Students strike a chord

Youth Orchestra wants percussion, brass sections

By VIVIAN AUSTIN | Dec 10, 2006 | 490 words, 0 images

Conner Read had played piano, but never tried the viola until joining the Singing River Youth Orchestra.

"I like how we work together and how Mrs. (Claudia) Hawkins teaches new things," said Read, 13.

He is one of 19 elementary, middle, and high school students who are part of a new youth orchestra organized in August. Members range in age from 5 to 18 years old. College students and adult volunteers serve as coaches.

Collin Webster, 17, a Mobile high school student likes to use his music constructively. He plays piano mostly as a soloist. "This is a new experience for me."

Violinists Trey Dubose and Jackie Lyons, college students, are volunteer coaches.

Ellen Carter, orchestra president and a retired Navy musician, said, "We are trying to make it local and make it for all the cities.

"These kids are playing music that second- and third-year students would play. They are pulling it together."

She said the Singing River Youth Orchestra performed as a string quartet in November at Eastlawn United Methodist Church. The group's board of directors has provided most of the funds to bring in artists for performances scheduled in early 2007. Realtors provided $2,000 in instruments. Most of the children lost their instruments during Katrina.

Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson will perform with the orchestra during its debut this month. He plays the numbered dulcimer.

Director Claudia Hawkins and Carter put the group together in July.

"The long-term goal is to have a full orchestra with brass and percussion," said Hawkins. "We have to get the strings going first. They are the heart of an orchestra."

Pascagoula residents Rian Black, 7, and her brother, Reid, 10, are among the members who attend schools in Mobile, or play with other youth orchestras. She has played cello and piano about 10 months. Reid, a four-year violinist, belongs to the Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra.

"I'm tickled that we have a group like that here in Pascagoula," said their mother, Dori Black, who is Hawkins' daughter. "When you have a child that has an interest like violin, it's important they get together with other children."

If you go

What: Singing River Youth Orchestra debut concert

When: 10 a.m. Dec. 16, 2006

Where: Eastlawn United Methodist Church, Ingalls Avenue, Pascagoula

Details: An oboe concert will be held at 2 p.m., Feb. 8, at First Baptist Church in Pascagoula, and a violin master class at 10 a.m., Jan. 20, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Auditions for the master class begin in January.

Organizers are accepting students 7 to 18 years old; needed immediately are woodwind instrument students. Practice is held 2 p.m. each Sunday at Eastlawn.

Contact: Claudia Hawkins at 235-0400.

Copyright © 2003-2006 Knight Ridder. All rights reserved.