Elementary school students get live music lesson from Philadelphia Orchestra

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Orchestra hosted a live educational classical music concert for several thousand elementary school students.

The students who attended the Philadelphia Orchestra School Concert Program at the Kimmel Center took part in a classical music curriculum at their schools.  

Clara Reyes, manager of education and community programs, says they had students from 45 different schools attend. 

"We hope that this can be their first introduction into the wonderful world of classical music," Reyes said. "It's part of 'Carnegie Link Up' where the kids get a curriculum and learn about classical music and then they come to a concert and see the Philadelphia Orchestra perform what they've learned." 

Fourth-graders from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy were among the 3,000 elementary school concertgoers. 

"The concert was amazing! We learned about different stuff like tempo," said one student. Another student said "I really liked some of the songs like the 'Can Can' and 'In The Hall of the Mountain King.'" 

Reyes says music programs like this one are important, "because they're the next generation of concert-goers and hopefully orchestra musicians."

Fourth-grader Teagen Garden-Kelley says seeing the Philadelphia Orchestra perform live has positively impacted how she perceives the music.

"I think people just misunderstand classical music," she said.