Participants in the Augusta Symphony’s Community Chords music therapy program burst onto the Miller Theater stage July 24 proclaiming “This is Me”, a signature song from “The Greatest Showman”.
A mix of group and individual karaoke numbers punctuated the end of season showcase and highlighted disability pride month which is July.
During the pandemic, our music therapy groups went to zoom. It’s hard making live music virtually so we did karaoke, music trivia and lyric discussion,” said Veronica Andreassen-Barker, music therapist.
After the pandemic, program participants wanted to keep the karaoke content, so Andreassen-Barker said they could provided they came up with a list of goals they wanted to accomplish.
They did highlighting confidence bu8ilding, being expressive and working together as a team as their goals.
About 120 adults between the ages of 19 and 75 with intellectual and developmental disabilities take part in the music therapy. They are part of other organizations such as Accent Inc., the Augusta Chapter of Upside of Downs, Tri-Development of Aiken County and Caregiver GA.
Around 75 of them took the stage to perform Friday with the others working backstage or handing out programs.
The music therapy program is one component of Community Chords, according to Delaney Chesnick, marketing manager. Other aspects include education and community involvement.
Education and community involvement often go hand-in-hand.
The symphony does a variety of educational outreaches to students. Musicians go into classrooms for mini concerts, and homeschool students visit the Brian J. Marks Hall at the Miller to hear quartets or other groups and learn about instruments. Discovery concerts are held annually for audiences of more than 1,200 students.
Discovery concerts are usually a variation of an evening performance but tailored for schoolchildren. One year the concert highlighted the planets; another year the concert featured a percussion explosion with musicians demonstrating more than 100 percussion instruments.
Another quarterly outreach provides music to area veterans at the VA Augusta Hospital.
To learn more about the symphony and its programs, visit augustasymphony.com.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
