In Monday’s (10/7) Erie Times-News (Pennsylvania), Erica Erwin reports on Gannon University’s Erie Chamber Orchestra, whose free “The ABCs of Symphonies” educational program is “designed to help students become familiar with the various instrument families within an orchestra while also developing reading and English skills. Over the course of four days, the orchestra performed 11 in-school concerts for students in kindergarten through third grade throughout the Erie School District. To help students and teachers prepare, [ECO Music Director Matthew] Kraemer and ECO General Manager Steve Weiser developed a three-week curriculum. … Students [at Grover Cleveland Elementary School] listened to a few musical selections before the concert ended with a reading of Dr. Seuss’s ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ set to music. Second-grader Alexa Ellis, 7, had never heard an orchestra play before…. She looks forward to music class every Monday. Music ‘shows who you are,’ she said. ‘It shows a story.’ … Studies show that exposure to arts and music and can benefit students academically [and] participating in a band or orchestra can boost students’ self-esteem and teach valuable life lessons, such as teamwork, as well, said Grover Cleveland Principal Michelle Fiorelli.”
Posted October 9, 2013
