“At Embrace Church on North Limestone … the first notes of the finale from Dvorák’s New World Symphony waft through the second-floor room,” writes Cheryl Truman in Monday’s (5/5) Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky). “The musicians are second- and-third-graders from Arlington Elementary School in the North Limestone MusicWorks, a program of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras…. There are 21 students in the program, which meets for two hours every day after school…. The program is in its first year in Lexington. Participants were selected on a first-come, first-served basis; a dozen students are on a waiting list. The intention is to expand each year, [North Limestone MusicWorks founding director Rachel] Hockenberry said, so that ultimately, students can be in North Limestone MusicWorks throughout their time in public school…. MusicWorks offers only three instruments: violin, viola and cello…. It teaches students how to read music and count rhythm.… The progress from the first month of instruction to now is ‘phenomenal,’ Hockenberry said…. ‘We are teaching these kids valuable skills that they can take into schools and through the rest of their lives: to work as a team, to achieve something beautiful, to work very hard at something.’ ”
Posted May 8, 2014
