If you walk through Granoff Music Center on a Saturday, you might be surprised to see what seems like innumerable children in every corner of the building, toting instruments, sheet music, and, sometimes, their shoes. Every week, hundreds of students come to Granoff to take classes on instruments like flute, violin, voice, and piano, or to take a Dalcroze eurhythmics class or a composition class.
They’re all part of the Tufts Community Music program, one of the many unique features of the Tufts music department, which offers music classes taught by students, faculty, and other experienced teachers to community members from Medford and Somerville. Students generally range from age two up through fourteen or so in our Saturday programs, and there’s a class offering for everyone who’s interested! We even have adult chamber music, voice, and piano classes offered later on Saturday afternoons, and many of our younger students’ parents end up taking one of these classes themselves!
I’m currently the assistant to the director of the program, so I spend a lot of time working with teachers to make sure they have what they need, organizing concerts, and helping students figure out where to go, but I’ve also taught piano and violin classes to elementary-age students, and worked with some of our non-Saturday programs. I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with kids every week, and to help in a more administrative role this year.
My time with Community Music started my freshman year, as a student mentor for the Tufts Youth Philharmonic, or TYP. TYP is our advanced high school orchestra that rehearses on Friday afternoons under the direction of John Page, Tufts’ own Director of Orchestral Activities. Every Friday, I’d play in their rehearsals, help out within a violin section with questions about bowing, fingering, etc., and lead sectional rehearsals if their sectional coach wasn’t able to be there. I was able to build relationships with the high school students and with the coaches, and play great music! Eventually, I also started helping teach group piano class on Saturdays and occasionally substitute teaching violin classes or a voice lesson as needed.
This past year, Community Music started the group that I’m personally the most excited about--the Tufts Children’s Choir, led by Jamie Kirsch, Director of Choral Activities at Tufts. Twenty-five elementary students on a Friday afternoon might sound like a recipe for disaster, but I was incredibly excited to get to work with this group, and by the (abrupt) end of the year, they’d come a long way since the first rehearsal. Through the Children’s Choir, I interacted even more with the kids in the group, and I can’t wait to see them in person again and get back to singing together!
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering how to get involved with Community Music yourself! The director, Edith Auner, is usually looking for new students to help at the beginning of the school year, so once you get on campus, just come find her in Granoff Music Center (room 174, close to the elevator!) If you show up on a Friday afternoon, it’s likely I’ll be there too!
By Mary Reynolds '21