Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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Youngsters scrambled into the Lexington Opera House's box seats for the first of two Discovery Concerts.

After opening with a Tchaikovsky waltz, conductor Scott Terrell turned from the Lexington Philharmonic toward his young audience.

“What is rhythm?” he asked. “It’s very simple – it’s just organization of sound and silence.”

The annual Discovery Concert is the cornerstone of the orchestra’s educational programs, which connect youths with professional musicians. Some 1,700 students from Fayette County and beyond spent an engaging hour with the Philharmonic and the University of Kentucky’s percussion ensemble Oct. 7 as powerful music and powerful lessons resounded through the Lexington Opera House.

For instance, Terrell talked about familiar, everyday rhythms such as brushing one’s teeth and about how composers use polyrhythm to shift the accents in music. To illustrate another point, the orchestra played an excerpt from “Saturday Night Waltz,” an Aaron Copland piece about the wide-open American West.

“That’s how we use tempo to be expressive in music and create an image for the listener,” as Terrell explained.

The music director, who is in his third season with the Lexington Philharmonic, is right at home with students, and the atmosphere during the show-and-tell concert is conducive to interaction. In fact, Terrell at times called for audience participation, holding the kids’ attention.

The Philharmonic’s educational programs always have an overarching theme. This year it’s Rhythms of the World, which prompted inviting the UK ensemble.

“One of the ways rhythm plays a key part is through the percussion section in an orchestra. This section can be any number of instruments, and they come from all over the world,” Terrell noted.

The college students obliged on various drums, playing samples from Brazil and West Africa. A particular crowd-pleaser was Santana’s hit “Oye Como Va,” performed by UK’s steel drum band. Orchestra members also used unconventional percussion instruments such as river stones and sea shells in a Cousteau-inspired piece.

British education expert Sir Ken Robinson suggests that youngsters need to find their element – what really speaks to them – whether math, science or the arts.

“Everything is so intricately connected, we really can’t afford to focus on one side of the brain or the other,” said Jeffrey Spenner, the Philharmonic’s artistic and education coordinator. “What we’re really going for is nurturing and fostering that love of music and love for the arts in general by giving students this opportunity to be in there and be close to the music and literally feel it as it reverberates through them. We hope it plants the seed of a life-long appreciation of the arts.”

Other programs include the instrument petting zoo, ensemble visits to schools, family concerts, open rehearsals and the PB&J series, to name a few.

Beaumont, Morton, SCAPA at Bluegrass, Arlington, Dixie and Southern Elementary were among schools attending this fall’s back-to-back Discovery Concerts.

“You could tell it was planned out very well in terms of the repertoire and the organization of the music (slow, fast, slow, fast), and having the percussion ensemble come and mix among the children – it gives them a close-up view of a well-trained musician playing those instruments,” said Andrea Marcum, music teacher at Arlington Elementary.

“They always do such a good job of making sure the kids understand the focus of the concert,” she added.

For instance, Terrell several times gave the children something specific to watch for, such as variance of rhythmic patterns. “That makes them active listeners,” Marcum said.

She also noted how moving the Discovery Concert from March to October provides teachers great material to use all year long, especially given the new state standards and required reviews of authentic performances.

Marcum had prepared her third, fourth and fifth-graders by studying orchestral instruments, along with the role of the conductor.

“After they get primed in the vocabulary, they come to the concert and get that experience,” she said. “Now that they personally saw with their own eyes a conductor, it has more meaning for them.”

Resources

• Discovery Concert guide (56-page download for classroom teachers)
• Lexington Philharmonic’s educational programs
• Jeffrey Spenner, artistic and education coordinator, (859) 233-4226

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