Elizabethtown College music therapy students will host the 18th Open Door Recital on Saturday, March 27 at 11 a.m. The interactive, virtual event is geared toward children of all ages and is open to all members of the community to attend. Children in the virtual audience will be presented with a variety of ways to participate during each music selection.
Interested attendees can register for the Zoom event by contacting Professor of Music and Director of Music Therapy Gene Ann Behrens at behrenga@etown.edu.
Traditionally, the recital is held in person with children being given instruments and props to use during the interactive performance. Organizers of this year’s event had to get creative due to the virtual setting. Etown music therapy students will perform in small, socially-distanced groups, live on the Zug Recital Hall stage for those attending over Zoom.
To continue the event’s interactive atmosphere, children and their parents are being sent a digital recital program to follow along with at home, and are being given a list of items to make or collect for each music selection. For example, if children choose to interact, there are directions for making a paper doll with legs that will swing and dance to the music during the piano duet of “China Doll” by Leroy Anderson. Each child will be encouraged to either listen, sing, or move to the music.
Student organizers Anneka Bell ’21 and Brittany Freed ’21 were crucial in the planning and organizing of the event, along with members of Etown’s Alpha Mu club, an organization for students and faculty interested in the field of music therapy.
Alpha Mu has displayed its resiliency by continuing to find ways to make music and share it with the community, despite the challenges brought on by Covid-19. The Open Door Recital is the fourth virtual event the group has presented since last March.
“While this Open Door Recital will be different, the chatter I hear from the music therapy students reflects the same energy and love for this project as expressed by students in the past,” said Behrens, who serves as an advisor for the organization. “We believe in the power of music to support and bring people together during times of stress and unrest.”
History of the Open Door Recital
The event was started in 2003 to fulfill a community need of an interactive recital for children, with and without special needs. The Open Door recital has been held every year since, with the exception of spring 2020.