http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/area-musicians-fulfill-their-civic-duty-springfield-drury-civic-orchestra_45834.mp3
RANDY: This week we’re exploring what the term “civic duty” means... not what we think it means, but what local people in our area think. What exactly constitutes “civic duty” ... and what can a person do to fulfill that “civic duty?” If you’re a musician, one way to do so is to perform in a not-for-profit ensemble. And it’s hard to be more not-for-profit than the Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestra, which was founded in 2005 at Drury University and performs several free concerts of orchestral and chamber music classics every season. Yes, they do cheerfully accept donations and sponsorship—but they never charge admission to their performances. For Dr. Christopher Koch, Assistant Professor of Music at Drury University and the orchestra’s Music Director, providing this outlet for area musicians just felt like the right thing to do eight years ago.
DR. CHRISTOPHER KOCH: The orchestra started as a way of giving Drury students a large-orchestra opportunity as well as the Drury Chamber Orchestra. And we included Drury students and community members, and that has grown to include, basically, students from every university, faculty, professional musicians—
RANDY: Even high school students.
DR. KOCH: Even high school occasionally, yes. All of our concerts have always been free—we want the Springfield public to have access to this kind of music. And the Springfield Symphony is a fantastic resource for that, but we felt that it would also be good to have a free access to that as well. We’re just making it available for the community, because we believe choice is so important in building an arts culture.
RANDY: The players in the Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestra volunteer their time, and Dr. Koch says they enthusiastically embrace the organization’s mission—which includes playing special “Music In the Schools” concerts at area elementary schools where they invite families to attend. Dr. Koch mentioned the wide range of ages and experience levels in the SDCO. One of their youngest members is Central High School student Carolina Franczak. Like a number of SDCO members, Carolina also plays in the Springfield Symphony. But she definitely “gets” the civic-duty aspect of participating in this ensemble as well.
CAROLINA FRANCZAK: Yes, it very much does, it’s very community-related, and I feel like it fits all those categories. I think that we are enriching the community with concerts, because some people don’t have the money to afford going to concerts of (the) Springfield Symphony. So this is always a great option for them—it’s free, and I just wish we could perform more of our concerts.
RANDY: Carolina plays in the violin section of the SDCO along with another fellow Springfield Symphony member, Carol Harrison, who teaches at Southwest Baptist University. She’s played in the Springfield Symphony since 1984 and in the SDCO since about 2006. Here’s what she says about “civic duty.”
CAROL HARRISON: Well, I think you need to contribute what your talents are to the community. And I think Dr. Koch has a good grasp of what the community needs. And he’s really had good support, and the players really like working with him.
RANDY: Does Carol believe playing in a community orchestra is a fulfillment of one’s civic duty?
CAROL: Well, yes—but I probably do it more just because I love playing! (laughs) But I think it is something that we, as musicians, should give back to the community.
RANDY: Violinist Janet Hopkins is another Springfield Symphony member who also plays in the Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestra.
JANET HOPKINS: I like this orchestra because it lets people in the community come play that maybe aren’t quite as good as Symphony people. It gives them a venue to play in—and that’s very important because we’ve got a lot of good musicians. Our music program in our Public Schools is very good, our orchestra program, and so many of them don’t have an opportunity to play once they’re done.
RANDY: Away from symphonic music Janet is a medical technologist at Cox South.
JANET: But I got involved in playing this because I actually have two sisters that play in this orchestra as well! They’re both in the viola section.
RANDY: Music Director Christopher Koch.
DR. KOCH: I think that anyone who plays an instrument for long enough does so for a complex variety of reasons. They do it partly for themselves. They do it partly for an “ideal” or an inspiration of some kind. And I think most of us also do it to communicate. And everyone in this orchestra loves communicating their art.
[Background sound fades up into “Mambo!” from Bernstein’s West Side Story]
RANDY: But you know, sometimes it doesn’t pay to over-intellectualize concepts like “doing your civic duty”... it can be fun and personally fulfilling on a number of different levels! You can find out more about the Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestra at their website: http://sdco.drury.edu. For KSMU “Sense of Community,” I’m Randy Stewart.