Students make music and instruments

by Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio

Thousands of people are expected over the next couple of days at the Flint Hills Children's Festival at the Ordway Center in St. Paul.

St. Paul, Minn. — Students from Webster Magnet School in St. Paul created one of the many performances at the event

They were aided by Philip Blackburn of the American Composers Forum.

"The title, 'The Phoenix and the Fish' suggest two animals who never meet," Blackburn said. "The phoenix rises into the air out of the ashes, and I don't see where the fish would come in because it's under the water most of the time. But never the less, this is a kind of courting between the phoenix and the fish, and there are movements and choreography that are appropriate for these things. And if they ever did meet perhaps this is what it would sound like," Blackburn said.

The student performers not only composed the piece, they made many of the instruments too.

Broadcast Dates

• Morning Edition, 05/30/2008, 7:55 a.m.