When Bridget Long stepped in front of a group of young people at Henry For Music earlier this year, she knew most of them had never played in front of an audience before.

Now, however, she said the kids are learning so much that they are able to teach their parents how to play music.

“I’ve had the parents pick up the instruments, too, and the kids show the parents how to hold the bow and the instrument,” she said. “I think it helps because the parents understand how challenging it is and know how to help. I feel like it also helps the child learn how to be the teacher.”

Long, of Jonesboro, is the principle orchestra teacher at Henry For Music. She recently led a group of students as they performed during an Open Rehearsal at the Fairview Recreation Center.

The event, she said, capped off months during which she has strived to enhance her students’ musical skills.

“It’s going well,” said Long. “It’s a wider age span than I’ve worked with in a group setting like this. I’ve taught kids as young as five, but at Henry For Music, I think our youngest student is maybe 6 and our oldest student is 12.”

Long said this year has been an exciting time at Henry For Music, as she has worked to help students learn how to play their instruments. She added that the group has also reached out to pass their skills on to their parents as well.

“At the end of October, we started involving the parents,” said Long. During the last 20 minutes of rehearsal, we bring the parents in and show them what we’ve been working on.”

Long obtained a bachelor of arts degree from Goshen College in northern Indiana, where she majored in music education. She earned a master’s degree in music education in 2007, and is currently in her 17th year of teaching orchestra at Clayton County Schools.

She helped to launch Henry For Music’s orchestra program over the summer. Long said she heard about the opportunity at M.D. Roberts Middle School in Jonesboro, where she is the orchestra director.

“At the end of the school year last May, the band director saw in The Henry County Times that they were going to be starting an orchestra at Henry For Music,” said Long. “We spoke about it in July and made plans to start in August.”

Long said bringing the parents in not only helps the students progress in their musical abilities, but also helps the parents to know more about how to help their kids at home.

The students displayed their newfound skills in six performances of beginning pieces during the event. Long also played a solo, the second movement of Vivaldi’s “Winter.”

“The room was full,” said Long. “The students did well, and I feel like they were excited afterward. They were excited to get to play for people. They were saying before they went out there that they were nervous, but they did well.”

With their debut performance behind them, Long said she is already planning for their next shot at entertaining an audience.

“We’re going to continue working on learning the instruments and, hopefully, put on another concert in May,” said Long. “Our goal is to be able to play an actual orchestra piece.”

She added that Henry For Music is always seeking donations of instruments, to enable more participants to join the program. For more information or to enroll, e-mail henryformusic@aol.com or call 770-342-9045.