Elementary Student's Poems Read In Tulsa Symphony Performance

On a cold day like Thursday, if we think of animals at all, it's probably polar pears and penguins.

But through the magic of the Tulsa Symphony, the kids at Tulsa's Kendall-Whittier Elementary School spent the day with elephants, kangaroos and tropical fish.

All kinds of animals walked the stage of the Lorton Performing Arts Center, and no one had to clean-up after them. They came to life through the violins, and flutes, and clarinets of a clutch of Tulsa Symphony Orchestra musicians.

The music is Camille Saint-Saens, "Carnival of the Animals." The accompanying poetry of Ogden Nash replaced, by that of the kids from Kendall-Whittier.

Reading it was my part.

"All the swans left.... to music playing"

Kolbeigh Green wrote about the creatures who never forget, "It was really, really, cool. I was really surprised how well it sounded together."

Conner Allwein was really impressed how the xylophone made his poem about fossils come to life, "That was pretty cool, ‘cause it sounded like bones."

And the king of beasts stalked across the stage, because they're fearless.

Christopher Beam's one of three first graders who wrote of lions, "Because my teacher said to.

There's a very good chance that this was the first time these kids have heard a live musical performance; certainly a live symphonic piece.

It's part of Tulsa Symphony's on-going community outreach to bring the magic of music to ears that have never heard it.

The kids turned out animal artwork, and previewed Saint-Seans animal extravaganza on the Internet beforehand. So, they knew what it was going to sound like, but there's nothing like a live performance.

You just can't do that through YouTube. The Internet can't hold a hoof, or a paw, or a fin, to hearing, and imagining, the creatures of the earth parading past in a sweet-sounding serenade.

It will be performed again Saturday night, at 7:30, from the stage of the downtown Performing Arts Center during the Symphony's next performance.

There's more Saint-Saens and Mozart on the bill. Tickets can be found the Performing Arts Center or Symphony websites.