KEEPING MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM AND THE COMMUNITY
It is a widely held belief that music education and community outreach are the cornerstones upon which any successful professional orchestra is built.
One of the reasons the Musicians of the ASO are proud to be the state’s orchestra is that it allows us to serve and reach as many of the schools in the great state of Alabama as possible. In a normal season, that would mean busing kids in from other cities to experience the orchestra (often for the first and only time), or even taking the orchestra on the road and playing for students in their own schools. Often you would find smaller groups of musicians visiting schools to play for students in their classrooms, or to provide a unique and uplifting experience by playing in the communal areas of the Birmingham airport and various hospitals around town.
While COVID-19, and the resulting distance-learning and hospital lockdowns, have made such endeavors more difficult, the Musicians of the ASO are proud of the work we have done to continue to change lives through music. Since February 2021, through our Virtually INSPIRED program, our musicians and conducting staff have virtually visited over 3,000 students from 11 counties, 18 school systems, and over 70 schools in the state of Alabama! We have also held monthly Zoom coaching sessions with the members of the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra. In conjunction with UAB Music Therapists, ASO musicians have volunteered their time to play over 100 performances for COVID-19 patients recovering in the MICU as part of the Music Meets Medicine program. Musicians performed a final “Thank You!” concert in March for the physicians, nurses, and hospital staff who continue to work tirelessly in the UAB COVID-19 MICU. The orchestra has also produced our first hospital-wide broadcasts on closed circuit televisions at both UAB Children’s Hospital, and the UAB Hospital Main Campus, allowing us to play for the patients while they remain in their individual rooms.
In addition to our work with the ASO, the Musicians have begun a new community outreach program. This involves sending small chamber groups into Birmingham retirement communities in an effort to reach out and connect with the most vulnerable of our community, who have been isolated for so long, playing live concerts and holding Q and A sessions. To date, we have visited The Oaks on Parkwood, The Woodlands at Tannehill, and St. Martin’s In the Pines, to name a few. We have also performed at the Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home, as well as the VA in Pell City, in order to show our appreciation to our veterans. For those organizations who are still unable to have us visit in person, we have made a “digital care package” – videos of small groups of musicians playing – which will allow people to enjoy wonderful music remotely.
As the only full-time, professional Symphony Orchestra in Alabama, the Musicians of the ASO are proud of the effect we have on the lives of our students and members of the greater Alabama community, especially during such a difficult time. As we start the slow return to normalcy, we look forward to even more opportunities to continue the long-standing and awe-inspiring tradition of performing live music and enriching, and changing, lives through music.
If you work at a retirement or medical facility and are interested in having a chamber music group come play for your residents, or would like a copy of our digital care package, please contact us at contact@ALSymphonyMusicians.org.
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