GRAND RAPIDS, Mi. — Many people know of the St. Cecilia Music Center as a beautiful, historic, intimate venue to see live music. It's all of that, but also a place of education for both children and adults.
This year, the education went beyond the walls of the building, into elementary schools to expose young kids to kinds of music they may not necessarily hear. It all culminated with a live concert at the venue.
Retired band director and administrator James Sawyer spent 40 years in education and says music helps the kids open up and become more connected to the things around them. That’s why is was so important for him to be a part of this program, dreamed up by Kathy Holbrook, the Executive and Artistic Director of the St. Cecelia Music Center. She says exposing kids to music early is key.
The program started with both a bluegrass band and jazz band visiting three GRPS elementary schools for a more educational performance, talking about the history of what’s considered America’s music.
Hayes Griffin led the bluegrass section of the program. He says the highlight for him was seeing the reactions during the live performance, cementing the importance of what they’re doing. Patricia Wunder agrees, she’s a music teacher and orchestra director at GRPS. She says most of the students in the program already play an instrument, but events like this hopefully keep them engaged. She says, “Playing an instrument starting from a young age just makes a significant difference in their learning in math and reading and other areas of school. I love music, and I’m really excited about teaching music, but to know that it's going to benefit them in everything that they do for the rest of their lives.”
For Holbrook, that was the goal of this program, immersion, education and appreciation. She says, “We never necessarily think we're going to create the next YoYo Ma or something. But we are hopefully creating the next version of audience members, people that support the arts, people that play music and have music in their lives. And so I just think, they're sponges right now. It’s when they're young like that, something will click in them and spark something in them. It's just important to make sure that we're there.”
For children who want an introduction to an instrument, or more playing time in a group, the School of Music takes students from grades 3-12 – as well as some summer camp opportunities. If you want more information, head to hscmcgr.org
