Photos by Steve Barnum/ Staff writer
The 11th annual Free Day of Music event took place at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville this Saturday, Oct. 22, and was filled with fun for everybody.
“Today’s event is our 11th annual Free Day of Music, where we make the entire building open to the public for a full day of music on four stages,” said Jonathan Marx, the Vice President of Communications for the Nashville Symphony. “It has been a corner-stone of our free education and community engagement programming since this building opened ten years ago.”
Marx continued, saying, “The entire event is put on by the Nashville Symphony. So all of the people working today’s event, aside from the musicians, are either paid staff of the Nashville symphony or are volunteers for the symphony.”
He also explained that all of the events performers were volunteers, and they were performing out of their own generosity to share their music and to make it available to the community.
Some of the volunteer performers of the day included the Nashville Symphony Chorus, the Nashville Philharmonic, Alissa Lindemann, Quinn DeVeaux & Blue Beat Review and the Big Picture Pops Ensemble.
“Today is less about education and more about engagement, which is giving people access to music without any barriers,” said Marx.
“This is our largest community engagement event of the year. We typically expect about eight-thousand people,” said Walter Bitner, the Director of Education and Community Engagement. “We have over twenty performers on four stages from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.”
The intent of the event was to encompass that diversity by showcasing music of all types, for the enjoyment of all of the people that make up the Nashville community.
“The Schermerhorn is a beautiful place to see music,” said Nettie Craft, an Adjunct Professor of Theater at MTSU. “It’s a real gift that they give the city a free day. Art is the one thing we can do that other animals can’t do. It makes us human.”
Kristen Oguno, a senior at Nashville Big Picture High School and one of the singers of the Big Picture Pops Ensemble stated that the event was important because “everyone gets to showcase their talent, and I think that’s a really good thing that they can get to do that because not everyone can.”
Oguno also wanted people who are interested in music to know that your voice can be impactful. Not only if you sing to yourself, but to other people, and it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from.
Shanae Edwards, a part-time interim and vocal music teacher at Nashville Big Picture High School, expressed that that music has a way of speaking to the soul.
“We have people here from all nationalities, all walks of life, that came together in one place to appreciate the aesthetics of music. You can’t get any more amazing than that,” said Edwards.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Olivia Ladd email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
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