This year, students of the Devine Intermediate School 5thGrade Recorder Choir collaborated with the San Antonio Symphony in a music education program provided by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI). Link Up is a highly participatory program that pairs orchestras across the country with schools in their local communities, inviting students to learn about orchestral repertoire through a yearlong, hands-on music curriculum. Each year focuses on specific concepts, including rhythm, melody, tempo, orchestration, and composition. Utilizing materials provided free-of-charge by WMI, teachers guide students in exploring music through a composer’s lens, with students participating in active music making in the classroom; performing repertoire on recorder, violin, voice, or body percussion.
The culmination of the yearlong program is a live performance in which students have the opportunity to sing and play the recorder or violin along with the San Antonio Symphony. This performance often serves as students’ first concert experience and provides them with the opportunity to apply the musical concepts they have studied.
The San Antonio Symphony is one of more than 90 national and international organizations chosen for this program. Link Up’s national partnerships grew out of the program’s ongoing work with New York City schools, through which Carnegie Hall has engaged hundreds of thousands of students in musical learningsince its inception in 1985.
The Devine Intermediate Recorder Choir consists of 19 fifth grade students that have excelled in playing the recorder and were interested in practicing after school.
“The students have really enjoyed learning the music and were very excited to perform with the SA Symphony. This was a wonderful experience for them, and I’m hoping to make this an annual event for our recorder choir students,” said Mrs. Riou, music teacher at Devine Intermediate.
Member of the 5th Grade Recorder Choir are: Kody Blanquiz, Zoe Ortiz, Rylee Esquibel, Lillian Schenk, Kaydence Scott, Kolton Teeter, Cynthia Maldonado, Catelyn Flores, Skye Samson, Esperanza Carrillo, Saidi Huth, Jordan Buvinghausen, Eva Ozer, Savannah Shuler, Ofmara Vargas Chavez, Fancy Patrick, Jerrica Patrick, Kate Robinson, and Kiara Yracheta.