Naqvi: U-46, ESO launch unique partnership

I had this brief obsession last year with learning to play the recorder.

I haven't picked one up since grade school in the Detroit suburbs, but I used to play the trumpet and I thought it might be a good way to pass the cold weekends in my apartment on Chicago's northwest side.

I looked at various models and was surprised at how cheap they are. Apparently, the recorder has had a resurgence as a serious instrument with the recent interest in period instruments and music.

I still haven't added a recorder to my Amazon shopping cart, but while I'm wavering, some 800 students in Elgin-area schools are removing their shiny new recorders from their cases.

Fourth-graders at selected schools throughout Elgin Area School District U-46 are getting their very own recorders this year as part of an exciting partnership with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra.

Through a program sponsored by the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, the students this year will learn pieces by Beethoven, Copland and Dvorak. In May, they are scheduled to perform with the Elgin Symphony.

The program, called Communities Link Up, is just the latest partnership between the orchestra and Elgin-area schools. Students and staff in U-46 already work with the orchestra on the Family Fun Concert Series and an art project that has students create artwork inspired by classical music.

It is important for families who live in Elgin to feel that the Elgin Symphony is their symphony, and few things could foster that feeling more than seeing their kids performing alongside the award-winning ensemble at the Hemmens Auditorium.

Both the orchestra and U-46 have expressed interest in making the Link Up program an annual opportunity for students, perhaps expanding it to other schools.

Especially during a time when fine arts have borne the brunt of education cutbacks, I can't think of a better way to foster appreciation for our musical heritage among the next generation.