Every year, when the Empire State Youth Orchestra holds its Playathon on the lower level at Crossgates Mall, a crowd gathers on the second floor and drops money down.
They like to aim for the bell of the tuba, ESYO Development/Marketing Specialist Sara Torrey said.
The falling money is a tradition ESYO gladly encourages (although the emcee makes sure to tell people they shouldn’t toss coins from the upper level). Raising money is one of the chief aims of the Playathon, along with raising the orchestra’s profile.
Billed as an ESYO `sampler,` this year’s Playathon run from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Crossgates on Saturday, Feb. 6. It will feature all 11 ESYO ensembles as well as students in ESYO’s City Strings and City Brass Instrument Training Programs.
`It is absolutely a wonderful opportunity where someone can sit and watch eight hours of live music,` Torrey said.
The students playing that music come from all over the Capital District and beyond. Torrey said the orchestra has counted musicians from Vermont and Massachusetts among its ranks. ESYO is not actually an orchestra itself ` it’s an umbrella organization made up of two symphonic orchestras, a wind orchestra, a string ensemble, three percussion ensembles and two jazz ensembles. More than 300 students perform in the groups.
To belong, students have to pay tuition, although Torrey stressed that no one is turned away for an inability to pay. To that end, ESYO does a lot of fundraising to pay for scholarships and tuition assistance.
There are two ways the Playathon raises money. The first is donations ` in addition to the money that people pass down to the musicians, people stop and give as they are walking by. ESYO also sells raffle tickets for a number of prizes both in the weeks leading up to the Playathon and at the mall. Items up for grabs this year include Prizes include tickets to see the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, handmade quilts, tickets to Capital Repertory Theater and a car wash package from Hoffman’s Car Wash.
`For a $5 ticket, you can win some really nice merchandise,` Torrey said.
Beyond raising money, ESYO looks at the Playathon as a way to raise awareness of what it offers. Torrey said many people know the orchestra from its participation in CBS 6’s `Melodies of Christmas,` televised benefit concerts for the child cancer program at Albany Medical Center.
But those who never see any of the group’s 30 or so public performances a year are often unaware of just how diverse and varied its offerings are.
For example, ESYO’s city Strings and City Brass Instrument Training Programs provide free private music lessons to inner-city students in Albany, Schenectady and Troy middle schools. Torrey noted that those students don’t often have a chance to perform together as an ensemble; they get that chance at the Playathon.
`What it does is provide an opprtunity to get up on an equal playing field with kids from a more privileged background,` she said.
As a result, some of those inner-city kids have fallen so in love with music that they have gone on to audition for and join ESYO, often drawing on the scholarship money that events like the Playathon help raise.
To attract other young musicians, the Playathon will also feature a `musical petting zoo.` Set up by John Keal Music Co., the zoo will feature a double bass, trumpet and other instruments.
`Kids can come up and try them out,` Torrey said.
All the action takes place on the lower level near the former Macy’s storefront. `We just kind of take over the whole thing,` Torrey said with a laugh. `We set up there. We bring in chairs. We have a truck that comes in with our percussion instruments. It’s a major, major undertaking.`
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