Local organization teaming up with Dunn School to put on music camps this summer
Local musician Davis Reinhart can still remember the inspiration that brought his and Sylvia Jiang’s musical collaborative its name.
“When our organization began to take shape, I remembered being in New York City when COVID hit in 2020,” Reinhart recalled. “I saw long lines of people at the foodbank there, and I likened the need for food for a community’s need to experience music and artistic expression.”
And from that, Reinhart came up with the name Muffin Music for the organization’s he started with New Zealand-born pianist and the group’s Artistic Director Sylvia Jiang in 2022.
Reinhart had a desire to play music as long as he can remember.
“I learned piano early on and was always heavily involved in that,” he said. “Then going into school I picked up the trumpet and started playing that too. Through Oak Valley (Elementary) and then Santa Ynez High, I was always a band person.”
Reinhart and Jiang met in 2018 while attending the Music Academy of the West’s Summer Festival and found they both saw a need to provide music education to artistically underserved communities.
“Our vision really took shape thanks to grant from the then-new Arts and Culture Program and I used it for the first-ever Buellton in the Park Festival, held at River View Park,” he said.
The festival was an amazing success, bringing eight hours of free performances to the community of local musicians and dancers, as well as internationally acclaimed musicians, as people celebrated Buellton’s 30th anniversary as an incorporated city.
“Since that event, we’ve continued an annual Residency Program which involves Muffin Music visiting local schools to run music workshops and discussions, as well as free community concerts,” Reinhart said. “Just this past year we started a new program that brings instructors and live performances to Hope Refuge, a rehabilitation clinic based in Goleta for young girls from Santa Barbara County in need. Finally, we have our annual M2 Program, offering top notchmusical training for young musicians of all musical backgrounds.”
This year, the M2 Program is particularly exciting as Muffin Music will be collaborating with the Dunn School to run the program. The group will be offering both an M2 Camp for local youth ages 8-18 of all musical backgrounds (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) day camp, and the M2 Piano Intensive for pianists from all over the world (boarding program). Students participating will have a chance to work with each other and learn from working professional musicians and world-class teachers, one of which being Yong Hi Moon, one of the greatest piano pedagogues who currently teaches at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University. This program will take place from July 11-20 this summer.
“I was able to get together with Dunn for this thanks to Guy Walker, who’s a graduate of Dunn and on the board of directors,” Reinhart said of the man who is also on the Santa Barbara County School Board. “He and C.J. Jackson, who owns Alisal Ranch, suggested I use Dunn for the camp. It’s got boarding facilities, and students can use that or just come to the day camp.”
Reinhart said that registration for the camps will open on May 1, and scholarships are available to attend.
Meanwhile, Reinhart and Jiang will be holding two community concerts this month, both in Santa Barbara County. The first will be at Unity of Santa Maria (1165 Stubblefield Road, Santa Maria) on Friday, April 11, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and the second at Shepherd of the Valley Church (3550 Baseline Ave., Santa Ynez) on Saturday, April 12, also from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The free concerts are open to the public.
For more information on Muffin Music, and the camps, go to muffinmusic.org.
