Guest instructor Christian Howes encouraged members of the Hempfield middle and high school orchestra to venture beyond the music.

Thanks to a grant from the Hempfield Foundation, the Asheville, N.C., native made a return trip to Landisville on the morning of Dec. 9 and worked with students prior to a public concert later that night.

Howes also visited in 2022. "I think he's a good fit because he also grew up as a classical musician," said Hempfield orchestra director Nile Wilson. "He went through orchestra. His own children play instruments. I want the kids to have an example of a person who does other styles but also has a very solid classical background. And I want them to realize that classical is great. I love classical, but you can explore and play things that are outside classical music that you love to play."

She is hoping her students learn how to discover ways to broaden their horizons. "He's teaching them how to improvise with knowledge of the basic elements of playing," said Wilson. "He's using fundamental scales and teaching how to use the scales as a building block to make music. I think it's important for (the students) to see that these exercises that I give them to help their facility on their instrument, you don't just leave it to that. You can explore that to make musical decisions, and that's what he's trying to impart to them."

Senior double bass player Ty Sauder is relishing that opportunity. "I think it's really interesting to hear about different styles of music and how there's more to orchestra than just classical music," he said. "You can get some of this more modern and jazzy style. I think it's really fortunate that thanks to the Hempfield Foundation we can experience all these kinds of different cool and musical artists."

Sophomore Elijah Hoover, who plays the viola, said, "We are learning how to improvise more over top of a melody and also different notes and how they fit together and how you can kind of jam with someone without needing a back track or anything like that."

Howes is an award-winning violin player who has performed all over the world. "When we're learning orchestral music, a lot of times what we're learning is how to play the instrument and to interpret the notes that are on the page," he said. "I'm trying to help them go past the notes on the page, go past playing prescribed parts to making music in more varied ways and becoming functional outside of the classical musicianship. There's a few different benefits from that. One of the benefits, I think, is for social and emotional learning, to have wider access to different types of music and different types of music-making abilities."

He said that approach has wide-ranging effects. "I think it's also enriching our worldview to be able to appreciate music from a wider array of sources around the world," Howes said. "I think it also speaks to the different strengths of the different kids, and it promotes lifelong learning."

Howes estimates that he has helped students in a total of 1,000 orchestra classrooms over the last 30 years. He has appreciated both trips to Hempfield. "I enjoy the students, the teachers, the culture," said Howes. "The students are really well prepared, well behaved, attentive, focused, and there's clearly a culture of respect that's been created here, an excitement for learning, and you don't see that everywhere. It's always really nice to feel that."