Ethnography on the Lillian Rauch Beginning Strings Program

The Lillian Rauch Beginning Strings Program, a branch of the Greensboro Symphony

Orchestra, is a youth string program that strives to provide free string education to

under-represented and under-served students. It was started in 2000 under the support of Lillian

Rauch, its main sponsor and leader.​ ​ Currently, it is headed by Ford Musician Award winner

Peter Zlotnick. The program has a secondary goal: it provides graduate education students an

opportunity to grow as teachers in an especially diverse setting. Supporters believe this will have

a lasting positive impact on North Carolina and its students.

The students play string instruments; violins, violas, and cellos. Under the

Hornbostel-Sachs classification, these instruments are known as chordophones: instruments in

which a stretched string vibrates to create the primary sound of the instrument. Pitch is

differentiated when the musician changes the vibrating length of the string by putting pressure

against it. Measured spots for the musician to place their fingers allow them to play equally

tempered pitches that fall with in Western tuning. The musician vibrates the string by drawing a

rosined horsehair bow over it. The vibrating string is coupled with a resonating body, usually

made out of wood, that allows the sound to bounce around and naturally amplify. These

instruments present a unique conceptual challenge: there are no markers for pitch on the

fingerboard. These instruments are part of a class of musical instruments labeled

“continuous-pitch” instruments; they are not constrained to any set intervals between pitches.

Instruments such as guitars and mandolins have markers, called frets, that show the musician

where to place their fingers, whereas bowed strings do not. The musician must develop a
finely-tuned muscle memory in order to play pitches correctly, since differences of fractions of

an inch can change the pitch by a very noticeable amount.

The Lillian Rauch Beginning Orchestra Program moved to Clara J. Peck Elementary in

2007. It has since spread to Ceasar Cone Elementary as well. The program provides students

with string instruments and small ensemble lessons. It serves diverse populations, with about

99% of its students qualifying for a free or reduced-price lunch. The program serves between

80-150 students annually. Peck elementary is currently rated 1,307 out of 1,473 elementary

schools in North Carolina, with Cone rating 1,447. Both schools rate in the 11th percentile. Built

to serve under-resourced and marginalized communities, these schools struggle to produce good

test scores. Peck students scored in the 12th percentile in 2019, and Cone students scored in the

2nd percentile. Both schools have a majority nonwhite student body: Peck teaches a 92.3%

nonwhite body, Cone teaches a 97.4% nonwhite body. The program strives to provide these

under-resourced students with the opportunity to make music and express themselves.

Given the fact that these schools are in under-resourced areas and the students

consistently perform far under the state average, a music education is vital to the future success

of these students. Multiple studies show a positive correlation between participation in music

classes and academic performance. In a recent study conducted by the University of British

Columbia, it was found that ​"​students who learned to play a musical instrument in elementary

and continued playing in high school not only score significantly higher but were about one

academic year ahead of their non-music peers with regard to their English, mathematics and

science skills,​" and that ​"the more the students engage with music, the better they do in those
subjects." When poor-performing students are exposed to a musical education, they’re more

likely to score better on tests and perform better in classes.

It is, at best, extremely ignorant to fail to realize the correlation between the low

academic performance and the low-income nature of the community. These areas have been

under-resourced for generations, and the effects can be seen in many failures in infrastructure.

Families who make less money pay less in taxes, so low-income communities often have a small

tax base. With less money, the local and state government cannot put as much money towards

funding for things like schools, teacher salary, etc. It is also statistically more likely for these

low-income families to be nonwhite. The connection between systemic racism and academic

opportunities for these children is obvious. Another factor in the continued disadvantages in

these communities is what’s known as the poverty cycle. It is notoriously difficult to escape

poverty anywhere in the world, and while the US has a comparably remarkable social mobility

(27th in the world), generational poverty is still an issue. It is fairly unlikely for someone who

grew up in poverty to earn more than their parents. Poor academic performance makes it unlikely

for applicants to be accepted into accredited universities, which in turn makes it unlikely to land

a high-paying job. It also makes it difficult to earn scholarships, making it next to impossible for

some families to even afford sending their child to college. All of these factors create a vicious

cycle which disproportionately affect communities of color. The Lillian Rauch Beginning Strings

Program brings arguably the brightest opportunity for these disadvantaged communities in

decades. The opportunity to provide students with a musical education, which is proven to better

their test scores and academic performance, gives these students a chance to break the poverty

cycle that has ravaged their communities for so long.

 The Lillian Rauch Beginning Strings Program brings opportunities to these low-income

communities. Opportunities for help, social mobility, and hope abound in a place they didn’t

before. With help from UNCG, the program is changing lives around the county.

Works Cited:

“​Greensboro Symphony musician wins national award,” News and Record, accessed October 13,
2020,
https://greensboro.com/blogs/gotriad_extra/greensboro-symphony-musician-wins-national-award
/article_c32fee8d-c08b-5ab1-bac2-bb9b27a2b883.html​.

“Lillian Rauch Beginning Strings Program,” UNCG CVPA, accessed October 13, 2020,
https://vpa.uncg.edu/music/rauch-strings-program/

“Clara
​ J. Peck Elementary,” SchoolDigger, accessed October 14, 2020
https://www.schooldigger.com/go/NC/schools/0192000794/school.aspx​.

“​Ceasar Cone Elementary,” SchoolDigger, accessed October 14, 2020

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/NC/schools/0192000766/school.aspx​.
“A Population-Level Analysis of Associations Between School Music Participation and
Academic Achievement,” American Psychological Association, accessed October 14, 2020,
https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2019-34936-001.html​.

“Inequalities Persist Despite Decline in Poverty For All Major Race and Hispanic Origin
Groups,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed October 14, 2020,
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-
historic-lows-in-2019.html​.

“Ranked: The Social Mobility of 82 Countries,” Business Insider, accessed October 14, 2020,
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ranked-the-social-mobility-of-82-countries-102
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