UND CONNECT: Sounding together at Sensory Family Concert
Crowd of nearly 100 moved with, and were moved by, the music at first event in UND Sensory Family Concert Series
Bright natural light filters through the silk scarves that flit and float in a rainbow of red, yellow, purple and blue.
Large and little hands knead squishy squares, and neon bubble keychains go pop-pop-pop as the energized crowd of nearly 100 begins to stand, sway and sing along to the iconic disco song “Dancing Queen.”
This piano and ensemble concert inside Christus Rex Campus Center was not the scene of just any classical music concert. This was the first installment of UND’s Sensory Family Concert Series hosted by the Department of Music.
The recent “Spectrum of Sounds: Music Without Barriers” performance on April 5 was an event for everyone, but especially for those with sensory conditions. The concert was made possible by UND CONNECT, an initiative that provides faculty and students with opportunities to engage in community-based research and development projects.
“For the first half-hour, I was super emotional, and I couldn’t stop crying,” said Ling Lo, organizer of the concert and teaching assistant professor of Collaborative Piano at UND. “When people started to sing instantly, I had such joy because that’s what we wanted to see.
“We tried our best to make the seating feel comfortable — a little bit more casual — to make the audience feel like, ‘Oh, this is less stressful and pretty open. I can move around and sing along.’”
‘There’s nothing but pure expression’ at Sensory Family Concert
The interactive and sensory-friendly classical concert was the brainchild of Lo, who previously served four years as program assistant for “Celebrating of Spectrum: A Festival for Music and Life” at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
In 2017, she presented the same program developed for young autistic pianists at an international autism conference in Limerick, Ireland.
“The whole experience was really life-changing for me,” Lo said in UND Today’s preview of the concert. “As a universal language, music provides such a pure way for everybody to express their feelings. There’s no difference, no judgment. There’s nothing but pure expression.”
Her colleagues are convinced.
Justin Montigne, UND assistant professor of Voice and Musical Theatre, was in the audience as a friend, colleague and supporter.
“Dr. Lo and I worked together last year when she was the assistant music director for the musical ‘First Date,’ and I immediately became her biggest fan,” Montigne said. “She’s not only an amazing musician, but she’s also uniquely gifted in connecting with students, audiences and anybody she meets. She just does that.
“It doesn’t surprise me that she wanted to create a concert like this to help all of us connect to the music and connect to each other. Her dream is big, and she’s going to make a lot more out of it. I’m excited that this type of concert is coming to Grand Forks. Clearly, there’s a need for it.”
Montigne added that he spoke with a student who expressed the same. Precisely, the student said there’s a “divide between classical music and the rest of the world that shouldn’t be there.”
And that call for “more participation, more freedom and fewer rules has really lit our students up to see that things can be done differently — you can make music with different folks than we usually expect to make music with in the Hughes Fine Arts Center,” Montigne said.
A first of sorts for Grand Forks community
Lo and her co-director, Melanie Popejoy, teaching associate professor and associate director of UND Choral Activities, said they had heard of metropolitan orchestras holding regular sensory-friendly concerts, but both believed the local concert was the first-of-its-kind for Grand Forks. As many as 30 patrons of Grand Forks’ Listen Center were among the guests.
The hourlong concert — complete with complimentary fidget toys, sound-buffering headphones and an adjacent “quiet room” — included 21 UND student ensemble performers and a four-hand piano duet and singalong Disney medley by guest artists Sangmi Lim and Dino Mulic of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
“As we get older, we start to understand that the most meaningful projects are the ones that involve community,” Mulic said. “What makes this day very special is that everyone is welcome to participate in the music-making. At a typical piano recital, it’s more formal. The artist is on the stage, and everyone else is listening quietly in the audience. While that’s a great experience, it’s not a real full music-making experience.
“Today, what we experienced was completely different. The audience took on almost an identical role, joining us in singing, clapping, dancing and cheering. We felt at one point that we were not even that important. The audience had a bigger role than just us, and we were both crying while playing because that really touched us.”
Added Popejoy: “It took the spark of Dr. Lo’s dream, and the students in the room singing out loud to give everyone else permission because we’re not used to that, right? Somebody threw their scarf up in the air, and that gave the rest of us permission to do the same. We all benefited from that open door.”
Photo by Janelle Vonasek/UND Today.
The concert came even more alive when student and junior Music Performance major Isaac Anderson began narrating “The Carnival of Animals” piece with poems from The Chicago Poetry Center.
More than once, the audience broke out in exuberant laughter as the theatrically gifted Anderson gave voice to a bossy lion, a ballet-dancing elephant in a pink tutu and a green tortoise who was “slow, slow, slow, oh so slow. You are slow. You’re so slow.”
“For me coming in, I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest,” Anderson said. “But as soon as I started to see how the audience was responding to both the poem and the music, it really inspired me to feel a little bit more joyful in my own practice. I saw how they were smiling, and that made me want to smile, too. It reminds me of why I make music in the first place and why I do what I do.”
Lo says she plans to continue the sensory concerts with the goal of one per semester.
“Everything was beyond what I could have imagined. I can’t even describe it in words,” Lo said. “This is what musicians do. We spread joy, and if we can’t do that, then why do we play? I’m just happy we were able to express that joy together today.
“The key to this event is that it’s so much more meaningful than the traditional concert. The students all feel that there’s a greater purpose to this, and they’re able to connect on a personal level.”
Here’s what some of the students had to say …
Emily Chasowy, studying for a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting: “This concert meant a lot to me personally because I have a sister with autism and sensory issues. She absolutely loves music. Every time I’m home, we have car karaoke concerts. I wish she could be here, but seeing everyone else with similar exceptionalities enjoying the music really made my heart happy.”
Hannah Thorlakson, Music major: “It was so meaningful, cool and unique to see how the music brought everyone together. It was very unifying and nice to see people from all different backgrounds come to just enjoy the music. They were able to be themselves without the fear of pleasing people.”
Zoey Junker, sophomore Music Education major: “This was really special to me because I have family members who are on the spectrum. As a future music educator, it was great to see what I can do to be more inclusive in the community.”
Will Hallbeck, Music major: “Of course, any opportunity to make music in any space is great, but I think the music world can tend to be a little pretentious and a little shut off and clique-y. It’s great to be able to open it up to as many people as possible.”
Elizabeth Keele, sophomore in Music Education: “As a future educator, I think this is especially important. We need to give that accessibility to everyone in the community who wants to listen and be touched by music.”
Sydney Crockett, senior in Piano Performance: “I teach piano students of my own, so I think it’s especially meaningful when we can cater to the needs of everyone and not have such a strict setting. The audience participation is fun for everyone. It’s not like those long recitals where you have to sit still for hours at a time.”
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>> Music is for everyone. Lo says she hopes to organize a Sensory Family Concert each semester. If you want to learn more, reach Lo at ling.lo@UND.edu.
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