CLEVELAND — Alan Harrell is a music professor at Cleveland State University. He’s also a member of the Cleveland Orchestra.
What You Need To Know
- Alan Harrell is a music professor at Cleveland State University
- Harrell began teaching music lessons to kids on Facebook Live at the beginning of the pandemic
- Harrell wrote a musical story that he performed for the kids
So when CVOID-19 caused the world to pause, Harrell did what he does best, play music. He wanted to give stressed parents a few minutes to relax, so he jumped on Facebook Live to entertain their kids.
“They’re stressed, especially the ones that aren’t homeschooling before this,” Harrell said. “I mean, I wouldn’t know how to teach all of these things, so it was just a chance for 30 minutes just plop them in front of the computer and I’ll entertain them and possibly teach them a few things as well.”
Harrell started playing cello when he was in fifth grade. Now, he wants to be sure young children also have the chance to discover music. He said parents tell him their kids enjoy his performances and that he’s inspired some of them to make their own instruments.
“Some of the parents posted videos while I was doing the lessons and I would see kids, like, making musical instruments out of a toilet paper roll or make a drum out of a piece of Tupperware. Things like that,” he said.
Harrell even got some of his fellow professors and orchestra members to join him in performing a musical story he wrote.
“I wrote this children’s story about a swan who had to leave his lake because of a flu that was going around. So, obviously, this was inspired by our current situation and the reason I picked the swan is because one of the most famous cello pieces is called The Swan and so it was an easy sort of music that I had in mind to begin with.”
Harrell had to put his Facebook Live sessions on hold after his wife gave birth to their son.
“One of the later ones I did it from the NICU. We had, like, a little concert for the baby, so that was fun too,” he said.
Harrell hopes to begin doing his Facebook Live music sessions again, especially now as students are heading back to school and may need access to music programs.
