Music from around the world, performed by the Utah Symphony Orchestra, captivated the attention of 4,800 fourth grade students at a series of concerts held at Mountain Ridge High School in early November.

“The education program has always been a big part of the symphony,” Utah Symphony Orchestra violinist Becky Johnson said. She said the Utah Symphony Orchestra tries to perform in every school district in the state at least once every few years in the hope that kids who are exposed to classical music will grow up into adults who attend the concerts. It is an annual event in Jordan School District.

Between songs, the Symphony’s assistant conductor Jessica Rivero Altarriba taught students to conduct the beat and introduced them to the instruments, some of which were unfamiliar to students.

“I like that big one that kind of sounded like a piano,” fourth-grader Beckett Turner said, describing the harp.

Students were invited to think about how the music made them feel. Many said the music was “calming” and “relaxing.”

“It's not so much them learning about all of the pieces as it is learning to enjoy the music and getting exposed to a different kind of music than they hear on the radio,” Johnson said.

The theme of this year’s program was “cultural diversity” and featured music from Russia, Germany, Spain, China and Mexico.

“I liked feeling all the different cultures of music,” Oak Leaf Elementary student Eden Fennell said. Her classmate, Rachel McArthur, said her favorite was the Russian piece.

Fox Hollow Elementary teacher Andrea Cobbley said the annual field trip to the symphony is timed to coincide with the year students learn to play the recorder as part of the state curriculum.

“At the end of the year they do a music program where they play their recorders, so this is kind of a preview,” she said.

Many Jordan District schools have music specialists that introduce students to music concepts. Terra Linda Elementary students had been introduced to musical instruments by their music specialist and were challenged to identify familiar instruments and musical concepts during the symphonic performance. Their teachers also helped them make connections to academic concepts.

“We’ll tie it in with how we’re talking about theme in reading right now, so we feel the theme of the music,” Terra Linda Elementary fourth-grade teacher Rebecca Dall said. “If it’s that dark, deep bass, usually that’s a scarier idea, instilling fear in you. So we’ll talk about the theme of the music in some of the songs.”

Dall said many students get their first opportunity to join a school band or orchestra in the upper elementary grades so the annual symphony concert for fourth graders helps promote it and get them familiar with what an orchestra or band is.

Bluffdale Elementary’s music teacher had taught students about various musical instruments, but this was the first time some of them had seen them up close, Bluffdale Elementary fourth-grade teacher Larissa Collaco said.

 “Some kids don’t have the chance of being in an orchestra symphony concert,” Collaco said.

In addition to learning to appreciate the arts, Collaco said the field trip was an opportunity for students to practice listening skills and performance etiquette in a real-world setting and also to have fun learning outside the classroom.

“They get so excited about coming out and being in a different place,” she said.