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arts & culture
KANSAN.COM | THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017
Aries (March 21-April 19)
You're full of profitable ideas today and tomorrow. Slow down and avoid accidents and breakage. Find clever efficiencies. Spontaneous actions can have long-lasting consequences.
Taurus
(April 20-May 20)
Check your course before speeding up. You make things look easy over the next two days. Act quickly, without spending recklessly. Appearances can be deceiving
Gemini
(May 21-June 20)
Slow down and finish things up today and to-morrow. Clarify directions, plans and arrangements.
Record a vivid dream or idea. Consider what would be required.
Cancer
(June 21-July 22) Rely on your team over the next few days. Plan and organize before launching into action. Spontaneity could get expensive. Define your vision.
(July 23-Aug. 22)
Reassess what needs to get done and take charge today and tomorrow. Prepare for examination. Enlist an imaginative partner.
Together, you can achieve
amazing things.
Virgo
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) Educational seminars
educational summaries, classes and journeys prove valuable today and tomorrow. Take time for long-range planning to avoid expense and risk. A surprising development requires adaptation.
Libra
(Sept. 23-Oct. 22) You're more patient with finances over the next few days. Focus on practical objectives. Pay bills and resist the temptation to spend frivolously.
Scorpio
Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Collaborate to get things done over the next few days. Negotiate and compromise to strike a fair bargain. Navigate unexpected circumstances. Review options before choosing
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN Kai Ono is a senior, double majoring in piano performance and composition. He has won multiple awards for his compositions and performances.
Sagittarius
(Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Keep your exercise routines today and tomorrow. You're building long-term strength.
Consider your health from a new angle. Sometimes the best move is standing still.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan.19) Relax and enjoy time with loved ones over the next two days. Avoid risky business, despite emotion or temptation. Consider consequences. Let advancement occur naturally.
Aquarius
Aquatius (Jan. 20-Feb.18)
Stay home and lay low over the next two days. Enjoy a practical, domestic phase.
Conserve your resources.
Make repairs early to avoid unexpected costs.
(Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) Write and plan over the next few days. Research and edit. Don't deplete resources. Organization allows for smooth action. Something bitter mellows
Pisces
with time.
Music in Focus: Student pianist searches for heart of a song to connect with audience
HANNAH COLEMAN
@hecoleman33
He starts with one hour. He dabbles and lets loose at the keys in front of him, working with different sounds and structures. He records the hour's worth of work and then plays back his progress.
Picking out the fragments that he likes, he then begins hour two. Improvising with what he has, he finds a structure. Then, he maps the structure of the piece first in his head, and then he begins to draw a diagram, organizing the parts of the song.
Once he finds the crux of the song, his favorite moment, he writes the beginning and the end around it and fills in the blanks. Like a chorus or a verse, he writes in the repetition of the similar phrases. Looking for what keeps the audience engaged, what the audience should be able to be able to recognize and to "just feel," he said.
Kai Ono, a senior double majoring in piano performance and composition, has been playing the piano since he was five years old, and composing since he was in middle school. Ono has recently won the top prize in the International Great
Composers Competition for Best Schubert Performance, in addition to winning the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany. In the past, he has won the Herb Alpert Jazz composition award from the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
From Irvine, California, Ono was introduced to the instrument by his parents, who enrolled him at the Yamaha School of Music. The school is a program mainly geared toward teaching students piano and specializes
in training young children in early development of their musical ear through careful practice.
There, before touching a keyboard, Ono was taught how to sing, dance and develop a strong ear for sound. In Ono's class, everyone had perfect pitch. The school also emphasized training in improvisation even as a young student.
During his time at the Yamaha School of Music, Ono accelerated far above his peers, which motivated him to continue, he said.
Everything that Ono
played when he was young revolved around classical music, which was primarily what he played up until middle school, when his focus from his classical training shifted to a more varied style of play. With Ono's improvisational background of picking up pop tunes and playing video game soundtracks, Ono began to experiment with different genres. He even began to write some of his own music.
In high school, Ono began playing jazz, which encouraged him to take his
music in several different directions. Ono even expressed interest in conducting while in jazz band.
When Ono was doing more conducting, he came across Beethoven's No. 7 Symphony. Finding the piece to be one of his favorites, he said he decided to uncover what fueled his fascination. Mapping and analyzing music to find meaning has kept Ono in music.
When I play, I want to have some kind of deep connection with the audience."
Kai Ono Pianist
"Without even knowing at the time, I was just kind of analyzing the piece, and all I wanted to know was just why I liked this piece so much," Ono said. "That whole process I was just analyzing music and trying to understand it deeper. It ended up with me kind of creating a bit a theory for analysis as a little kid."
Being a composer and player with many varying
SEE PIANIST PAGE 7
Third annual Draws for Paws event at Burger Stand will benefit the Humane Society
▶ COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman
The Burger Stand at the Casbah will host the third annual Draws for Paws Craft Beer Mixer this Friday, March 3, in partnership with the Lawrence Humane Society. Fifteen percent of profits from beer sales will go to benefit the Humane Society and its efforts to rescue homeless animals in the community.
The event will be from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Beer Hall in the basement of the Burger Stand.
Twelve breweries from around the region will be represented at Draws for Paws, according to the event's Facebook page. Burger Stand general manager Rachel Morrison said the timing was convenient because the Kansas Craft Brewers Exposition is the following day. The breweries participating in Draws for Paws are also participating in the expo.
Contributed photo
"We're always trying to change it up, and it kind of gives the opportunity for people who are already going out and trying other stuff to come in and roll through, and it benefits a better part of our community," Morrison said.
Kate Meghji, the executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, said although the Humane Society partners with many local businesses in the Lawrence area, it's always a relief for a third party to plan a fundraising event.
"[The Burger Stand is] really supportive of our organization and our mission, and I think when they throw really fun events like this for people to get to try beer and support homeless animals, it's really a win for everybody," Meghji said.
Many Burger Stand employees have themselves adopted animals, Morrison said. Morrison adopted her dog, Sky, two years ago from the Lawrence Humane Society. She said that the personal connection makes Draws for Paws more rewarding.
"We really appreciate the support of The Burger Stand," Meghji said. "They're awesome animal advocates, and every dollar that they raise for us means we get to help save lives of homeless pets in our community, and we're really grateful for it."
- Edited by Erin Brock
Contributed photo
LIBBY FLOOD
@libbvflood13
'Canvas and Mocktails' returns for second year
Offering a night of art therapy and complimentary drinks served on request by a "mocktender," Student Union Activities is holding its second annual "Canvas & Mocktails" event Friday, March 3.
While participants sip on their mocktails - nonalcoholic cocktails - an instructor from Painted Canvas, a family-owned paint and wine studio based in Lawrence, will guide the group in painting individual canvases. At the end of the night, participants will have their own artwork to take home.
"The event was really fun last year," SUA Culinary Coordinator Maddie Cook said. "It's fun to see all the different levels of painters and what everyone can do."
Cook estimated that about 75 people attended last year, bringing with them a wide range of skill levels.
Kate Baier, assistant coordinator of the culinary committee, said that this year will be even bigger. Event coordinators are
This student-friendly spin-off is one of many events hosted by the committee. The team is responsible for all things food, including brainstorming, planning and hosting food-related functions, Cook said. Other ongoing events include monthly Grocery Bingo and an Annual Student Recipe Contest.
expecting it to reach its 80-person cap.
This event will be held at 7 p.m in Alderson Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for University students and $30 for the general public, and are available at the Union Welcome Center. Drinks, snacks and supplies are all included in the ticket price. More information for the event can be found on its Facebook page.
The committee decided to bring back Canvas & Mocktails after last year's success and the growing popularity of Canvas and Cocktail parties, which are similar in structure but offer their guests wine and other alcoholic beverages.
- Edited by Frank Weirich