Symphony Guild workshops introduce students to instruments

The Hot Springs/Hot Springs Village Symphony Guild is gearing up for its third year of workshops for Orchestra and You, an educational program designed to introduce second- and third-grade students to the instruments of orchestra.

The program educates and demonstrates the four families of orchestral instruments through a distinctive hands-on approach. The three-dimensional Plexiglas instruments are ideal teaching instruments, a news release said. The students not only see the shape of the instrument, but also hear what it sounds like through recordings of familiar music. They experience the sound of sectional quartets, quintets and a full orchestral version as they pretend to play the instrument. Actual instruments such as clarinets, trumpets, violins or one of the percussion instruments are also demonstrated.

Eileen Miller, committee coordinator, said in the release, “It has been exciting to see, hear and, yes, feel the reaction of the second grade students, their teachers, their assistants and other adults who have come to see and hear what we do as the Orchestra and You committee. We will begin our third year of workshops in the elementary schools in Hot Springs together with Hot Springs Village area schools. Modifications for improvement are always taking place in regard to the presentation as we continue to improve it.”

As this program continues to grow with more and more schools requesting it, Miller said she hopes to add more volunteers to the committee. “We are at a bare bones level of very busy Village-involved presenters. It is an enormous job to organize everyone’s demanding schedule along with school timetables.”

Email Miller at emmiler5@sbcglobal.net for volunteer information.

Call Symphony Guild President Suzanne Babbie at 501-922-6418 for more information about the guild or program.