In Sunday’s (8/18) Greenville News (South Carolina), Paul Hyde writes about the Greenville Symphony Orchestra’s Lollipops program of concerts for young children at local libraries, in its 50th year this season. “The 30-minute programs, geared toward the attention spans of young children, are upbeat and playful and always feature a small group of the Greenville Symphony’s top musicians…. ‘They’re very popular, always well attended,’ said Karen Allen, youth services manager at the Greenville County Library System. ‘Children like them especially because they’re very interactive.’ … The concerts encourage early literacy and help children build their vocabularies, said [Greenville Symphony Education Director Braxton] Ballew.… ‘After the concerts, children are then invited to check out books and CDs from the library’s extensive collection,’ Allen said.” … ‘We have so much research on how critically important it is to expose very young children to everything that we can, including reading, music and the arts,’ said Polly Kahn, vice president for learning and leadership development at the League of American Orchestras…. ‘Music requires so much effort and energy, so the life lessons that you take away from it far outweigh the skill set that you take away,’ said Bradley Wingate, the Greenville County school district’s academic specialist for visual and performing arts.”
Posted August 19, 2013
