Student Honoraria
The Robert Fountain Memorial Honorarium
To be eligible for this award you must be an undergraduate or graduate music major in performance.
This award is dedicated to the memory of Robert Fountain, an outstanding musician, teacher, mentor, and dear friend. His charisma, both on and off the podium, his wonderful sense of humor, and his deep understanding and love of music are sorely missed. One of the most venerated teachers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Fountain was not comfortable with personal attention, and may not have liked the idea of an award in his name. However, those of us whose lives were touched by him in such a profound way want to express our thanks for everything he brought to us as a musician, and even more importantly as a mentor and friend. In the spirit of love we set out to continue Robert Fountain's lifelong task of helping students reach their musical potential.
The Bruce Benward Theory/Composition Student Honorarium
To be eligible for this award you must be an undergraduate or graduate music major in theory or composition.
This award is intended to honor the lifelong work of Dr. Bruce Benward. Countless musicians have learned about music theory from any of the six Benward textbooks written over his tremendous career. Students—literally all over the world—have grown as musicians from reading and using his work, whether it be his ground-breaking text Ear Training, a Technique for Listening, which was the first of its kind, or the famous Music in Theory and Practice. The most fortunate of us not only used these texts, but were able to learn from the great man himself. Dr. Benward treated every student the same, whether beginning undergraduate music majors struggling with basic concepts of theory or graduate students working on their thesis. His door was always open, and any student could drop in at any time with a question about music, whether they were currently his student or not. His wonderful and slightly wicked sense of humor, and his zest for life and music made learning music theory fun. We can think of no better way to thank Dr. Bruce Benward for what he has done for so many theory and composition students all around the world than to help future students follow in his footsteps.
The amount of each annual award is $1,000.00, and includes a lifetime membership in MACRO. Award funds may be used only for tuition, music, and/or instruments. Important! This honorarium can only be awarded to individuals with a valid United States Social Security number.
How to Apply
- Either the student or the supporting faculty member may initiate the nomination process. Both steps listed below must be completed for the application to be considered. Incomplete applications or those not adhering to the guidelines are subject to disqualification.
- The student must complete and submit the online application form below. The importance of the essay is described below.
- The faculty member must submit a letter of support. (Minimum 250 words,
maximum 1 page in length.) The faculty member must be a member of MACRO
in order to submit student nomination letters. The letter must address
1) how long you have know the student and in what capacity, 2) the
student's musicianship, 3) academic ability including gradepoint
average, and 4) other aspects of their background that are appropriate
or significant. This letter should be submitted as an e-mail
attachment to Jamie Henke, MACRO Chair
at jamie.henke [at] wisc.edu. If you
prefer to submit a paper copy of the letter, mail it to:
Jamie Henke
21 N. Park St #7334
Madison, WI. 53715 - The application deadline for both of these awards is always March 1 of each year.
Awards are made based on the content and quality of the student essay, in which the student describes his or her goals as a musician, and on the letter submitted by the supporting MACRO faculty member. We want to make the application process easy for student and faculty alike, but we also want to make sure that students and faculty aren't misled by the informal setting of an online form. The writing submitted on the online form is the information we use to determine these awards.
The MACRO Board determines the recipient of the award. Decisions of the judges will be final. Students who have previously received a stipend are welcome to re-apply, but preference will be given to qualified new applicants and to students of active MACRO members. MACRO reserves the right not to present the award if a worthy submission is not found.
If you are unable to use this Web form, you may e-mail your application information to Jamie Henke at jamie.henke [at] wisc.edu.