Woman places second at international festival

By Roger Kaska, reprinted with permission from
the Huron Daily Plainsman, Huron, SD

Webmaster's note:  Janis (Smith) Reinschmidt, daughter of the late Emery Smith, grew up and graduated from Odebolt-Arthur High School in 1961. One of her hobbies is bowing a saw.  Those that attended the All School Reunion in 2002 will remember Janis playing her saw during the program at the school.  This article tells about her experience participating in an international "Saw" contest,in which she placed second.  Congratulations, Janis!

     After learning to play the saw from her father, Janis Reinschmidt has used the instrument to entertain people for a number of years.
     But she has never before entered any competitive events.  However, that changed during the summer when she and her husband Paul journeyed to California for the International Music Saw Festival. The festival was held at Santa Cruz and Felton, Calif.
     “I wasn’t planning to enter the competition,” she said. “I went to the festival to learn new techniques and to hear other people play.”
     Most people associate the saw with a piece of equipment for building a house or something similar.  But Reinschmidt has turned it into a musical instrument, using a bow.
     At the California event, she met a man from Kiron, Iowa, which is just 10 miles from where she grew up.
     “I thought he might have learned to play the saw from my father,” she said, “but he didn’t.”
     Reinschmidt grew up on a farm near Odebolt, Iowa, which is 75 miles south of Sioux City.  Her father, Emery Smith, who is now deceased, taught her how to play.
     “He played for things around the community,” she said.
After moving to the Yale area, she decided to start playing again.  “I wanted to carry on the tradition started by my father,” she said.
     Her brother, Dale Smith, who lives in Ankeny, Iowa, also plays. They once played a duet together.
     During the three-day festival, it was explained that the competition consisted of playing one song, using any kind of accompaniment, then playing “Auld Lang Syne” twice without any accompaniment.
     “I decided I could do that,” she said. “That I wouldn’t embarrass myself, and maybe I could put South Dakota on the map.”
     So she entered the competition with 22 others. They included nine from Japan, one each from England, New Zealand and Canada, and the rest from the United States.
     When the results were announced, “I was shocked,” she said. She had tied for second place — with a California woman — receiving a certificate and a gold medallion, designating her runner-up placing.
     The song she played for the competition was “Theme from ‘Titanic.’” She used a compact disc for accompaniment.
     The contest winner was Hajime Sakita of Japan. He also won the competition in 1997.  Third place in the contest was Seiji Kimoto, also of Japan, a third-place finisher in 1997.
     At the end of the competition, Reinschmidt said, “We all came together and played some numbers.
     “There were about 30 of us who participated in this orchestra-like program,” she said. “And I must be honest, we didn’t sound very good.”
     Reinschmidt has played the saw at numerous functions in Huron, De Smet, Lake Preston and Wessington Springs.
     She also played for a home extension meeting in Chamberlain, a nursing home in Sioux Falls and for her daughter’s PEO chapter in Minneapolis.
     Another reason she wanted to attend the festival is because one of the judges was David Weiss. Many years ago she bought one of his records, and she said the photo shows him holding his saw.
     “The number was on the saw and I wrote it down and bought the same kind,” Reinschmidt said.
     Weiss also is the principal oboist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
     “I met the man, and he performed for us on the stage, both on the oboe and saw,” she said. “He’s quite a musician.”
Reinschmidt said she “loves to play the saw because it is unique.”
     “It is fun to see the looks on people’s faces who are surprised to hear music from a saw,” she said.
     She said the only other saw player in the immediate area is Jacob Maras of De Smet, who displayed his talent last summer at the summer Campbell Park program.
     A graduate of Huron University with a bachelor’s degree in music and a minor in the keyboard, she has taught piano lessons for 35 years.
     She currently is starting her third year of directing the choir at the First United Presbyterian Church. She replaced longtime director Milo Pietz, who retired.
      “I’m loving it,” she said of her choir directing. “It’s been a good challenge for someone my age to work with such a wonderful group.”
     She and her husband have three children, Tristin (Jason) Gruenhagen of De Smet; Tifani of Minneapolis; and Tauni of Chicago.