“Violinist Alice McIlrath asked a fifth-grade boy to lift his chin and placed the violin beneath it,” writes Elysia Conner in Wednesday’s (3/28) Casper Star Tribune (WY). “The boy stood in front of his fifth-grade classmates … 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 he plucked a string for the ‘pop.’ … 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…. Musicians also [work with] middle and high school students [and give] college master classes.… The program also involves free public performances and playing for hospital patients…. 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 idea behind the program is to plant a seed with the students, Wyoming Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet player Scott Meredith said…. ‘This is where it happens—that’s what I told the kids today. I said, “You can do this.” ’ ”
Posted March 30, 2018
