As Jacob Harrison, director of orchestral activities and associate professor of music at Iowa State, addressed an audience of grade schoolers Tuesday at Stephen’s Auditorium, he told them to “Listen for all the different colors. Listen for all the different sounds.”

Harrison began the interactive and informative Children’s Matinee Concert that the ISU Symphony Orchestra hosts annually by talking about each instrumental section and explaining how they work and sound.

The performers played their respective instruments to give the students an idea of what they sounded like.

“Here we go strings,” Harrison said. He motioned to the symphony, and the children’s eyes lit up as they heard the large quantity of strings play a short, beautiful melody.

Soon after the description and demonstration of the instruments, the symphony played its first piece, “Overture to Nabucco” by Giuseppe Verdi. It was a classic piece that intrigued the students in the audience.

Harrison then taught the students how to perform percussion by having them stand up and learn a beat. It went, “stomp, clap, clap, stomp” and was incorporated in the last piece. Before the final piece, Harrison held an interactive question and answer session.

“The goal is not perfection; it is to tell a story,” Harrison said. The symphony then launched into its final piece, “Libertadores” by Oscar Navarro, which told the story of the Amazonian landscape and the liberation that took place there. About halfway through the piece, the symphony signaled the students to stand up and take part with the body percussion they had learned.

The concert ended with a standing ovation from students and their teachers.

After the concert, the students gathered in the lobby of the auditorium for an instrumental petting zoo. They got to touch and pluck the instruments and ask the symphony members questions.

Dorian Myers, Tyson Messler and Cooper Nave, third graders at Trinity Lutheran in Boone, Iowa, were among the students in attendance.

“My favorite instrument is the conga drum,” said Myers, age 8.

“Mine is the cello,” said Messler, age 9.

“I like the drums, too,” said Nave, age 8.

The ISU Symphony Orchestra opened the students’ eyes to the technical and artistic sides of music. 

The ISU Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Great Plains Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference Saturday in the Martha-Ellen Tye Music Hall. Its final performance of the semester will be on April 22 in Stephen’s Auditorium.