How the Portland Symphony Orchestra uses music to strengthen early literacy
Portland Symphony Orchestra’s “Explorers” Program Brings Music to Kindergarten Classrooms
Portland, ME – Every other week, a violin‑shaped figure of a viola sits at the front of a kindergarten classroom, hands poised on the strings, and the room fills with the hush of anticipation. That figure is Matthew Consul, a violist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra (PSO), who has spent the last year touring elementary schools in Portland to turn ordinary lessons into musical adventures.
Consul’s routine is simple: he plays a short piece, closes his eyes, and invites the children to “fully get into” the music. “Let your imagination take you away. See what comes up: emotions, stories, colors,” he tells the students. The goal is to help them connect sound with language, and to give them a shared sense of wonder that lasts long after the final note.
A Year‑Long Partnership
The PSO’s Explorers program, launched in 2014, sends professional musicians to Portland’s public schools to support teachers’ existing curriculum. Consul, along with other PSO musicians, visits Longfellow Elementary and Reiche Community School with classes ranging from kindergarten to third grade. The students meet the musicians for 30‑minute sessions every other week—16 visits in total each school year.
Unlike one‑off concerts, the Explorers are regular classroom partners. “The students get to know the musicians really well, which gives them time to explore and develop meaningful connections,” says McKenzie Blanchard, the PSO’s director of learning and community impact. “The Explorers program has become a pillar of what we do at the symphony.”
Music Meets Literacy
The program’s design is built around early literacy. In Reiche’s kindergarten classroom, teacher Amy Wu uses the picture book The Man With the Violin by Kathy Stinson—an account of a child who hears a violinist in a subway station—to anchor a series of lessons. The book, inspired by Joshua Bell’s impromptu Washington, D.C. subway performance, serves as a narrative hook that the Explorers bring to life through live music.
During the story, Consul and his colleagues play the music that accompanies the pages. Children then use percussion instruments—drums, egg shakers, rhythm sticks—to echo the sounds or conduct the group. “Movement helps children gain knowledge through full‑body experiences and engaging multiple senses,” Wu explains. “So much of school is ‘sit and get,’ so to have this opportunity is so stimulating.”
The program also caters to English‑language learners. Wu employs a small, colorful glockenspiel to signal transitions and provide a friendly countdown to instructions. “Those sound cues are especially helpful for students who are learning English,” she notes.
Long‑Term Impact and Recognition
Since its inception, the Explorers program has remained anchored in teacher‑musician collaboration. Alyson Ciechomski, a retired music instructor who helped launch the initiative, continues to advise the program. The original team received a Yale Distinguished Music Educators Award in 2015, a testament to its innovative approach.
Blanchard emphasizes that the PSO supports the program at no cost to schools, covering classroom materials and instruments. Funding comes from grants and donations. “To be successful, we have to keep centering educator voices in any education program,” he says.
Student outcomes are measured in both educational and social terms. Teachers report improved literacy skills—listening closely, sequencing stories, making connections between reading and listening—as well as heightened community awareness. “Kindergartners learn about community helpers and their own roles in the wider world,” Wu says. She adds that seeing professional musicians as people who live and work in the community is “huge for them.”
From Classroom to Concert Hall
The Explorers’ influence extends beyond the classroom. Some children who meet the musicians become musicians themselves. One student, who attended a PSO Discovery Concert as a child, fell in love with the violin and now plays with the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra, which performs a side‑by‑side concert with the PSO every other year.
Consul’s enthusiasm for the program is palpable. When asked about his experience, he smiles and says, “I focus on having fun, getting them excited and inspired. Hopefully planting those seeds of passion and letting them flourish for themselves.” His favorite part, he admits, is watching the children’s reactions: “Every year it blows me away, seeing them experience music with their entire being.”
Looking Ahead
As the school year ends, Consul often finds himself almost knocked over by a group of enthusiastic goodbye hugs. The program’s success lies not only in the music it plays but in the relationships it builds—between students, teachers, and the community’s professional musicians. With its continued funding from grants and donors, the PSO Explorers program promises to keep its rhythm of learning, play, and community engagement well into the future.
