BALTIMORE — It’s a familiar sound from childhood. The recorder, an instrument often played in elementary school.
Well, for some students, that little recorder has taken them to a big stage. Thanks to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
About 6,000 students and teachers from elementary schools in Baltimore City and County attended concerts at the Meyerhoff this week.
Recorders and music sheets in hand, they played and sang along, led by the BSO and Cromwell Valley Elementary School’s recorder club.
They learned several pieces in their classrooms over the past few months, scores provided by Carnegie Hall, like Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy.’
The folk song ‘We Shall Not Be Moved.’
“It is a song about African Americans and how they wanted to be free,” says fifth-grade performer Loïc Pooda. “It reminds us of all the hard times everybody’s gone through.”
And Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird,’ blending ballet and orchestra.
The finale, ‘Oye!’ really got the crowd moving.
“My favorite was ‘Oye!’” says fourth-grade performer Zoey Kirlin. “I really liked it because I got to express myself through dancing and it was really upbeat, and I enjoyed that.”
It’s an experience both the audience and the students on stage won’t soon forget.
“I think it’s really fun that we get a chance to perform and be on stage and show our talents,” says fifth grader Soren Debler, who also performed. “It was a little overwhelming at first, but then when the music started playing, my nerves washed away, and I was fine.”
The BSO has been doing midweek educational concerts for schoolchildren since 1924.
This is the first time it joined with Carnegie Hall for the concert series.
