusual," said Arau.  "It was a just a perfect ending to a lot of practice and
hard work.  I had so much energy and excitement balled up inside me when they
were announcing the results, I didn't know what to do with it all, so I just
screamed when they announced us."     	    

	The MNTA college competition featured graduate as well as undergraduate
music students.  The Lawrence saxophonists competed against musicians from the
universities of Kansas, Arkansas and South Carolina as well as Florida State
and Brigham Young universities, among others.  In  Rhoades' case, she was
selected for the top prize ahead of a second-year graduate student at the
University of Florida who was a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.