The Little Symphony Orchestra

Virgil Junior High School, Los Angeles

In 1943, the young Vernon Leidig received a BA Degree at Santa Barbara State College in the field of Instrumental Music Education.  In that same year, he began teaching at Virgil Junior High School, and in the seven years that followed he was the motive force behind a truly phenomenal achievement:  he formed and trained the Virgil Little Symphony Orchestra.

Senior Symphony Orchestra, 1949

There were many things that were remarkable about this orchestra.  Two things in particular come to mind.  First, this was without question one of the finest orchestras—arguably the finest—entirely made up of such very young players (ages ca. 12 -14) in the U. S. at that time.  That alone would suffice to set it squarely apart from anything in my experience.  But there was another, equally unusual aspect of Vernon Leidig's orchestra:  it was, as early as 1947 mind you, an "equal opportunity" orchestra.  Young persons from the varied ethnic and social strata surrounding Virgil Junior High were welcome to take part, without preconditions or discrimination.

The implicit message was clear:   with the right conditions and guidance, people from very different social and cultural backgrounds could learn, not just to work together, but to work together toward seemingly impossibly ambitious goals.  And what's more, they could achieve those goals.

At this distant remove, it is perhaps not easy for many of us to appreciate how unusual this multicultural phenomenon was in mid-twentieth century America.  Few people would have so much as thought of such an idea, let alone undertaken to realize it!  This was segregated America, and I have it on the best authority that Los Angeles, though "better than some", was by no means immune to its reach.  I can think of no other orchestra on any level in Los Angeles—or anywhere that I am aware of—that might have offered such a wide-open door to all persons at that time.

Following are some more photographs, all self-explanatory I think, of  Little Symphony members and their friend.†

                                                                                                         (Vernon Leidig Explains the Embouchure)

Thanks to Vernon Leidig and Harpist Carol Nigsarian (née Scrutchfield) for these pictures.

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(†) From 1950-1985 Vernon Leidig was Professor of Music at  California State University, Los Angeles. One of the most prolific music education  arrangers in the US., he has over 250 music publications. He is  probably best known for his Classics For Orchestra which  presently include 40 movements of symphonies and classical compositions which are used for secondary schools, honor orchestras, and community orchestras throughout the country. He now lives in a suburb of Los Angeles, travels, and continues to arrange music. He and his wife Merilyn have recently celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary.