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FayObserver.com - <div>Symphony musicians share love of music with deaf and hearing students</div>
Musicians from the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra spent Wednesday afternoon sharing their love of music with a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing students from Mary McArthur Elementary School.
The students were among 33 school-aged children taking part this week in a summer camp sponsored by the St. Ann Neighborhood Youth Center.
Nate Leyland, principal cellist with the orchestra, showed the children his cello, which was handmade by an artist in New Mexico. Hidden inside the instrument is a painting of a phoenix.
Leyland and the rest of the group shared stories of how they were introduced to music at a young age, roughly the same age as the group they were speaking to.
"It's great to come out and share our love of music with the kids," Leyland said. "I had a student who volunteered with my first orchestra, and years later, he was playing professionally."
A sign-language interpreter was on hand to translate what the musicians were telling the students, as well as to interpret questions from students who spoke in sign language.
The children got a chance to hold and play some of the percussion instruments, including a snare drum and a tambourine.
Whether they could fully hear or not, the children sat mesmerized watching the string quartet perform a movement composed by Mozart.
Students seemed more interested about the history of the instruments than anything else.
One child wanted to know whether the cello was a boy or a girl and what kind of personality it had.
Another wanted to know how old it was and where it had traveled since leaving its home in New Mexico.
The idea to have the orchestra teach the children about music came from Linda Miller.
"My daughter started playing the violin when she was 4 after seeing someone else play in person," Miller said. "It ended up getting her a scholarship to help pay for college."
Miller, executive director of the St. Ann Neighborhood Youth Center, said this is the third year students from Mary McArthur have participated in the program.
Dr. Tracy Wiggins led an interactive demonstration in which he formed a makeshift band with students banging drums and hitting the triangle.
Wiggins teaches in the music department at UNC-Pembroke and has been doing educational outreach for years.
"It's important we do things like this," Wiggins said. "I mean, I was still playing baseball and soccer when an uncle introduced me to a drum set."
Musicians from the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra spent Wednesday afternoon sharing their love of music with a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing students from Mary McArthur Elementary School.
The students were among 33 school-aged children taking part this week in a summer camp sponsored by the St. Ann Neighborhood Youth Center.
Nate Leyland, principal cellist with the orchestra, showed the children his cello, which was handmade by an artist in New Mexico. Hidden inside the instrument is a painting of a phoenix.
Leyland and the rest of the group shared stories of how they were introduced to music at a young age, roughly the same age as the group they were speaking to.
"It's great to come out and share our love of music with the kids," Leyland said. "I had a student who volunteered with my first orchestra, and years later, he was playing professionally."
A sign-language interpreter was on hand to translate what the musicians were telling the students, as well as to interpret questions from students who spoke in sign language.
The children got a chance to hold and play some of the percussion instruments, including a snare drum and a tambourine.
Whether they could fully hear or not, the children sat mesmerized watching the string quartet perform a movement composed by Mozart.
Students seemed more interested about the history of the instruments than anything else.
One child wanted to know whether the cello was a boy or a girl and what kind of personality it had.
Another wanted to know how old it was and where it had traveled since leaving its home in New Mexico.
The idea to have the orchestra teach the children about music came from Linda Miller.
"My daughter started playing the violin when she was 4 after seeing someone else play in person," Miller said. "It ended up getting her a scholarship to help pay for college."
Miller, executive director of the St. Ann Neighborhood Youth Center, said this is the third year students from Mary McArthur have participated in the program.
Dr. Tracy Wiggins led an interactive demonstration in which he formed a makeshift band with students banging drums and hitting the triangle.
Wiggins teaches in the music department at UNC-Pembroke and has been doing educational outreach for years.
"It's important we do things like this," Wiggins said. "I mean, I was still playing baseball and soccer when an uncle introduced me to a drum set."