On our show today, Blakeley Menghini! She’s the Education and Community Engagement Director at the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra.
They’re an ensemble made up of around 50 middle and high school students from across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Blakeley calls it a training orchestra where students play challenging, high-level orchestra music but in a fun and lower-stress environment.
“I think one of the beautiful things about a youth orchestra is that it's kind of ‘come one, come all,’” she said. “In the stereotypical symphonic orchestra level, there would be like, one English horn player. But in the youth orchestra, we're kind of like, ‘Yeah, if we have five English horns, that's okay!’ It's their opportunity to learn and grow. So, we're not about to turn people away.”
Blakeley’s job is to help encourage students to be part of the program and help encourage the public to engage with and support the youth orchestra! She’s a music teacher, she’s been teaching private lessons, as long as she can remember. She also plays viola professionally in string quartets around the Midwest.
We talk about that and so much more…
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SHOW NOTES
Educator in this episode:
Blakeley Menghini
Stories in this episode:
Music: Our show's theme music is from the northern Illinois-based band "Kindoves" and their songs "Popn," "Origins" and "Quiche." You can find more of their music on their Soundcloud page. You can also listen to the episode of WNIJ's Sessions from Studio A where they were featured.
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