CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Violinist Alice McIlrath asked a fifth-grade boy to lift his chin and placed the violin beneath it. She instructed him to relax his pinkie finger and pluck a string during a quick lesson.
Now he was ready for his debut performance.
The boy stood in front of his fifth-grade classmates at Sagewood Elementary School on a recent Friday with four string players from the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. One of the musicians played the tune to “Pop Goes the Weasel.”
The boy grinned as plucked a string for the “pop.” He bowed to his classmates at the end.
The string quartet visited the school as part of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra’s Music on the Move program. Part of the program involves teaching students about instruments during the school day, symphony executive director Rachel Bailey said. The program exposes students to instrumental music and hopefully inspires them to play an instrument and join a band or orchestra program, she said. The musicians also work to hone the skills of middle and high school students as well as college master classes.
The Wyoming Symphony Orchestra has focused on developing its Music on the Move program for about seven years to bring the symphony out of the concert hall and into the community, Bailey said. The program also involves free public performances and playing for hospital patients.
Some of the students may go on to play one of the instruments they heard during the program or a different one, she said.
“The Wyoming Symphony Orchestra hopes to inspire kids to play music so we can continue to be a symphony orchestra, that we have patrons and musicians, so we can continue this awesome gem that we have in Casper,” Bailey said. “And music is what makes life worth living, right?”
The Sagewood students listened as the symphony players demonstrated on the violin, viola and cello. They discussed how the larger instruments play lower tones, while the violin plays the highest notes. They showed the students the bows made of wood and horsehair along with various parts of the instruments like the bridge, which helps amplify the sound.
The string group performed a familiar-sounding Mozart piece for the fifth grade classes at Sagewood. Many of the students had heard “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” before, they said. They heard each instrument played solo, including a fiddle tune during their music class that day. The students clapped along during an upbeat piece.
“That was a song that you could end up playing after just a year or two of playing,” violinist McIlrath told the students.
Music on the Move is especially important this year because band and orchestra classes no longer exist in Natrona County’s public elementary schools, Bailey said. The ensembles, like the string and brass quartets, give students a chance to learn about individual instruments and hear what they sound like, Bailey said.
“It takes some of the instruments out of the orchestra that some kids might not ever hear on their own - this is a tuba, a trombone, a trumpet and French horn,” Bailey said. “Those are not really typical instruments in a band. So I think it’s really great for students to experience those kind of individually and then as a group.”
Some students told the musicians they plan to start playing an instrument next year.
The idea behind the program is to plant a seed with the students, Wyoming Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet player Scott Meredith said after the assembly.
“This is where it happens - that’s what I told the kids today. I said, ’You can do this.’ This is how we started,” Meredith said. “You know, through dedication and hard work, it’s possible you can be up here and talk to the future generations too.”
Later in the day, the brass group played a variety of music - including Bach, jazz and music from “Star Wars” - for the students at Oregon Trail Elementary. Many of the students swayed or danced as they sat on the floor listening.
Like the string players, the brass group also demonstrated how their instruments work.
The tuba is one of the largest brass instruments and makes a deeper sound, while a small trumpet called a piccolo trumpet can produce the highest pitches, the students learned as the musicians showed off their instruments.
It takes more than just blowing into an instrument, trumpet player Don Williams explained. He buzzed air through his lips to show them how he makes the sound from the mouthpiece. He asked the students to try it too, and they laughed and the school gym filled with the sound of their buzzing.
“The coolest thing about playing this instrument is when I was in school I got a grade to do this,” he said. “I get paid now to do that.”
The brass players talked to the students about how they were elementary school or sixth grade students when they began playing.
“Even if you don’t play an instrument right now - when you start, in a few years you could be doing what we’re doing, and how cool would that be,” Meredith said.
The Music on the Move program shows students that music is something they can do whatever career path they choose, Bailey said. The musicians are encouraged to talk with the students about their backgrounds in music and their jobs, she added. Many of the musicians in the orchestra are also teachers. Meredith and tuba player Alan Harvey are professors at the University of Wyoming.
“You don’t have to be a professional musician to do it,” Bailey said. “A lot of our musicians they have day jobs, and they do it as a recreational activity or you can be an educator like these guys and teach music and play with the symphony.”
Treasure Hildebrand smiled and moved as the brass quintet played an arrangement from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“I liked the Jack Sparrow and I liked the jazz,” the girl said after the assembly. Her favorite instrument was the tuba, because it’s big and has a low sound, she added. She wants to play music too, and would choose “a big, big piano,” she said.
Meredith told the students he was 8 years old when the music from “Star Wars” inspired him to start playing trumpet. Elementary school is the most important time to introduce students to musical instruments, he said.
“If we can get 8-year-olds excited about playing an instrument, then at least when they get to junior high and high school, they’ve already got some sort of ’I want to be here,’ rather than ’My dad’s making me do this.’”
___
Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.