I am one of eight staff members who administer educational and access-building programming for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, reaching over 100,000 individuals annually!
We occupy a privileged and highly visible position in the city's cultural life, not without great expectations. (All the implications of such a profiled position--benefits and stresses--are another discussion altogether that I will approach later this summer.)
But for today's conversation: every Chicagoan should have access to an in-depth and personally relevant arts education experience. As remarkable as the CSOA's programs' reach may be, approximately 2,700,000 city residents are left out. Even together with other major arts organizations--including those who participate in this website--we lack a mechanism for delivery that can potentially reach every household in the city.
Thankfully, there are a group of organizations who make great inroads to this objective: our community music schools.
(Granted, I am overlooking public and private school music programs, obviously a vital partner and a great contributor. The effectiveness of the public school music programs in particular is, again, another future topic.)
Community music schools are as diverse as the neighborhoods they serve, from the tuition-free People's Music School in Uptown, to the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute, and the West Loop's Merit School of Music, to name a few.
They vary in size, in constituency, in mission, and in programs offered. But they share a commitment to encouraging a meaningful and life-changing involvement with music, one student at a time, and catering to the needs of the surrounding community.
- Each school boasts an accomplished faculty that brings their own energy and experience into a personalized mentoring relationship with a young musician.
- Each school offers programs that meet students where they are, regardless of age or prior experience.
- Each school offers performance opportunities: for students to show of their skills in progress and to understand the joy of sharing music with an audience and for faculty and guests to perform for the school community.
- Each school encourages life-long learning and offers a nurturing extra-curricular environment where, in some cases, one may not exist.
- Many offer some form of tuition assistance to extend these opportunities to those who do not have the resources to do so.
These remarkable places bring vitality into the lives of their students and, by encouraging the exploration of musical opportunities in their wider community, connect them with kindred spirits.
Our research tells us that an individual is more likely to buy a ticket to a Chicago Symphony concert if he or she has experience playing an instrument or singing in a choir. Certainly, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a vested interest in the success of our community music schools as a method of audience development. But my experience with our recent Silk Road event, The Stone Horse, brings new interest and urgency.
(I may sound like a broken record these days, in the way that I find endless connections to and results from the Silk Road experience. But there is important connective tissue.)
Anyone who attended that performance knows what amazing things are possible by bringing people together to share music. Two months' intensive experience generated an outpouring of joy and enthusiasm from participating students that gave me chills, not to mention a quality of performance that exceeded all expectations.
Imagine what might happen if more in our communities were to participate in music. Our community music schools make this happen!
Later this summer, I will begin to profile several of these organizations, in particular focusing on the specific niche that they fill in their communities.
In the meantime, I would like to welcome readers to share comments and ideas about their own community music experiences: what it has meant to you, how it has brought enjoyment to you as a participant and an audience member, how it has changed your outlook on your community, etc.
A listing of local community music schools can be found here.
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