Peter Straus

"It shows [students] that there are other types of music besides pop music, which they are inundated with by the media day in and day out," says Peter Straus, the executive director of Monadnock Music.

Straus says the program encourages schools to give priority to third-grade students.He says third grade is when students begin studying the recorder, and the year before they will have the opportunity to study stringed and band instruments.

Straus emphasizes that the Lend an Ear! program is completely different from his own childhood experience."I remember when I was a kid we were bussed down to the town auditorium to hear the orchestra," says Straus."There were thousands of kids screaming.We couldn't hear and didn't care."

Pursuing the same intimate atmosphere found at Monadnock Music's summer concerts, Straus encourages teachers and administrators to keep student groups as small as possible, so that students can see the musicians and their instruments at close range, with a maximum of exchange between the performers and the students.
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Straus says that it is important for young people to see that musicians are people, not "celebrities" or remote images, and for students to get a sense of the kind of concentration, dedication, and teamwork that go into musical performance.He hopes that the Lend an Ear! program and the Rug concerts are helping to bring this message to children in the Monadnock region.

"We're hoping to capture the kids attention at an impressionable age," said Straus.

Peter Straus Executive Director