Warren County fourth-graders will take a break from the Three R’s this coming Monday, Nov. 18, for the Three M’s—music, magic and memories.

An estimated 480 students and teachers will travel to Tennessee Tech in Cookeville to share in the thrill of live music performed by a full symphony orchestra. The Rotary Club of McMinnville funds the performance by the Bryan Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the Warren County School System.

“Warren County is extremely fortunate in being able to bring this educational and cultural enrichment to our young people,” said Shane Brock, Noon Rotary Club president. “For the vast majority of our fourth-graders, this will be their first time in a large concert hall on the campus of a major university. We hope this experience will stimulate their interest in music so it won’t be the last time they attend a concert by a first-class orchestra.”

Central office staff members offer coordination and logistic services for all the county’s fourth-graders, including those in private and home schools. Covenant Academy has accepted that offer and will be sending nine students and a teacher chaperone. Parents in home-schooling situations are invited to contact Haley at 668-4022 to arrange concert seating.

Warren County public school students will be served free breakfast before the buses depart for Cookeville at 9:15 a.m. 

All county school attendees will receive a sack lunch.

The orchestra is named in honor of the late Charles Faulkner Bryan, a McMinnville native, who gained national prominence as a composer and music scholar. Bryan earned the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, and his “Bell Witch Cantata” premiered in New York’s famed Carnegie Hall.