Kenyon College Hosts Knox Rocks! Day of Music Program

GAMBIER, Ohio — This May brings a chance for middle schoolers (grades 6–8) to have a unique musical, hands-on performance experience on Kenyon College’s campus. The inaugural Knox Rocks! program will give participants an opportunity to use instruments in a group led by musically trained college students, explore creating music beyond the classroom’s repertoire, and perform in the renowned Rosse Hall with friends. 

This program is free for students and includes lunch at Peirce Dining Hall. There will be six different genres of musical ensemble that participants can choose from — Film/Video Game Score, Classical/Chamber, Jazz/R&B, Pop, Country and Rock/Punk — within which they will study song arrangements, practice, rehearse and perform. Participants are encouraged to invite their friends and family to attend the free concert at Rosse Hall at 3 p.m.

This program takes place on Saturday, May 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Kenyon’s Rosse Hall, 105 College Drive in Gambier. Registration is now open on a first-come, first-served basis and will remain open until all spaces are filled. Registration and additional information can be found at https://sites.google.com/kenyon.edu/knoxrocks.

Knox Rocks! was created by 13 students in the community-engaged learning class “State of the Art: Music and Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century,” taught by local musician and Professor of Music Ted Buehrer. The course is designed to apply creative problem-solving in an effort to further engage audiences and musically cultivate the next generation of our local musicians. Students in this class conducted a survey of over 150 local middle school students in order to gauge interest in a musical program and to assess how middle schoolers would like that program to look. This pilot program is supported by Kenyon’s Office for Community Partnerships.  

For information about this program, contact Katie Pradella at predella1@kenyon.edu or Kenyon’s Office for Community Partnerships at communityinfo@kenyon.edu or (740) 427-5419.