Oberlin's MusicPlay Program Presents Children's Concert April 24

MusicPlay, Oberlin Conservatory’s innovative preschool music lab, will present its 11th annual Children’s Concert in Finney Chapel at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, April 24.

The concert is the creation of Professor of Music Education Peggy Bennett, who is retiring this spring. The family-friendly event is free and open to the public.

A showcase of student performers at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Children’s Concert opens with organ music performed by Matthew Buller ’16 on Finney Chapel’s enormous C.B. Fisk pipe organ. The 45-minute program will also feature a women’s chorale under the direction of Professor of Music Education Jody Kerchner, a string sextet, and a jazz combo.

Students from Eastwood Elementary and Prospect Elementary School in Oberlin, Powers Elementary in Amherst, the Oberlin Early Childhood Center, and guests from the Murray Ridge Center will attend the performance. Members of the community are also encouraged to take part.

A leading innovator in preschool music education, Bennett has been a member of the Oberlin faculty since 2001. She developed a learning tool for teachers and parents called SongWorks for Children, an online database of videos created while teaching children in the MusicPlay program. She has also published numerous books on the subject of music education pedagogy.