The recipients of this week's Ben's Bell are Anna and Dennis Bourret.
The pair has worked with young musicians in Tucson for about four decades and were nominated by the mother of one student. Linda Rousos called them "incredibly nice people."
"They really care about other people and about the community," Rousos said. "And that spirit is transmitted to the kids."
It all began around 1967, when Anna had three children who played the violin but no group to play with. So she and her children's instructor began the Tucson Junior Strings.
Dennis arrived in Tucson a few years later, fresh from the war in Vietnam and headed to the University of Arizona for his doctorate. The violin and viola player quickly became involved in the strings group.
"I came and fell in love with it," said Dennis, better known as Mr. B.
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After a few years, he and Anna fell in love, too, and the pianist became Mrs. B. in 1973.
"They say no business should be run by a husband and wife, but it's worked," Mr. B. said. "And it's worked well."
Mr. B. has given private lessons all this time, too, and Mrs. B. plays piano accompaniment with other instructors. They figure they've taught more than 4,000 students through the strings group and many hundreds more in private lessons.
But it's not just music that their students learn, they and Rousos said. Those involved gain confidence and leadership skills and learn how to take care of one another.
Through the program, musicians ages 8 to 18 play in six levels of orchestra. They have to meet specific goals to move up to the next level. And they play on stage without a conductor, meaning the students are responsible for the success of a piece. Students also rotate lead positions, meaning no one is first chair all the time and they all work together constantly.
"It's a huge teamwork event," Mr. B. said. "By knowing that you're going to sit in that chair and be a leader, you grow in your leadership and your 'can-do' ability. And the confidence and the 'can-do' attitude rub off on everything else they do."
Rousos' son, Joe Rousos-Hammond, began playing with the group about nine years ago. He's now going into his sophomore year at Indiana University, majoring in violin performance. "They produce incredible musicians," she said. "A lot of them are very excellent and a lot go on in music."
Still, that's not necessarily the most important thing to the Bourrets, Rousos said.
"They really care about the kids," she said. "They're sort of like mother and father to them."
Rousos decided to nominate the couple for a Ben's Bell after hearing about other recipients and asking herself, " 'Who are the kindest people I know?' "
The belling was a group affair, and included several former students.
"It was a total surprise," Mr. B. said. "I looked up and there were six or seven people at the front door. They walked in and said, 'You're being belled.'
"We knew what it meant instantly," he said. "We feel very, very honored and very touched because these people cared enough about us to come back and do something like this."
As to why they still spend so much time working with students, he said: "We were just lucky enough to fall into something that really struck both of us. My wife is just as in love with the program as I am after all these years. We love the music, but we love what it does for people, too. That's what we get out of it."
ben's bellings
The Ben's Bells project began in March 2003, one year after Ben Maré Packard died of croup, just before his third birthday. His family hopes it reminds people to be kind, to help ease one another's pain.
The latest phase of the project began in September 2005, weekly "bellings" for those among us who make our community a better, kinder place to live.
If you know people who deserve a Ben's Bell, nominate them to be "belled." Go to http://www.929themountain. com/pages/jennie_itm.html and click on Ben's Bells Project. To learn more about the project, go to http://www.bensbells.org. Or help work on bells by dropping by the studio, 816 E. University Blvd., in Geronimo Plaza. It's open 10-3 Wednesday; 2-7 Friday and 10-3 Saturday and Sunday.
And check the Star each Saturday to see the latest recipient.
