IT WAS A ‘ZOO’ IN THERE
The "petting zoo" where Riverdale Elementary School fourth graders spent part of their day March 16 wasn’t the usual kind. But musical instruments they encountered in the university’s Mosiman Hall may have been every bit as new to them as some of the four-legged creatures they would find in a traditional petting zoo.
Riverdale teachers Charlotte Dodge and Beth Voll, a Bluffton graduate, brought their fourth-grade music students to campus to learn about, and play, a variety of instruments.
One student tried out a trombone under the watchful eye of Dr. Jeffrey Boehm, professor of music. In a percussion room, meanwhile, Bluffton sophomore James Brake, a music education major from Ohio City, helped one student on the xylophone, while another was a budding Buddy Rich on drums.
The Riverdale students also participated in a drum circle and heard a performance by the Bluffton University Brass Society as part of the event, which the music department hosted for the first time. The reason, said Dr. Lucia Unrau, department chair and professor of music, "is that students typically begin band in fifth grade, and this ‘petting zoo’ offers them an opportunity to try out different instruments to find the one that is right for them."
Bluffton public relations office, 3/17/10
