MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS PREPARE FOR NOV. 20 RECITAL

Two recipients of the Bee S. Limbaugh Scholarship at Southeast Missouri State University will perform a recital Nov. 20 in Cape Girardeau.

The reciThe students also are preparing for a recital they will perform at 3 p.m. Nov. 20 in Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau.

Vocal student Tom Lowery of Overland will perform his senior recital, accompanied by junior Ryan Kasten of Jackson and Dr. Gary Miller, Southeast professor of music and Kasten's instructor.

The recital will begin at 3 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church.

The program, which is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Music, will feature pieces by composers Jacopo Peri, Antonia Bembi, Henry Purcell, J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart and Ernest Chausson.

Lowery and Kasten were nominated by Southeast faculty as the 1994-1995 Bee S. Limbaugh Scholarship recipients based on their academic record and performing ability.

Rush Limbaugh Sr. of Cape Girardeau established the scholarship in honor of his late wife, Bee.

In 1909, the Limbaughs as teenagers moved from a farm to the "Normal School," where Bee Limbaugh attached herself to the Department of Music.

The one-year scholarship endowed in her memory is valued at $600 per semester.

Earning the scholarship was quite an honor, said Lowery, a baritone. Last year, he was nominated for the scholarship but didn't receive it.

"I think I work harder now because of the scholarship," he said. "I feel like I have achieved something. It gives you the idea that you should be setting an example for other students.

"It couldn't have come at a better time for me and my family," added Lowery, whose sister also is attending college this year. "It's helped my parents quite a bit."

Kasten said he was "shocked but honored" by the award. "This gives you an incentive to work harder and achieve more," he said. "It's a reward for a lot of years of hard work."

Southeast faculty say the Bee S. Limbaugh music scholarship helps students focus on their education without the financial burden.

"These students are required to be in an ensemble in which they work five hours a week and get just one hour of credit," Miller said.

Lowery says he practices about 15 hours a week. Kasten said he practices about two and one-half to three hours a day.

Miller said, "You have to love what you are doing or you might as well get out."

But Lowery said he doesn't view his studies as "how many hours I spend a week in the music room. I try to get to know the composers and to translate what they have written."

"Practicing, if done correctly, is a joyful obligation," Miller said, adding that Kasten and

Lowery exemplify how stronger students gravitate toward one another."

Lowery and Kasten have collaborated on a number of musical events over the past three years.

"He's great," Lowery says of Kasten. "He's always available to practice. He seems to enjoy it. We joke around, and we also get very serious at times. We enjoy each other's company."

Kasten says he enjoys accompanying vocal students like Lowery "who know what they are doing."

Cossaboom said Kasten and Lowery "represent the entrepreneurial musician. This is how professional musicians operate."

Both students, however, say they wouldn't be where they are today without their teachers.

Kasten said he took piano lessons for 10 years, studying under Pat Palisch of Jackson, Mo., and Dr. Janet Smith in the Southeast Missouri Music Academy at the University. He later studied organ under Carol McDaniel at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson.

He began studying under Miller beginning with his freshman year in high school in the Southeast Missouri Music Academy.

Kasten also has served as an accompanyist for the Opera Workshop and organist for Grace United Methodist Church. He has studied harpsichord for one year and performed a recital in 1992 for the North Central Arkansas Foundation for Music in Education.

He has performed two solo recitals in Cape Girardeau. He is majoring in music at Southeast with a concentration in organ performance.

Lowery took piano lessons from kindergarten through eighth grade and developed an interest in vocal music while in high school, where he participated in choirs and drama. He has participated in the University Choir, Opera Workshop, the Choral Union and the Shrine Choir in Perryville, Mo. He also has sung with the First Presbyterian Church and the First Christian Church of Cape Girardeau. He is majoring in vocal music education at Southeast.

Lowery, who plans to graduate in May, hopes to pursue a high school teaching career in music. Eventually, he said, he may pursue a professional music career or graduate school, where he would study vocal performance.

Kasten plans to attend graduate school at Arizona State at Tempe. He hopes to teach music at the college level some day.