Excited chatter, 300 student musicians playing “De Colores,” words like “dynamics, tempo, texture, form” floating around, hundreds of children singing — all these sounds filled Keppel Auditorium on Wednesday during two performances by the North Carolina Symphony.
Fifth-grade students from Rowan-Salisbury and Lexington City Schools as well as students from North Hills Christian School, Sacred Heart Catholic School and Salisbury Academy, had the privilege of hearing an hour-long concert by our state symphony thanks to the generosity of the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation and the Margaret C. Woodson Foundation. The event was organized by the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra.
“Oohs” and “ahs” filled the air at the sight of the instruments, especially the bassoons and tuba.
Conductor William Henry Curry led the orchestra in well-known pieces such as Borodin’s “On the Steppes of Central Asia,” Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 7” and Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8.”
Even though these fifth-graders were too young to know about the Lone Ranger, they seemed to hear the galloping horses in the Overture to William Tell.
Music teachers at each school prepared the students for the concert by providing listening lessons during the students’ weekly music class based on the concert pieces, coaching selected students to perform on recorder and other classroom instruments, and teaching the children to sing the folk song “De Colores” in English and Spanish.
At the conclusion of the concert, Conductor Curry thanked the music teachers for providing music education for their students. He encouraged the young concert-goers to continue to listen to classical music.