Roselle Park students, special needs adults to take stage with Kean music majors

By: Rebecca Panico | Published Jan. 2, 2016

Credit: Kean University

Kean music majors have collaborated with Roselle Park elementary students and special needs adults for a performance at the Wilkins Theatre on Jan. 7.

The “We’re All in this Together!” concert, starting at 7:30 p.m., will include selections from Broadway plays like “Les Misérables,” “Shrek the Musical” and “Seussical.” With the Kean University Percussion Ensemble on hand, about 200 people will be on stage for the concert’s finale.

The event is free and open to the public.

Twenty-five special needs adults from Community Access Unlimited — an organization that provides support services to adults and teens with intellectual and developmental disabilities, at-risk youth, and people with affordable housing needs – will take the stage along with 96 Roselle Park students and 35 Kean music majors and alumni.

Lynann Schraer-Joiner, a music education professor at Kean, organized and coordinated the event with Roselle Park Choir Director Linda Green and Marguerite Modero, the director for Union County’s Community Access Unlimited Adult Continuing Education Program.

“Music is a great connector, a great unifier,” Schraer-Joiner said in a statement. “The whole purpose is to bring awareness to adults with special needs who have aged-out of the school system. We want to encourage others to hold similar events and begin similar programs.”

Robert Rocco, who teaches music at Kean, and two special needs adults will perform a selection of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on a radio baton, a rare instrument that allows a performer to conduct and control a musical score stored in a computer. James Musto will direct the Kean University Percussion Ensemble.

Photo courtesy of Lynann Schraer-Joiner