In the Los Angeles area there is an organization called “Reading to Kids” that aims to promote reading and learning skills in elementary school children at a number of different schools. Once a month, they group together and divide the kids into grade levels to read a book having to do with that month’s theme. At the end of the day, the kids actually get to take a copy of the book they read home with them! This month, their theme was music, so they got to read cute books about music (the kindergarteners got to read Tubby the Tuba!). We had the opportunity to play some of our UCLA songs for the kids after they read their books!
We played our fight songs, some of our stand tunes, all with clarinets, alto saxophones, and percussion. Of course, we taught them the 8-clap! This event was such a fantastic service event and showed us that we don’t have to limit what we do based on numbers or instrumentation. As long as we are passionate about what we’re doing; the event can be a success. It was a lot of fun to play for them, and I hope we get to do it again soon!-Keri Downs, Alpha Xi
