Music Matters: Where Music Meets the Moment

EDUCATION

Where Music Meets the Moment

The ISO’s Music Matters program brings professional musicians into classrooms across central Illinois—and the results linger long after the last note fades.

It comes as no surprise that music matters to teachers in our schools.  Often working with limited resources, they know that music strengthens cognitive, motor, and emotional functions in elementary age students and are committed to delivering experiences that support their student's development.  Cue the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and its Music Matters educational program.  

This season, Music Matters will reach approximately 3,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade across roughly 30 schools, with more than 70 individual presentations. It is one of the ISO’s most ambitious and enduring educational commitments—and one that has been quietly growing in scope and impact for more than two decades.

From the Classroom to the Concert Hall

The program traces its roots to 2003, when in-school musician visits were folded into a broader Step by Step initiative. By 2014, Music Matters had evolved into a standalone program, sending ISO musicians directly into local schools during the weeks surrounding the annual Concerts for Kids performances.

The design is elegantly simple: a professional ISO musician arrives at a school, spends thirty minutes with a classroom of students, demonstrates their instrument, introduces musical concepts, and talks frankly about life as a working musician. Students are invited to ask questions. They hear music performed live, often for the first time.

The program reaches every public and private school within an hour’s drive of Springfield or Bloomington-Normal that wants to participate—a list of more than 400 institutions maintained and refreshed annually by volunteers on the ISO’s Community Engagement and Education Committee.

“It’s like words without words and voices without voices.”

— KB, age 10, on what music means

The People Who Make It Work

Behind every classroom visit is a carefully coordinated network of ISO staff, Guild volunteers, and musicians. Jackie Mitra, Community Engagement Programs Manager, oversees the program’s logistics from end to end—building the school database, distributing sign-up forms, organizing visit packets, and streamlining a process that has grown significantly more complex as the program’s reach has expanded. Jane Schurter, Orchestra Manager, then contracts with ISO musicians interested in doing education outreach activities.  

Once schools sign up, Elaine Cousins (Board VP of Education; Guild Board VP of Community Engagement) and Dr. Ann Abbot Joseph, Ph.D. (Guild VP of Education, Springfield) work the phones, confirming dates and times with school contacts. Guild volunteers from both the Springfield and Bloomington-Normal chapters then accompany musicians to their visits—an experience that Elaine describes as genuinely moving.

“Their enthusiasm for the music, learning about an instrument, and learning about the life of a professional musician is palpable and exciting.”

— Elaine Cousins, VP of Community Engagement & Education

Dr. Ann, who coordinates Springfield-area volunteers personally, speaks about the visits with unmistakable warmth: “Every time I go into the classroom, I love going to see the presentations. It reminds me of my early beginnings, my spark for music education, for being involved with teachers who love music.”

For Guild volunteers, attending a Music Matters visit is an invitation to witness something rarely available to adults—the unfiltered reaction of a child hearing orchestral music for the first time. It is, by all accounts, an experience worth seeking out.

A Journey Around the World

At PORTA Elementary School in Petersburg, a rural community 20 miles from Springfield, where violinist Maria Emmons took each grade on a musical journey spanning Argentina, France, Scotland, Japan, and the United States. Students who had never seen a violin up close leaned forward to get a closer look. Questions came quickly and without reservation: How old were you when you started playing? Did you always want to be a violinist?

Maria has been doing Music Matters presentations for two years now, and her enthusiasm for the work is unmistakable. “I get to interact with students across all kinds of different communities and in different schools,” she said. “I love introducing music to them. I ask them to talk about what words they would use to describe each song that they hear—and I’m always amazed at the variety of words and descriptions they come up with.”

At LeRoy Elementary in LeRoy, Illinois—a McLean County town of roughly 3,500—violinist Hannah MacLean brought the house down when her bow took on a rhythmic folk pattern that transformed the concert violin into something recognizable and joyful. Every pair of hands in the room started clapping. Many of those students had never heard a violin played in person.

“Music to me is like a language that offers comfort and connects me more to myself.”

— Lynne, Grade 5

Why It Matters Beyond the Classroom

Teachers have reported a concrete, measurable benefit to the visits: students who have met an ISO musician in their school are measurably more engaged when that musician takes the stage at a Concerts for Kids performance. They recognize a face. They remember a conversation. The orchestra becomes something personal.

That bridge between the classroom and the concert hall is exactly the point. Music Matters operates at the intersection of access and inspiration—bringing professional artistry to students who might never otherwise encounter it, in communities where resources for music education are often stretched thin.

Funding for the program, once supported by a State Farm grant, now flows through ISO’s Making Music Together initiative and direct donor contributions to ISO education programs. It is community-funded, community-delivered, and—if the feedback forms are any indication—leaving its mark on students who will carry those first listening experiences with them for years.

A Final Word

Music Matters is available to schools throughout the ISO’s service region. Information about the program, including an overview and contact details, is available on the ISO’s website at ilsymphony.org. If you have never attended a classroom visit as a Guild volunteer, consider making this the season you do. The musicians bring the music. The students bring the wonder. All you have to do is show up.