Thousands of students attend Spokane Symphony Day to discover an instrument they love
It was a casual day for the Spokane Symphony orchestra, whose musicians dressed in color-coded T-shirts according to their sections.
When the house lights went down Thursday morning, they played a combination of classics and modern jingles, like themes from Super Mario and the Pink Panther.
Their unusually young audience screamed like they were at a rock concert.
“I have the time of my life at these concerts,” conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg said. “We hope Symphony Day inspires them.”
A record 6,000 fourth- and fifth-grade students from 82 regional schools attended the free concerts and educational program hosted by the symphony at the Fox Theater this week.
Samuels-Shragg guided the students on a musical journey through fairytales from different countries while introducing orchestra instruments.
The annual field trip is part of the Spokane Symphony’s Education Program for regional students. The kids attend at the time they are thinking about what instrument they’d like to play for sixth grade and start band or strings classes.
Kristi Allen, a fifth-grade teacher at Finch Elementary, said she remembers Symphony Day when she was a student and enjoys coming back as a teacher. Many kids have never seen the symphony or been inside the Fox Theater.
“It was very engaging for the students to hear all the different instruments,” Allen said. “It gives them an opportunity to see them in action.”
Josiah Kirkingburg, a fifth-grader at Finch, said he is thinking about playing the harp after standing next to one on the stage.
“I was kind of surprised seeing how big it is, because I was expecting it to be more of a small instrument,” he said.
After attending last year’s concert, Josiah was impressed to see a new program that was different and full of surprises.
Weeks before the concert, teachers use a learning guide to introduce their students to classical music and the songs they will hear at the symphony.
“When they arrive on Symphony Day,” Samuels-Shragg said, “it’s all tunes they know, which is really fun for us at the orchestra because we hear their gasps of recognition.”
When the tuba played the first few notes of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” the audience spontaneously sang the rest of the nursery rhyme.
“They get to really feel the difference from listening to the YouTube video they have been hearing in their classroom and what it is like to hear a live, full-symphony orchestra,” Samuels-Shragg said. “I think live music is such a special thing to experience.”
Samuels-Shragg is a former assistant conductor of the Spokane Symphony and is now assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Texas. She is back in town to conduct a Halloween concert this weekend featuring the music of Harry Potter and other Halloween favorites. This is her third time conducting Symphony Day.
She kept the program interactive by leading the students in a dance along with Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake Waltz.” She also invited them to help her conduct the “William Tell Overture” by Gioachino Rossini, a march meant to evoke the sound of galloping horses.
For the finale, Samuels-Shragg put on a witch hat for a surprise performance of “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter, by John Williams – a song that starts out faintly but was instantly recognized by everyone in the theater.