How much does music matter? A whole lot

EAGLE VALLEY — Imagine 50 passers-by, gathered into a circle, who have been given hand drums to beat, shakers to rattle, rattlers to shake and cow bells to clank.

You’ve just pictured what an organizer of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival calls the “big drumming circle,” facilitated by one of two professionals from Carbondale and Summit County.

The activity is part of Music Matters, the festival’s educational program, and is “a lot of fun and a tremendous amount of energy,” said Liz Campbell, director of Music Matters.

“Music is a universal language,” Campbell said. “It has a way of bringing together the community and individuals in the community that normally wouldn’t interact. It’s a great way to bind the community.”

Locals and visitors will have an opportunity to experience the drumming circle July 22 at the Minturn Market. Those who have children can join the drumming circle in the “family zone” at the patriotic celebration in Nottingham Park on July 3.

Another program, called the Instrument Petting Zoo, attracts considerable attention at farmers’ markets and other outdoor events. The zoo features string, bass, woodwind and percussion instruments children can play with.

“A lot of these programs are really designed to expose children to a variety of music,” Campbell said.

Making inroads

Many children enter junior high school without ever having touched an instrument, Campbell said. When the library performance program first started in Gypsum, some of the children didn’t know what a violin bow was. Few knew much about chamber music.

Now, everyone knows what a violin bow is made out of — horse hair, Campbell said.

“When we ask that question in the library, every hand will go up,” she said.

Every year, when instruments are brought to the Gypsum Public Library, a child will pick up one and start playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” Campbell said. This is a result of the after-school music-education programs the festival provides in the winter.

“Inroads are small, but they are significant,” she said. “We’re making a difference in individual lives.”

Campbell said one of the most popular educational programs is Live @ the Library for children ages 3 to 7, when professional orchestra and chamber musicians give free performances at local libraries and children have an opportunity to play the instruments.

“Last year, we had nearly 1,000 kids come through our library performances,” Campbell said. “Sometimes, it’s just standing-room only.”

Organizers also noticed adults enjoyed the Live @ the Library programs, so they are now offering similar programs for them, which are called “Free Concerts in Public Spaces.”

Douglas Prosser, the principal trumpet in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, will be giving a free concert at Vail Library at 1 p.m. on June 29. Violinists of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Daphne Volle and Bruce Whittrig, will be performing a duet July 12, at 2:30 p.m. at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens for free. The two will be entertaining audiences again July 13, at 5 p.m. at the Vail Cascade Hotel & Club, also for free.

There will also be a free family concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, conductor Danail Rachev and poet/narrator Frank Oden on July 13, at 11 a.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Doors will open at 10 a.m. and there will be an instrument petting zoo from 10 to 11 a.m.

Reaching new audiences

The Hyperion String Quartet, the young artist ensemble-in-residence at the festival, is one of the groups participating in Live @ the Library and will play at Avon Library at 1 p.m.

“We really treat it as an introduction for children and anyone else who may not be as familiar to string quartet playing,” said quartet member Jonathan Brin.

Brin formed the quartet with three friends his freshman year at the Eastman School of Music in 1999. The group plays an array of different string quartet styles, he said.

At the library last year, the quartet explained the difference between the violin, the viola and the cello, he said. They also described how their own group works, how the different parts form a whole.

Brin said the library performance, as well as their free performances in other public spaces, help bring their music to “audiences that may not be attending the formal concerts, but have an interest in what we’re playing.”

The quartet also plays a formal concert, in collaboration with other artists, at the Vilar Center at Beaver Creek.

Nic Corbett can be reached at vdeditintern@vaildaily.com

Vail, Colorado