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St Francis de Sales Musicians in Play On, Phllly! Score in a weekend double-header


By Fran Byers Community Contributor T


he weekend of March 22-23 certainly was a busy one for the student musicians of St. Francis de Sales School. Established in 2011, the Play On, Philly! (POP) Music pro- gram now has 167 students in its after-school program, so there were two concerts to showcase the talents of the new students and, separately, of the more experienced ones. On Friday evening, the younger students performed in the school auditorium, while the more experienced musicians performed on Sat- urday afternoon at Swarth- more College.


The Friday evening per- formance featured students who have been studying for about six months and are in grades 1-5. Staff members from WHYY-Channel 12 were at the school to film the pro- ceedings. Before a standing- room-only enthusiastic audi- ence of parents and friends, student musicians played pieces of various types, rang- ing from Minuet No. 1, Cho- rale No. 173 and Prelude in C major by J.S. Bach to Schehe- razade by Rimsky-Korsakov to “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys to traditional “Frere Jacques” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. They played in “studios” for the following instruments: cello, flute, violin, clarinet, bassoon, harp, trumpet, viola, trom- bone, brass, horn and percus- sion. The concert built up to the string orchestra and then the full orchestra showcasing the big ensemble sound that these young students pro- duced. A visiting percussion group from Ghana, the Ber- nard Woma Ensemble, fin-


ished the concert by includ- ing POP percussion student musicians in illustrating the variety of percussive sounds coming from African instru- ments.


POP & Swarthmore College Collaborates: On Saturday, March 23rd, Swarthmore College hosted Play On, Philly! Professors Lisa Smulyan and Tom Whitman opened their class- rooms in the Department of Educational Studies and Music for an all-day visit for the St. Francis eighth grade students, and the POP Symphony Orchestra performed a concert in the Lang Concert Hall at 2pm. It included a performance of works by composition students at Swarthmore Col- lege. The Brass and Wind groups performed music by Quincy Jones, the Trombone Quartet played a march from Wagner’s “Tannhaus- er”, the Wind Ensemble inspired with two segments of “Romeo and Juliet” by Prokofiev, while the String Orchestra included works by Puccini and Vivaldi in their performance. The whole symphony orchestra wound up the afternoon impressively with John Williams’ music from “Star Wars”.


On Wednesday, March 20, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor presented POP CEO Stanford Thomp- son with the Sphinx Medal of Excellence for demon- strating qualities of artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of deter- mination, and great poten- tial for leadership through his work with Play On, Philly! Sphinx Founder and President, Aaron P. Dworkin said, “The incredible suc-


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Harpists are a new addition to the orchestra Photo: Fran Byers


cess that Stanford has already achieved is a clear indication that diversity and artistic ex- cellence play important roles in classical music and in our communities.” A second POP program for 80 students has begun at Freire Charter Middle School in Center City. POP is described in its


brochure as focusing on “providing an environment of opportunity through the collective practice of music in orchestral playing and choral singing as models of academic and life skills-development, social organization, and commu- nity building. POP provides an educational and social


preparedness program while developing musical knowl- edge and performance skills at a high level.” New in this academic year was the estab- lishment of a Bassoon studio, a Bass studio and a Harp stu-


dio. POP now teaches music at West Catholic High School and shares the school facili- ties, as a natural outgrowth for students after they gradu- ate from eighth grade at St. Francis de Sales. Stanford Thompson says in the Play On, Philly! Newslet- ter, “I am very proud of our students. Of all of the things they could be doing with their time, they are spending three hours each weekday trying their hardest to im- prove their instrumental tech- nique, vocal abilities and mu- sical literacy. They are stick- ing to their commitment with the support of their parents and growing in so many pro- found ways. The seeds have been planted for our children as they pay back society with the investments we make today. I am passionate about Play On Philly›s distinctive approach to music education and life skills training that will enable our students to discover their capacity for progressive growth, personal achievement and value to their communities.”


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