The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Community

Discussion

October 21, 2009

Feeling the music

Visually impaired youth get personal with orchestra

By Patrick Cooley

Greenville Symphony Orchestra will kick off its concert season Saturday in a fashion unlike any in its 81-year history.

The musicians will be sharing their talents and their instruments with visually impaired young people.

Keystone Kids of Keystone Blind Association will attend an afternoon rehearsal, get a feel for the instruments and then have special seating for the evening concert in William A. Passavant Center at Thiel College.

GSO President Judy Eckler said the students will be allowed to handle the instruments under the supervision of orchestra members, who will demonstrate how they are played.

“The students will get one-on-one sessions with the musicians,” she said. “They will get to get an idea of what the instruments are like.”

Faith Ann Miller, GSO treasurer, said conductor Michael Gelfand will do a short session on conducting and musical careers, and snacks will be provided by Jamestown Lions Club.

“As far as we know, no other orchestra has done this with the visually impaired,” she said.

Mrs. Eckler and Jonathan Fister, president and CEO of Keystone Blind, said the idea originated from a grant-writing seminar at Community Library of the Shenango Valley in Sharon, where staff members from both organizations met and talked.

“Our guy got in a conversation with a gal representing the symphony, and they started talking about the things we’ve done within each organization,” Fister said. “We’ve taken our children to Disney World, we’ve had a trip to Niagara Falls, and they started talking about how the sensory experience was really important to blind children, and that drifted into an invitation to bring the kids to the symphony.

“The initial offer was to just bring the kids to a concert,” he said. “It gradually grew into a more complex experience. We wanted to give them the opportunity to touch the instruments, learn the sounds each instrument makes, learn the layout of the symphony, sit in on a rehearsal, and then later in the evening, on the performance. We wanted to show them how all of these instruments combined to make the sound the symphony makes.”

The afternoon experience is intended to enhance the young people’s enjoyment of the evening performance.

Fister said that unlike sighted concert-goers, the blind can enjoy the sound, but not the visual aspects of the performance, such as seeing that orchestra members sit in the shape of a horseshoe.

The Keystone Kids hail from Mercer and the five surrounding counties served by Sharon-based Keystone Blind.

Text Only
Community
  • Vets’ clubs coordinate coupon clipping for troops

    The next time you come across coupons for items you don’t buy or that have expired, hang on to them; military men and women overseas can use them for their own groceries.

    February 6, 2012

  • American chestnut topic of workshops

    If you have an interest in helping contribute to the eventual return of American chestnut to our forest ecosystems, one of these workshops might be your cure for spring fever:

    February 4, 2012

  • Farrell grad a classic(al) example

    A Farrell High School graduate will return to the Shenango Valley next weekend to perform with an elite classical guitar quartet from the State University of New York at Fredonia.

    February 2, 2012

  • Kids meet challenge with 3-D creations

    When Sharpsville Area Elementary School fifth-grade teachers asked students to create their own cities, they were expecting colorful drawings of buildings, parks and streets.

    February 1, 2012

  • Student revives animation technique for feature spot in band’s music video

    Westminster College sophomore Joe Ligo knew the process of incorporating stop-motion animation into the video wouldn’t be easy.

    January 29, 2012

  • New coffee house Hallowed grounds

    Churches look to infuse faith in believers in all kinds of ways.

    At First Presbyterian Church of Sharon, leaders are hoping a little bit of coffee might help.

    Last week the church hosted its first Cana’s Corner Coffeehouse. Twice a month the church will open its doors to musicians and set up a coffee and snack bar.

    January 24, 2012 1 Photo

  • Hallowed grounds

    Churches look to infuse faith in believers in all kinds of ways.
    At First Presbyterian Church of Sharon, leaders are hoping a little bit of coffee might help.

    January 15, 2012

  • Satellite office

    For nearly 30 years, Sharon native Edward “Ted” Cattron was bound by threat of treason charges to keep a big secret from his family and friends and only recently has been able to share the truth.

    December 11, 2011

  • Artist creates with fabric

    Evian Zukas-Oguz said her husband calls her “the nutty professor of fabric” because of the way she goes into her own world when crocheting, sewing, weaving on a loom or working on a knitting machine.

    December 8, 2011

  • 19th drive reaches $13,764

    The Herald Good News Fund’s 19th annual drive that will provide turkeys for Christmas to local families in need has collected $13,764 so far.

    December 7, 2011