The annual Summer Strings and Band camp always ends with a grand finale concert and cake a balloons. Shirley Mullins conducted this one c. 2010 in Kings Yard.
Grab an instrument and party for Summer Strings’ 50th
- Published: July 3, 2014
Fifty years ago this year, music teachers Shirley Mullins and Mary Schumacher started a stringed instrument program for youth in Yellow Springs. Prior to that, children who wanted to play the violin or the cello studied privately and waited until they were old enough or good enough to join a youth orchestra out of town or at a college. In other words, most kids played in the school band. But when the call went out for those interested in starting an orchestra, 25 students showed up to the first rehearsal. Only a few years later, the program was officially adopted into the Yellow Springs school music curriculum.
Over the years, the strings program has turned into the annual Summer Strings and Band camp coordinated by the Yellow Springs Youth Orchestra Association. And at 79, Mullins and several other music teachers are still teaching students who want to learn a new instrument or get better at the ones they know.
To celebrate all that the local community music program has accomplished and all that is still to come, the musicians will host a party featuring any alumni of the summer strings and band program playing in one more Grand Finale concert. The event, which is chiefly a reunion of local music lovers with a concert on the side, takes place on Saturday, July 5, on Mills Lawn. Cellist alumni can join a cello choir at 5 p.m., and the rest can jump in for the full orchestra performance to follow. The event will conclude with the time-honored post-concert cake and punch.
For those who want it, there will be a rehearsal for the alumni concert Thursday, June 5, at 7 p.m. in the high school music room. Another pre-concert run through will occur the afternoon of the event, July 5th at 3:30 p.m. at Mills Lawn. Email DFarmer2663@yahoo.com for more details.
Donations to the Yellow Springs Youth Orchestra Association can be sent to P.O. Box 4, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387.
The Yellow Springs Summer Strings and Band Program will celebrate its 50th year as a summer music program for local children with a cello choir for alumni this Saturday, July 5, at 5 p.m., followed by a full orchestra performance. Shown above is an early concert with Summer Strings’ founder, Shirley Mullins, who continues to direct the program. (submitted photo)
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