Photo By Sgt. Matthew Rabahy | Shane Groothof, lead mentor of community outreach programs, teaches music theory to...... read more read more
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Walking inside the Colorado Springs Conservatory for the first time is like stepping into the building on the first day at a new school, chock full of anticipation for the fresh unknown.
The angelic voice of a young woman singing the blues echoes from the floor above. Suddenly the saxophone trills loudly up and down the scales.
Visitors to the conservatory are met with the smell of old books and music.
The atmosphere is electric yet subtle. The halls reverberate with music, and the walls explode with color and character under the dim, warm light.
Art lines the corridors — here a giant monkey painting, there a mural of an African girl with eyes closed and lips puckered, not as if preparing for a kiss, but perhaps that quiet, contemplative expression comes just as she sings the last phrase of her mystic melody.
Amid this setting, Soldiers and Families bound through the doors and up the stairs to begin their journey of musical immersion.
A new semester of music lessons, offered exclusively for Soldiers and their Families began here Jan. 29, 2019 as part of a partnership with the Citizen Soldier Connection, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing friendship and support to servicemembers and their families.
The program offers eight weeks of guitar, voice, piano, songwriting, and recording arts lessons for only $100.
“It was a great first night,” said Shane Groothof, lead mentor of partner and community programs at the conservatory. “It’s a great opportunity for people to get off base and enjoy learning and sharing music.”
The partnership with Citizen Soldier Connection is one of Groothof’s favorite offerings at the conservatory, he said. There is such a diverse group of individuals from all over the world who have seen so many different things, but they all come together in a unique place to learn, and the thing that binds everyone is music.
“Music is therapeutic — it calms the soul,” said Edwin Diaz, an Army veteran and a new student enrolled in the program. “I’m coming here to learn and get better knowledge of music. I’m very excited about this and ready to get going and keep going.”
Diaz, who enrolled in piano lessons, found the program online, he said. It seemed like a great opportunity to do something he had been wanting to do for a long time.
“I feel like that is such a niche for the Soldiers to be able to express themselves,” said Elizabeth Quevedo, executive director of Citizen Soldier Connection, who is also a former Army engineer officer.
It is a place for Soldiers and their families of any skill level to learn the arts and have an outlet, she said.
The program is available for active duty military, veterans, and their spouses and children over 12 years old. The next semester begins Sept. 17, 2019 and runs through Nov. 5, 2019.
For more information about enrollment, visit https://coloradospringsconservatory.org/citizen-soldier.
| Date Taken: | 02.05.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.08.2019 18:06 |
| Story ID: | 309755 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US |
| Hometown: | COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Conservatory offers music lessons for servicemembers, families, by SPC Robert Vicens Rolon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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