Darryl “Chamberlain, 59, got the idea to start the A-Flat Youth Orchestra more than a decade ago after attending a [parade] in downtown Kansas City and noticing that most of the bands marching in it were from suburban districts,” writes Mará Rose Williams in Friday’s (8/11) Kansas City Star. “He found out that budget cuts and enrollment declines had forced city district schools to eliminate music programs, and he was determined to bring music to Kansas City students and hopes to change lives. … Chamberlain, against all the advice he’d gotten from others who said that one man without disposable cash can’t build an orchestra, set out to do just that. … He began searching pawn stores, Craigslist and elsewhere for used instruments he could clean up. He bought them one at a time, with money he earned playing piano at churches … He welcomes students who already play and students who have never picked up an instrument. … ‘I’m doing more than teaching music,’ Chamberlain told The Star. ‘I draw parallels to life situations and help them to understand how music connects to everyday life.’ ” Chamberlain and the A-Flat Youth Orchestra were profiled in a video report on Friday’s (8/11) Today Show.
Posted August 15, 2017
