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New Horizons puts clarinets to work

  • Published
  • By Tim Flack
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  A highly mobile team of motivated Airmen helped educate more than 1,100 children in the Grand Forks area about life in the Air Force with the help of their weapon of choice: the clarinet.

Four members of New Horizons - part of the U.S. Air Force Heartland of America Band from Offutt AFB, Neb. - conducted 15 performances in five days for 1,107 children in on- and off-base schools earlier this month, according to Master Sgt. Shelley Steepe.

Steep - concert band NCOIC - said that since the clarinetists don't have much to carry, they can spend less time loading, unloading and prepping to play music, and more time interacting with the kids.

She said on-base performances included visits to the Child Development Center and Twining Middle School. Performances were also tailored to the audiences, she said.

The music they played at the CDC was "more entertaining for the kids ... they could dance to it and have fun."

At the middle school, they introduced a wider range of music, including stuff the kids would recognize, like the music from Harry Potter, Steepe explained.

After an overall concert at Twining, the Air Force clarinetists worked one-on-one with children in the school's music program. She said it's good to have professional musicians come in to help reinforce what the kids are already learning.

"It is important to play your scales, to sit up when you play ... breathing and all of that," she said.

On base, where there's already an Air Force connection, Steepe and her team offer a different face of military life. But off base, it can be a first introduction to the military.

"We introduce ourselves and tell them a little bit more about the Air Force," Steepe said. "I love working with the kids ... just seeing how excited they are."

She lauded the students in the area for being very respectful of the performances. She also thanked everyone involved in setting up the visits, including Brad Sherwood from Red River High School.