The Youth Symphony Orchestras of East Central Indiana (YSOECI) was founded in 1964 as a way to bring young musicians together from the various communities of Delaware county. The program has grown over years and now provides string instruction to over 100 young musicians. YSOECI has three levels of string orchestras, a full orchestra, and a Suzuki program for the very youngest musicians. The ensembles meet on the Ball State campus on Monday afternoons and the teachers are made up of a Ball State faculty member, Dr. Matt Spieker, string teachers from the area, one BSU conducting graduate student, and several BSU music education students.
Beginning in 2017, YSOECI began a program titled the Partnership Program. This gives BSU music education students an opportunity to teach students of YSOECI. Some BSU students teach the Prelude strings, which are homogenous groupings of students in either a violin/viola class, a cello class, and/or a bass class. Other BSU students team teach with Dr. Spieker in the Overture Strings, a heterogenous class for graduated Prelude students; Intermezzo Strings, an intermediate orchestra for intermediate level students; Youth Symphony Orchestra (YSO) which is the full orchestra “flag ship” ensemble for YSOECI.
YSOECI is also involved in the community. In 2017-2018, Dr. Spieker and some students volunteered their time to teach students string instruments at Motivate Our Minds, an after-school program for underserved children in Muncie. YSOECI also has chamber groups that play for various events in the community such as the Yorktown Luminary Festival, Muncie Rotary Luncheon, the Bridge Dinner, and more.
More information about YSOECI can be found at their website or on their facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ysoeci/
Tiffany Arnold is the Director of YSOECI and she can be reached at tiffanyjarnold@gmail.com.
Dr. Spieker can also answer questions. His email address is mhspieker@bsu.edu.
