Growing up a gifted musician in a small town, semi-rural setting taught LSWO founder Dr. Barry Knezek a very important lesson. Meeting students from cities all over Texas when he made the All-State band in high school, he had an aha moment. He realized he’d missed out on something many student musicians took for granted, the experience of losing yourself in incredible music, played by professionals, in grand concert halls.
From that moment on, Barry has believed that it matters to provide a professional classical music experience for as many students as possible while they can still imagine themselves in those seats on the stage, playing beautiful music for a silent, appreciative audience in a concert hall where they belong!
Fast forward a few decades to 2009 and we find Barry urging the Lone Star Wind Orchestra Board of Trustees to create an outreach program to deliver that to students who may never have had a chance for that kind of experience.
Yes, it would take a lot of work. Sure, it might be expensive. Maybe there was a reason no one else was doing it. Definitely, there would be challenges to work through. But, in the end, everyone agreed that we are Lone Star Wind Orchestra and we have been different from day one. This is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing and Lone Star Kids was born.
Lone Star Kids brings students from Title I middle, high school and community programs to Lone Star Wind Orchestra concerts in one of our two Dallas Arts District venues, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas City Performance Hall, or the Charles W. Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, to be classified an eligible Title I school, at least 40% of a school’s students must be from low-income families who qualify under the United States Census’s definition of low-income, according to the U.S. Department of Education. We believe that this experience is even more meaningful for students from these schools because they are less likely to have it occur without Lone Star Kids.
Emily, age 11,
DeLay MS – Lewisville ISD
Can you remember the first time you entered a concert hall? First impressions may have included a sense that it was huge, beautiful and different from any other place you had ever been. You might have been very excited and a little anxious because what was going to happen here was different from anything you had ever done before. You might have felt really special. That’s what we want for every Lone Star Kid when they arrive at one of our concerts.
A September 2, 2014 Huffington Post Article, Study: Music Education Could Help Close The Achievement Gap Between Poor And Affluent Students highlights a recent Northwestern University study on the impact of music education in the Harmony Project, a non-profit that provides free music education to at-risk youth. Dr. Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, said in a press release. “Research has shown that there are differences in the brains of children raised in impoverished environments that affect their ability to learn,” said Kraus. “While more affluent students do better in school than children from lower income backgrounds, we are finding that musical training can alter the nervous system to create a better learner and help offset this academic gap.” Reducing and eventually eliminating the achievement gap is wonderful work LSWO wants to be a part of.
Since 2009 we have hosted 11,625 Lone Star Kids at Lone Star Wind Orchestra concerts. The program has grown every year as new schools and districts learn about it and ask to participate. So far we’ve had students come from as far away as Waxahachie and Cleburne and every time a new school comes they want to do it again next year. We want that too.
Lone Star Wind Orchestra is always on the lookout for new funding to expand this program because we recognize how much this is a Music Changing Lives experience and that is our mission. During the 2013 – 2014 season, we were able to serve 4,311 middle and high school students, the largest number of Lone Star Kids ever. Our 2014–2015 season goal is to grow this by 30%.
You can help make this real with a donation.
#LSWO #MusicChangingLives
Article written by Kymberlaine Banks