UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the first time since the origination of the Partners in Music collaboration in 2007, a Penn State student who once participated in the program as a fifth grader will now stand on the podium as a conductor. Partners in Music is a program for Music Education Majors within the School of Music and College of Arts and Architecture.
Brendan Locke, a fourth-year music education major and member of the Penn State trumpet studio, has been working on “Starsplitter Fanfare” by Brian Balmages with one of the Partners in Music fifth-grade bands. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, at State College Area High School.
Locke’s connection to Partners in Music runs deep. In 2014, as a fifth grader, he played cello in the program’s orchestra. Now, over a decade later, he returns to the initiative from a new perspective — leading young musicians through the same formative experience that inspired his own musical journey.
“It is exciting to have this full-circle moment,” said Linda Thornton, professor of music education and one of the coordinators of the Partners in Music program. “Who knows how many students in fifth grade will see someone who was just like them become a person who now teaches them? And Brendan is an exemplar personal and musical role model for them.”
In preparation for the upcoming concert, Locke and other Penn State students have joined elementary musicians for a series of early morning rehearsals, offering mentorship and hands-on instruction.
Partners in Music, a long-running collaboration between the Penn State School of Music, the State College Area School District and Our Lady of Victory Catholic School, brings together University music education majors and fifth-grade band and orchestra students for an annual side-by-side performance. The program provides future educators with valuable classroom experience while giving young musicians the opportunity to learn from and perform alongside college students.