“There’s a science to the music,” writes Mike Blackerby in Thursday’s (10/25) Knoxville News (Tennessee). “About 3,700 area elementary-school students found that out Wednesday at the Civic Auditorium as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra presented its Scientific Symphony, an educational program designed for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. KSO Resident Conductor James Fellenbaum traded his baton for a lab coat during the often dramatic and inspirational production, which included classical musical, videos, scientific demonstrations and even sing-a-longs. Through on-screen oscilloscopes, students were also given visual representations of sound as the 80-member orchestra played pieces that demonstrated differences in high and low pitch, and low and soft volumes. The Scientific Symphony, which will be seen by 10,000 students by the time its final presentations are given today, keeps with KSO’s longstanding commitment of pairing different subjects with classical music to pique interest in young people. … Fellenbaum opened the 45-minute program by conducting a chemical science demonstration with Ken Mayes of the American Museum of Science and Energy, one of the program sponsors. … Musical presentations ranged from Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 9’ to ‘E.T. Adventures on Earth’ by John Williams.”
Posted October 26, 2012
