Organizations team up to instill love of music in kids

“Today helped,” Building Bridges Executive Director Patrice Campbell said. “It’s just the beginning of something that we’re going to be doing long-term.”

Organizers plan to present a different musical guest playing a different instrument each month, with the goal of encouraging students to get involved in music.

“It was interesting and fun,” said Zykiah Smith, a fourth-grader at George Washington Carver Elementary School. “I actually want to play the flute because I feel like it’s an easier instrument because my cousin played it before and it seemed easy.”

DePhillip, who started playing the violin at the age of six and the accordion four years later, played several songs for the students, including some who danced along.

“Anytime I have the opportunity to play for children and show what an accordion is, I love it,” said DePhillip, who retired two weeks ago following a career as a government contractor. “Are the kids getting away from music? Yeah, they really are. I think their lives are too busy these days, and music you have to spend time doing practice to learn and kids don’t seem to have the patience.”

The Great Mills resident played several songs for the students, including several from “The Sound of Music” — “I think that’s from ‘Brother Bear,’” one student guessed incorrectly — as well as two from “Beauty and the Beast.”

She even churned out “The Chicken Dance” and requested adult volunteers and organizers to join her.

Later, DePhillip explained the machinations of the Rolland 4X and its 120 buttons — not 12,000 as one child guessed — and a line to hold and press the buttons snaked around the room.

“It was good,” said 4-year-old Javyah Fenwick, who is in prekindergarten at Green Holly Elementary School.

Fenwick had already caught the music bug as the acoustic guitarist can play Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and songs from “Beauty and the Beast.”

“Music is very soothing and very calming,” DePhillip said by phone as she waited aboard a cruise ship in Baltimore for a trip to the Bahamas. “It just puts you in another world when you’re playing. I’m big-time into kids playing music.”

Building Bridges is designed to bridge the gap for youth who require support with educational goals and life skills, and improving academic skills by maximizing the percentage of time engaged in learning.

The Joey A. Miller Foundation was formed in 2005 in memory of Jeannie Miller-Bologna’s late husband, a former Navy pilot and graduate of the Test Pilot School’s Class 101, whose passions were music, faith, baseball and academics.

According to its website, COSMIC Symphony’s primary objective is to provide the Southern Maryland community with high-quality classical music performed by its own local musicians. Its selections include a family program, music for young adults, holiday favorites and symphonic music for the serious concertgoers.

Any children who are accomplished musicians are welcome to play to an audience, give back to their community and earn community service hours for future college applications.

For more information on the Joey A. Miller Foundation, email Jeannie Miller-Bologna at Frankiemiller61@AOL.com. For more information on Building Bridges, email patrice.campbell@buildingbridgescorp.org. For more information on COSMIC Symphony, go to https://cosmicsymphony.org.

Twitter: @MichaelSoMdNews