Keys to Confidence: Bertha Barbee McNeal Scholarship

Casimir Wendt loves to play classical music on the piano — the faster and livelier the piece, the better. And The Gilmore is helping him pursue that passion.

Casimir is a 12-year-old sixth grader at Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts in Kalamazoo. In fifth grade, he heard about the Piano Lab offered through The Gilmore at his school, Woods Lake Elementary School, and asked his parents if he could participate. He studied with Marilyn Moore and fell in love with the instrument. But, since the Piano Lab ends in the fifth grade, he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to continue with it in middle school

Luckily, there was a solution. Moore thought that Casimir would be a perfect candidate for one of The Gilmore’s Bertha Barbee McNeal Scholarships, which subsidize continuing piano studies for young people. Moore nominated Casimir for the scholarship and he was accepted; he now takes weekly 30-minute private piano lessons with Hal Hobson, in addition to the Music Studio class at Maple Street Middle School.

Casimir was thrilled to learn that he’d get to continue his piano lessons. According to his mother, Annie, Casimir practiced all summer, learning music from YouTube videos on the keyboard he was able to keep from The Gilmore’s Keys2Kids program, affiliated with the Piano Lab. “He likes being able to do something difficult that not everyone can do,” says Annie. “He’s so proud and lit up when he gets something.”

Hal Hobson, Casimir’s current teacher, is enthusiastic about his progress and love for piano. “Casimir has made wonderful progress in his lessons, progressing each week to new and more challenging material. He has a good practice discipline and comes to lessons prepared,” Hobson says. “He has an excellent sense of rhythm and steady beat and reads notation well for his level. He plays expressively, with awareness of the style and subject of the songs.”

Annie points out that her son is “a tinkerer” and loves taking on new challenges. “Cas likes to tackle new difficult pieces. During his lessons he learned to slow down and get it technically correct and then speed it up again. And as he’s learned more he’s now able to take on more difficult music, which he likes better.”

Besides the tangible progress he’s made in his piano studies, the lessons have provided other benefits for Casimir. “He can be a bit shy and reserved,” says his mother, “and playing piano has helped give him more confidence.”

Hobson agrees: “Casimir is a quiet young man, not especially chatty, but now and then, we connect with his sense of humor, and he blossoms, and expresses himself.”

“This [scholarship] has been so rewarding as a parent,” says Annie. “This was an unexpected opportunity, to see him bloom in a way that we — as parents that don’t play piano — may not have pushed him to explore.”

Bertha Barbee McNeal was a devoted musician and co-founder of The Velvelettes, a group with several hits on the Motown label. While getting her bachelor’s degree in music at Western Michigan University, she’d go to the student center and hang out at the baby grand piano, and friends would gather around and sing. McNeal eventually became a music teacher with Kalamazoo Public Schools, where she taught for 26 years. Though she passed away in 2022, her legacy of fostering a love of music in young people lives on through the scholarship in her name.The scholarship is funded by The Gilmore’s Inspiration Fund, to find out more please contact Anne Witherspoon at [email protected].