Students Experience a Close Encounter with Music
Muskegon, MI — If you ask any young member of West Michigan Symphony’s (WMS) Debut Strings or Children’s Choir how to get to the Frauenthal Theater, they’ll answer with one word: “practice.”
They should know. These youthful musicians have been practicing since fall for the moment when they take the stage in Muskegon’s historic theater for their annual performance together. The jointly held concert—beginning at 6pm Sunday, March 30—features 87 aspiring musical artists, including WMS’s Debut Strings, Premier Strings and Children’s Choir. Tickets are only $13 for adults and $8 for students (fees not included), visit westmichigansymphony.org for more information.
Cristi Cari Miller’s “Some One” and Pinkzebra’s “We Won’t Stop Dreaming” are among the songs the 34-member Children’s Choir will perform. Directed by Beth Slimko, this group for children ages 8-13 brings together young singers from the lakeshore communities, fine-tuning their vocal abilities and rehearsing exciting repertoire. Meeting weekly from September through May, the group performs with WMS and presents independent concerts and events throughout the area.
Themes from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and Holsts’s The Planets will be performed by Debut Strings, directed by Angela Corbin—an ensemble for students with one to two years of playing experience and strong note reading skills. Premier Strings, an advanced string orchestra whose players act as mentors to the Debut Strings members, will perform such works as “Love is an Open Door” from Frozen, To Tame the Raging Rapids by American composer Brian Balmages, and Palladio by Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins. Premier Strings members perform throughout the community and onstage with WMS at the spring Link Up concert.
These youth ensembles are all part of WMS’s multi-level outreach platform known as Community Music Encounters (CME). Another component of CME occurs through an ongoing partnership with IMPACT, the local after-school 21st CCLC branch. Since 2022 WMS has offered Tune Up, a free beginning strings program for at-risk students embedded within IMPACT. Beginning in 3rdgrade, students receive a violin, viola or cello—theirs for as long as they remain in the program. They learn to play the instrument from the ground up, participate in group lessons, build friendships, and receive instruction and support from experienced and dedicated teaching artists. Tune Up currently operates solely in Muskegon Public Schools.
By contrast, Link Up, CME’s largest component, pairs the orchestra with schools in six area counties. Nearly 4,000 students in grades 3-5 learn to read and play music on the recorder and gain an understanding of orchestral repertoire. They benefit from regular contact with musicians who visit classrooms to work with and introduce them to the symphony. The program culminates with an interactive concert at the Frauenthal Theater, held this year on May 13, during which the students perform on recorders along with the symphony. A founding partner with Carnegie Hall (which developed the curriculum), WMS is the only orchestra that has offered Link Up every season since its 2004 introduction. Over 65,000 area students have participated.
For preschoolers, WMS offers Click Clack Moosic. Based on books by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin, this series introduces children ages 3-8 to instrumental music in a storybook format. Host and narrator Karen Vander Zanden, who conceived and developed the series, introduces the small ensemble of WMS musicians, teaches the children about musical concepts, and then reads the story aloud—accompanied by incidental music written specially for the series.
A thread running through all of CME is the emphasis on the live symphonic experience: WMS prides itself on being student-friendly at all its concerts. Members of WMS youth ensembles are admitted for free; for others WMS offers its Student Music Pass. Those who sign up for this free membership program receive $5 admission for all Masterworks concerts at the Frauenthal Theater and select concerts at The Block, WMS’s 115-seat Listening Room. To register, click HERE.
Children and adults alike are invited to get involved with WMS by voting for the Audience Choice Concert. To participate, visit to the WMS website and vote for your favorite overture, piano concerto and symphony from a selection of choices. The top votes will be unveiled in May and performed on a Masterworks program next season. To learn more, click HERE.
More about West Michigan Symphony:
An anchor cultural organization headquartered in Muskegon celebrating its 85th Anniversary Season this year, West Michigan Symphony led by Music Director Scott Speck is a resident presenting group at the Frauenthal Center, where its eight-concert season is the most visible part of a larger artistic enterprise of far-reaching community benefit. WMS concerts and education events bring 16,500 people—more than 30% of whom are children and students—downtown annually, making it the largest performing arts organization on the West Shore.
Media:
If media is interested in attending and covering this event, a limited number of media passes are available. Please contact Carla Flanders for more information. For Media Resources click HERE.
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