Local kids 'Meet the Instruments'

Emma Lannard is six years old and she already can point out her favorite instrument -- the slide whistle. But she likes all the instruments that cross her path. Lately, her mom said with a sigh, Emma has been eyeing a family friend's drum set. \nAt the second annual "Meet the Instruments" day at WonderLab Sunday, Emma was one of several dozen children gathered to learn about music. The children met members of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra to learn about their favorite instruments. Each visitor received a card listing the four groups of orchestral instruments -- strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Different music stations throughout the exhibit included examples of instruments. For each musical station visited, the children collected a sticker on their card indicating what they had learned. Karen Jepson-Innes, associate executive director of WonderLab, said the event is fun for everyone. \n"(It) enables children to hold real instruments, and talk to real musicians about why they love to play music and about how the instrument works." Jepson-Innes said. "Mostly it's a chance for an early introduction into this wide range of musical possibilities."\nLast year was the first time WonderLab partnered with BSO for this long-running event.\n"We had such a great time, we decided to do it again," Jepson-Innes said.\nHowever, "Meet the Instruments" is not a new event. Sue Hartin, education director for the BSO, said the event started more than 20 years ago in a corner of the basement in the old Monroe County Public Library. Since then, "Meet the Instruments" has traveled all over Bloomington and even to Bedford and Brown Counties.\nThe newest educational effort for BSO, Hartin said, is the instrument recovery program. Donated instruments are put back into playing condition and then loaned to elementary school students. Teachers volunteer to provide the students with lessons.\nGraduate student Katie Dunn, who plays French horn with the BSO, said giving children hands-on experience with musical instruments is important to her. \nDunn has been playing for 14 years, since fifth grade, and originally had trouble deciding between the clarinet and the French horn. Ultimately, the French horn is what captured her affection.\n"It's shiny and round. It makes a lot of beautiful noises and I like making horn sounds," she said. \nThis is Dunn's first year in BSO and her first "Meet the Instruments" day.\n"This is really cool," Dunn said over the sounds of slide whistles, trombones and tubas. "I've always enjoyed, since high school, the programs for the fifth grade beginning bands so they can decide what instrument they want to play. And I have a science background, so being in WonderLab today is just such a natural extension from that."\nIn the afternoon, WonderLab continued the day with a focus on local and youth musicians and more unusual types of instruments. Jepson-Innes said one man brought an interactive electronic instrument that allowed visitors to change its sound, pitch and volume just by moving their bodies near it. Other instruments included a singing saw, a variety of ethnic instruments, harps and a recorder made from the tusk of a narwhal, an Arctic whale with a long, twisted tooth.\nThe next "Meet the Instruments" day will be in Bloomington in March or April. For more information on the BSO, WonderLab, and for a listing of events visit www.bloomington.in.us/~bso and www.wonderlab.org. \n-- Contact staff writer Erika Biga Lee at ebiga@indiana.edu.