Music Faculty Partner with Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra
Artwork for the children's music series, Adventures with Arthur. Photo/Sarah Busman.
Flute teacher Sarah Busman and her husband, Dr. Joshua Busman, have partnered with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra to produce a music series using videos to teach children about music during the pandemic. The series is called “Adventures with Arthur.”
Sarah’s inspiration to produce this series was her desire to help musicians who had live performances canceled because of COVID-19. Sarah said, “A lot of performing groups have done videos editing music while in their homes. I was looking to do something a bit different.” “Adventures with Arthur” is funded by a grant that allows the musicians who participated to be paid.
Sarah has been a flutist with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra for nearly a decade. She worked with the Education Director, Monica Thiriot, to make the series happen.
Sarah Busman and her husband, Dr. Joshua Busman. Photo was taken following the after Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra performance on Feb. 8, 2020. Photo/Mary Schneider.
“Monica Thiriot contacted me to see if we could do some cool videos that people could watch online to fulfill an education grant we were no longer using for in-person events,” Sarah said. They landed on “Adventures with Arthur” because the Busmans’ son Arthur was interested in learning about music.
The target audience for the series is anywhere from 3 years old to early elementary school, although Joshua Busman said, “I’ve heard of people of all ages who enjoy the series.”
Sarah Busman, who has been an adjunct faculty member in the UNCP Department of Music for many years, hopes the series will teach kids about orchestral instruments and interest them in becoming musicians themselves.
“It’s also important to me to show everyone, kids and adults, that musicians are still working and playing even when there are not live shows,” she said. The other hope is the series will help people understand that classical music can be enjoyable like all other kinds of music.
“I hope that Sarah and Arthur can show people just how fun and engaging orchestral music can be,” said Joshua, who also appears in the videos. He teaches music history and music theory in the Department of Music and is Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College.
The first season of “Adventures with Arthur” just finished this past July. The series can be accessed on the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra’s website, YouTube and Facebook.
Busman and her son Arthur, who is the inspiration for the music series. Photo/Sarah Busman.
