Aug. 26--NEWBURYPORT -- Pursuing music as a career has been on Risa Kapp's radar since she was in grade school at Bresnahan Elementary School.

Moving up through the Nock Middle School back when the chorale and strings programs were thriving, she developed her skills to the point where she felt continuing through high school and beyond was a viable option.

And at a time when many students drop out of band to pursue sports or pursuits deemed "cooler" by teen standards, she had already developed a passion that transcended peer pressure.

When she read recently that the Nock was bringing back music for every student, by way of a Newburyport Education Foundation grant that will reopen one of the music rooms to a new music-making laboratory, she was thrilled. And she wanted to share what music had given to her as a student of Newburyport schools.

"It makes me really upset," said Kapp of how she's witnessed the music program in Newburyport dwindle over the years. "I know even when I was in fifth grade they were starting to cut the music program a little bit, and I've watched it get smaller and smaller and smaller."

As a college student at UNH, Kapp plays in the marching band at hockey and football games, participates in chorus and recently was offered an opportunity to star in a movie alongside Brendan Frasier and Brooke Shields. It's a small part, but she and her fellow UNH band members were paid $180 a day to take part in some scenes for the duo's upcoming movie "Furry Vengeance" (2010-Summit Entertainment), which is shooting on location in Boxford.

The comedy, which is slated for release in April 2010, pits Frasier -- a real estate developer -- against a group of displaced local forest creatures, creating a man vs. nature, fur-flying adventure.

"My band director got contacted by Boston casting, along with BC, BU and UMass, and they ended up choosing us," Kapp said. "They needed about 20 of us to be in a scene where we march and play, but also to be featured extras in a few scenes."

It was a great opportunity that made her realize how being able to perform music and play in a band isn't something just anyone can do. On the road to becoming a music teacher, she's also getting opportunities to travel the world.

"Earlier this summer, I went to the Czech Republic and competed in a chorus competition," she said. "We ended up being chosen out of 30 choirs to perform at the grave site of a famous Czech composer, Bohslav Martinu. There were about 25 of us from the UNH chorus, and we sang a lot of Czech repertoire. We had one song we had to do as a test piece and some Mendelssohn pieces in German and some Latin pieces, too."

She's met lots of interesting people in her travels, some of whom happen to be Hollywood movie stars.

"We got to meet Brendan Frasier," Kapp said of the summer movie shoot work. "He was really friendly with us and wanted to talk to us and know what all our instruments are. He liked the tuba a lot."

Shields was also exceedingly friendly with the students, wanting to know what it was like to be in the band, Kapp said. It's a lot of hard work, Kapp said. But she doesn't regret committing her weekends and life to it.

"Marching band is never going to be the coolest thing you can do," she said. "And it's also a lot of work."

Several times throughout her career at Newburyport High she had to make the difficult decision whether to stick with band or continue to play soccer, which at the time was deemed an activity with a "cooler" group to hang with.

"My friends would make fun of me playfully, but it was always my thing, and I don't regret doing it," Kapp. said. "I've known my whole life that I wanted to be a music teacher."

What bothers her as she embarks on a career in an uncertain industry is that programs seem to be disappearing at the middle school level, where she herself acquired the skills and the desire to want to stick with it. She'd like to do her part for keeping restoration of the Nock music program on the district's list of top priorities.

"The exposure I had to music during that time -- general music classes and chorus -- really made me want to be a music teacher," Kapps said. "Kids can never know how much they like music if they never have exposure to it."

And it's not just future music teachers who can benefit from what's learned in music class, she added. Music is hard work, and practicing to take part in a group performance is a wonderful exercise in commitment.

"It's taught me how hard work pays off," she said. "It's given me a sense of commitment. You have to be at every rehearsal, and you have to know the music or you'll stand out."

At a time when music programs are disappearing across the commonwealth and elsewhere, Kapp has faith that they will come back. In fact, she's banking her career hopes on it.

"It does make me a little nervous going into a field where programs are getting cut and teachers are getting laid off, but I know that the arts disappeared from the schools before, in the 1970s," she said. "But I really feel they're a really important part of education, and they will come back. I really feel they'll come back because there's lots of organizations that push for it, like the Newburyport Education Foundation.

"I know it's what I really want to do," she said.

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