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Students experiment with symphony sounds
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Neighbors | Ashley Luthern Dobbins Elementary third-graders Maddy Lucas, Jenna Jacobson and Erika Pallante clap along as they learn about rhythm from Randall Fleischer, music director for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
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Neighbors | Ashley Luthern Dobbins Elementary third-grader Robbie Murray raises his hand to answer a question from Randall Fleischer, music director for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
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Neighbors | Ashley Luthern Dobbins Elementary third-graders eagerly raise their hands to answer questions from Randall Fleischer, music director for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
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Neighbors | Ashley Luthern Violinists Sara Schaft and Gloria Slocum, both from the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, perform as part of a string quartet at Dobbins Elementary during a music lesson Dec. 11.
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Neighbors | Ashley Lutshern Randall Fleischer, music director for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, reviews the harmony part to a melody composed by third-grade students at Dobbins Elementary.
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Neighbors | Ashley Luthern Randall Fleischer, music director for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, teaches third-graders at Dobbins Elementary School about making melodies on Dec. 11.
By ASHLEY LUTHERN
aluthern@vindy.com
Schools can be noisy places, but at Dobbins Elementary, the sound of a string quartet can sometimes be heard above the usual cacophony.
Conductor Randall Fleischer and members of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra have been visiting third-graders at Dobbins to teach musical concepts.
At their last session on Dec. 11, the theme was rhythm.
“Rhythm is all around you, and we’re here to rap about rhythm,” said Fleischer, who is the symphony’s music director.
The conductor rhymed over a beat and asked the students to name objects with rhythm.
“A heart!” Erika Pallante said. “A car engine!” added Galena Lopuchovsky.
After learning about march and jazz rhythms, Fleischer reviewed the scale Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do. Students chose two notes and one of the rhythms for each measure.
“Congratulations, you’ve just composed another melody,” Fleischer said after six measures.
The string quartet then played selections for the students while Fleischer wrote harmony parts to the students’ melody. When he was finished, students chose pieces of music to intersperse with their melody to create a symphony.
“All of these lessons are thoughtfully planned,” Fleischer said. “They’ll be choosing themes from pop music like in ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Star Wars,’ but also the classics like Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi.”
Dobbins isn’t the only school learning from the symphony. YSO received a one-year $95,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to use music in core curriculums and has been traveling to classrooms in and around Youngstown, said Patricia Syak, director of the Performing Arts Center.
“It’s not just about having fun listening to music, but it’s teaching literacy, math and science,” Syak said. “This third-grade class (at Dobbins) is getting help with literacy because they’re actually learning to compose a piece of music.
Fleischer and members of orchestra have visited Dobbins once a month since October, and have one more lesson planned in February.
“I’m thrilled to have the symphony be part of our music instruction at Dobbins,” said Principal Cheryl Borovitcky. “You can really see the kids light up and they love the sessions.”