In Carol Reynolds’ thesis, “Music Education: The Power of Human Values,” she revealed her passion for teaching music to students from multi-cultural backgrounds and grade levels, stressing that music by Bach, Beethoven or the Beatles opens the mind and feeds the soul.
She was elated by the invitation to present the paper in 1970 to the International Society of Music Educators in Russia. Later, she chronicled her experience in a book, “From Russia with Soul to Russia with Love and Soul.”
Today, she still regards that trip as a seminal achievement, even though it has been followed by a long list of others.
This Sunday, April 12, the Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts will honor Reynolds, 79, with a lifetime achievement award in recognition of her many contributions to the arts community.
“I got a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Michigan and a master’s in counseling from Cal State Fullerton. It was the counseling that taught me what people can understand and I based my teaching on what I had learned,” she recalled. “I taught band and music and loved working with at-risk kids.”
Childhood piano lessons led to her ambition to become a pianist, but what eventually propelled her into orchestral and band music was the unorthodox acquisition of a French horn.
In eighth grade she disdained the then required home-economics classes, wanting to join the school orchestra and play piano instead.
Even though there was no slot for a pianist, the orchestra and band director was impressed by her spunk and took her into an office where a pile of disjointed brass pipes lay on the floor. When he asked whether her father could solder, she gamely took them home, and dad went to work, putting together her first French horn.
In high school she took summer classes organized by the Juilliard School and excelled enough to be offered a full scholarship to the conservatory, but chose Michigan. “I saw pictures of Ann Arbor, the campus, the football games and the bands and I knew that it was the place for me,” she recalled.
Her quests for teaching jobs drew her westward, to Placentia, Yorba Linda and Anaheim and, in 1992, to Laguna Beach.
To meet people, she applied for appointment to the Arts Commission and became its chair in 2000. “Carol is a treasure; what brought us together was our love for music,” said Pat Kollenda, who was appointed to the commission in 1993.
Kollenda praised Reynolds for her ability to follow through on any job. “She has a great sense of humor, dedication to the arts and her passion for education knows no bounds.”
Together they put together the city’s first cultural arts plan. The duo found that to win grants for art projects, the city needed both a plan and an arts manager to carry it out.
“Carol Reynolds’ enthusiasm is contagious….She and Pat Kollenda had a feisty commitment and energy towards creating a roadmap for the arts…, said the city’s cultural arts manager, Sîan Poeschl. “They were a bit like Batman and Robin, a dynamic duo boldly campaigning for the future of arts in Laguna. Many of the goals have been achieved and as we start the cultural arts plan process again, we are reminded how far we as a community have traveled,” she wrote via e-mail.
In 1999, Reynolds helped found the Laguna Community Concert Band with Teresa Marino and Bill Nicholls, starting with six musicians. Now it is 65 members strong and re-branded as the Laguna Concert Band.
Music director Ed Peterson met her in 2001. “Carol is one of the most enthusiastic people I met, passionate about everything she gets involved with,” he said. When the band celebrated its 10th anniversary, its board named her “Band Ambassador,” to talk up the band with civic leaders and music lovers.
“On top of all that, she is a fine French horn player,” Peterson added.
After a 2007 visit to Menton, Laguna Beach’s sister city in France, the two arts commissioners and others conceived of replicating in Laguna the Fête de la Musique, where scores of street musicians perform throughout downtown.
Reynolds has served on several boards, including the Sister City Association, the CSP Youth Shelter and Laguna Beach Live. “She is enthusiastic and sharing. You can’t say no to Carol,” said Cindy Prewitt, co-founder of Laguna Beach Live, who will tap Reynolds to book artists for the Live at the Museum program.
Bree Burgess Rosen, artistic director of No Square Theatre, called Reynolds a tireless warrior for music in schools. “If she were to run a music program here, our kids would be in better shape,” she said.
For Reynolds, music is far more than a career. “It’s my healing influence. I’ve gone dancing at the Marine Room every Thursday for the last two years.”
