From SOMSD:
Within minutes of taking their seats, hundreds of District fourth-graders performed the Fifth Symphony by Ludwig Von Beethoven at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) yesterday.
Their instruments were their voices, although not everyone had the same sense of timing.
“You have to wait for the conductor,” said Brent Chancellor, conductor of the Lux Orchestra, an innovative orchestra with both emerging professionals and internationally recognized musicians. Pointing toward the 35-piece orchestra on stage, he added, “They don’t play until I move. Here we go.”
And with a clearly conducted downbeat, the audience of fourth graders belted out one of the world’s most immortal introductions in nearly perfect unison.
“Duh-duh-duh-DAHHHHH.”
Then came the real deal. Chancellor turned to his podium and with a downward chop of both hands, the orchestra launched into the famous symphony and all of its layered dynamics.
CLICK HERE to see a video of the performance.
Any rambunctiousness in the young audience was quelled by the Lux Orchestra’s performance. The students’ silence was proof positive that the field trip’s mission was being fulfilled.
Brent Chancellor conducts the Lux Orchestra as they play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
“It’s all about exposure, and planting and nurturing musical seeds in our fourth grade students to encourage aspirations of playing a musical instrument,” said James Manno, Fine Arts Supervisor for the South Orange & Maplewood District.
Manno said that the annual Lux Orchestra concert for fourth graders is made possible through a partnership between the District and SOPAC’s Arts Education Department, led by Linda Beard.
“This initiative started in 2018 as an enrichment extension experience for our elementary school instrumental music program,” Manno said. “Additionally, Lux Orchestra Conductor Brent Chancellor has made it a point to utilize the District’s elementary school music teachers’ feedback to make concert refinements and choose repertoire that is relevant to our students.”
Lux Orchestra Conductor Brent Chancellor cues his audience to sing the intro of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
To be sure, the brass section’s rendition of “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” got an audience response that was nearly like Beatle fans at The Ed Sullivan Show. The inclusion of “The Harry Potter Symphony Suite” was also a big hit with the crowd.
Chancellor’s interactive banter between musical selections effectively imparted some musical concepts to the fourth-graders. By the time the students were listening to Beethoven, they had already learned the three elements of music – rhythm, melody, and harmony – and the four different sections of the orchestra – strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
