A family atmosphere: Urban Strings orchestras foster rich environment for participants
About a decade ago, when New Albany teenager Redd Ingram signed up for Urban Strings Columbus, he was already pretty serious about playing the double bass.
Ingram had learned the instrument when he was just 8 years old, and he was already a member of the Columbus Symphony’s youth orchestra program.
Yet Urban Strings — a classical music program aimed at string musicians from the ages of 11 to 17 from underrepresented communities — offered the adolescent something unique.
“What was exciting about it was that it was Black and brown kids in the orchestra, and that was a great outlet,” said Ingram, now a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Southern California, where he is studying film and television production. He previously studied music at Columbia University and the Juilliard School in New York.
“By the time I joined Urban Strings, I was already playing for four or five years, so at that point, that was the first time I had ever been in an orchestra where I wasn’t one of maybe three Black people,” Ingram said.
Celebrating a milestone
Next weekend, Urban Strings will celebrate 15 years of making a difference in the lives of young musicians of color in Greater Columbus. At 2 p.m. Feb. 27, the group will give the final in a monthlong series of anniversary concerts at the main branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. (Masks are required to attend.)
Joined by the Columbus State Gospel Vocal Ensemble, the young string players will perform a program titled “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” — a reference to a song by singer Nina Simone, who, in turn, was referencing a play about Black playwright Lorraine Hansberry.
Fifteen-year-old Columbus Academy junior Alexis Cunningham signed up for Urban Strings the summer after she began studying the viola as a third-grader, and the sense of community among the ensemble has kept her there ever since.
“I just had never been around a group of people who looked like me, playing music — that was so out of the ordinary for my instrument,” said Cunningham, the daughter of Stacy and Ron of Westerville.
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Urban Strings is the brainchild of Catherine Willis, a Cleveland native and longtime early childhood educator in Columbus City Schools. Although her own musical education stopped with piano lessons, Willis was exposed to a wide range of cultural experiences as a girl.
“I had teachers at that time that would do things like take a group of us to Severance Hall to see the Cleveland Orchestra,” said Willis, who describes herself as “80-plus.”
Her father was a singer, too.
“He sang in the choirs, and at one time was a member of an African American male quartet called the Master Singers,” Willis said. “It just enriched me, and it made me see a side of life and see things that ordinarily I would not have seen.”
The inspiration for the group
In 2007, while serving as a volunteer at the Martin Luther King Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Willis planted the seeds of what became Urban Strings.
“The librarian and I talked about the fact that she wanted to find something unique and different to have for Black History Month,” said Willis, who was also then volunteering at Champion Middle School. She asked a strings teacher there to borrow a few students who could perform a few pieces at the library.
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“(The teacher) identified two girls, and they went over kicking and screaming, but they did go over,” Willis said. “The response was so great, and so I thought, ‘Maybe there are some other Black kids that are in strings programs and we could form a group.’”
From there, Urban Strings — which is split into a group called Half Notes, with intermediate-level musicians; and a group called Premier, with advanced-level musicians — picked up new members from public, private, charter and parochial schools throughout Greater Columbus. The idea was to encourage young Black musicians to continue with their instrument.
“Very rarely at that time — and it’s not a whole lot better now — do you see African American string musicians,” Willis said.
Violinist Tia Ward, a 15-year-old sophomore at Centennial High School, has been playing in Urban Strings since she was a fifth-grader with minimal experience on her instrument. She credits the program with encouraging her to continue playing; she now performs gigs at weddings and birthday parties.
“I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for Urban Strings,” said Ward, the daughter of Cheryl and Chris of Westerville. “I’m not sure what I would be doing.”
New recruits were often added following performances by Urban Strings.
“The Black kids would see us, and their parents would see us, and they’d say, ‘Well, I want my kids to be a part of that,” said Willis, who emphasizes that the youngsters play not only classical music masterpieces but also spirituals, contemporary music and works by Black composers and arrangers.
“I think that it has helped them to learn to appreciate the music of African American and minority composers,” Willis said.
Young violist Cunningham can attest to that, too.
“Throughout the years, I’ve grown as a musician so rapidly, because I had this different experience that I’m allowed to play my instrument and explore all that it can do,” she said. “I never thought that playing jazz on my viola was possible before joining Urban Strings.”
Fostering a family atmosphere
Before the pandemic, the nonprofit organization, which operates on a budget of about $65,000, had swelled to close to 50 kids; now, closer to 30 musicians currently participate. A minimum of six months of experience on a string instrument is required to audition.
For Powell mother Jancie Collins, Urban Strings has been a family affair: All three of her sons have made music in the group, and her oldest sons — double bassist Drew, 22, and violinist Blake, 20 — have gone on to study music at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, respectively. Collins’ youngest son, 15-year-old Grant, is a violinist currently in Urban Strings.
“The big thing that’s different about Urban Strings, versus any other orchestra, is the fact that it’s more of a family atmosphere,” Jancie Collins said. “The families get involved, the parents volunteer to help with a lot of the activities and events. ... It really gave my boys a chance to get used to performing.”
Collins praises the performing opportunities afforded to Urban Strings members, who, before the pandemic, often played publicly at least twice a month and went on tours outside of Ohio. A trip to Louisville, Kentucky, is planned for the summer.
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Urban Strings leaders hope the group can help diversify the ranks of professional orchestras: According to a 2016 report by the League of American Orchestras, only 1.8 percent of professional orchestra musicians around the nation are Black.
“It’s a very lonely existence if you’re not around people who look like you and have your experiences,” said Ohio State University viola professor Juliet White-Smith, also a substitute musician with the Columbus Symphony who has been volunteering with Urban Strings for several years.
“(Urban Strings) is a really positive step in the right direction to equity and diversity and inclusion in more predominantly white experiences,” White-Smith said.
But no matter what professional path an Urban Strings member might take, the experience has proved rewarding for most.
“Some will potentially move on and play in college and pursue that (music) career,” Collins said. “And others may not, but it’s something they can play for the rest of their lives and have that skill.”
For her part, Ward, the young violinist, doesn’t yet know what she’ll do for a career, but, thanks to Urban Strings, she knows the violin will be part of her life for a long time to come.
“Professionally, I’m not sure,” she said, “but I think I would like to continue to do it as my side passion.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Urban Strings youth orchestra to play Feb. 27 at Columbus Main Library
