On Thursday evening, Marin Alsop, Musical Director for the Baltimore Symphony shared her vision for OrchKids with the Abreu Fellows: to serve all 82,000 children in Baltimore’s public school system. Bold? Sure. Possible? Absolutely.
The Abreu Fellows spent the last week working in Balitmore’s El Sistema inspired OrchKids program (click here for some photos). During our tour of West Baltimore, our driver painted a bleak picture: boarded houses, abandoned cars, crippling. ‘A program like this is exactly what this community needs.’
And what did it look like? From principal to teachers to janitors, the staff members were engaged. First graders singing mixed meters, Kindergarteners repeating rhythms on their buckets, and most impressively, a 45 minute side-by-side concert, constructed in just 3 days…complete with elements of composition and improvisation. The participants were articulate, maintained good rhythm, smiled constantly and loved interacting with each other musically and socially. Here are some clips from the Kindergarten Bucket Band as they explore rhythm, dynamics and ensemble discipline:
We left the week feeling refreshed, encouraged, and excited to continue working. Our experience reaffirmed the notion that every child has an opportunity to become musically literate. The OrchKids program aims to get participation from children as early as possible and has some extremely talented faculty in place to support this idea. After all that has been accomplished in one year, imagine what this could look like after 10, 20 or even 30 years…maybe Ms. Marin isn’t too far off.
And why should a child participate? Patrick had the perfect answer:
“Fun.” Maestro Abreu would be proud.
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