The end of the school year often means year-end concerts for student orchestras and

choirs.

For high school music educator Annie Ray, it's a time to look back on a year that included a

Grammy Award and ahead at her vision of what education should be.

Ali Rogan's back with the latest installment of our series Weekend Spotlight.

The Orchestra Program at Annandale High School in Virginia is expansive.

Put your bow on the purple string and inclusive.

It's been around.

It's been around for more than 50 years and has grown to more than 130 participants,

many of whom speak a different language at home.

I'll give you three in the Moran. It's all conducted under the encouraging baton of director Annie Ray.

I've literally been brought into their communities are like fed by these

families tradition traditional Korean meals when I'm pregnant where they're

like you need to be eating or like taking care of me and it's been the most humbling thing to be educated by these communities of

diversity not just in countries but backgrounds and perspectives.

I have found that language and music tend to go hand in hand and so I just wonder if that's something that you've experienced because I know many of your students don't speak English at home.

Yes, it's so interesting because there are a bunch of students who I will see try to play by ear and

a lot of maybe the music in their country is like played by ear or like that's just something that they

have more of an ear to when

picking up languages it's interesting I've actually seen a correlation with

with some of my E.L. learners or English language learners who are tried to learn like through that oral tradition by

by ear a lot of ways.

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