Damned sad: Prussian Blue from Tehachapi gets press, but this girl???

[The Straight Story]

Mining Tehachapi’s Musical Riches
By: Sonja Bronson, Tehachapi Community Orchestra

14 yr old Bryn Rosander


In Tehachapi, orchestral music is a hands-on community project.

The Tehachapi Community Orchestra (TCO) has grown far beyond the expectations of all involved and is now a point of civic pride. It’s an almost fairy-tale example of the power that an orchestra—and a shrewdly planned community engagement program—can have in transforming a town’s cultural landscape. This achievement, along with the uncanny determination of the Orchestra’s Board President and Concertmaster Gayel Pitchford, was recognized in 2005 with a Metlife Award for Excellence in Community Engagement.

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As a result of her experience with music here in Tehachapi, Bryn hopes to minor in music when she goes to college in preparation for a career as an elementary school teacher.

Pitchford says, “We’ve got kids doing really productive things. I tell kids this isn’t so much about playing the violin; it’s about lessons for life. Lessons in teamwork, how to work together. Orchestra is like an intricate machine, and students have to learn to be a cog in that machine, to work with others to produce something bigger.”

Arts advocates looking to prove the social worth of orchestras would do well to point to Tehachapi, which has quietly accomplished all the cultural goals that foundation studies have sworn come hand-in-hand with orchestras. The residents of Tehachapi seem to appreciate the positive effects the Orchestra has had on their community.



http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/ViewPost/17845

compare and contrast to these racists:

http://www.prussianbluestore.com/