OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — It’s a program that has continued to grow and has children as young as three years old playing instruments.
The Omaha Conservatory of Music created String Sprouts nine years ago to give children in underserved areas the opportunity to learn how to play the violin, viola, and cello at little to no cost.
Children enroll between ages three and six and continue through the five-year program.
The program has around a thousand children across 16 sites in Omaha, Council Bluffs, and Scottsbluff.
“Every child should have that opportunity. If the barrier is I don’t have an instrument, we take that away and put an instrument in their hands. If the barrier is we don’t have enough money to do this, that’s not a problem. We’ve made it to where they can still be in the program,” Omaha Conservatory of Music Executive Director Ruth Meints said. “That’s what we want it to be like. We want to have music for anyone.”
Meints says it is the enhanced development that children get from the program that makes it so special.
According to an UNMC Munroe-Meyer evaluation, students showed enhanced vocabulary, math, and behavior skills.
“They found that your brain is enhanced greatly with two years of instruction, and maximum benefits at five. Which then impacts reading and all those skills you need for academic outcomes,” Meints said. “Then there’s also left and right brain integration.”
She says students also learn how to work with others before enrolling in school.
The program’s first- and fifth-year students will get to show off their skills when they play alongside the Omaha Symphony this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Holland Performing Arts Center.
The second, third, and fourth-year students will perform in Turner Park May 21.
For more info on the performances or about string sprouts, click here.
