Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Offers Music Education Spotlight

With 2013 drawing to a close, the A2SO thanks you for contributing to 85 Years of Excellence. We want to show you a bit more about some of what goes on the other 350 days a year. Each year, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra reaches thousands of area students through our In-School programs. Through Instrument Petting Zoos, Classroom Concertsand Conductor visits, children of all ages experience orchestral music at their schools.

Thanks to a grant from the Graef Foundation, the Ann Arbor Symphony has added a collection Woodwind and Brass Instruments to our NovoDynamics-sponsored Instrument Petting Zoo. These instruments were debuted at the family-friendly activities preceding the Beethoven Lives Upstairs Family Concert last month. Thousands of young children will get a chance to play them as they travel to over twenty schools and daycares this school year.

After a recent Instrument Petting Zoo at a school in Saline, one teacher wrote that "the experience that the A2 Symphony offered to us was delightful. It was perfect for our preschool children. The brief description of the violin and cello, the coloring pages, taking the time to position the instrument was wonderful! One of my 4-year-old boys proclaimed that he wanted to have a violin for Christmas." The Ann Arbor Symphony's String Quartet, Woodwind Quintet and Brass Quintet will give scores of Classroom Concerts in area schools in the coming months. In December, they performed for students in Dexter, Novi, Northville and Clawson. During these concerts, musicians engage the students in a lively presentation about how their instruments work and what to listen for in the music they perform. Kids go crazy for trumpeter Becky Gawron's demonstration of all the different types of brass mutes!

Conductor Arie Lipsky fills his time in Ann Arbor visiting schools. In November, he talked with students at Ann Arbor's Abbot Elementary about being a conductor, rehearsed with orchestra students at Tappan Middle School, and held a masterclass for chamber music groups at the Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts. In the New Year, he'll be making a number of visits to Pinckney schools to prepare students for their annual Side-by-side concert with members of the Ann Arbor Symphony.

Over five thousand area students are gearing up for the March 19 Youth Concert at Hill Auditorium: The Planets. Images from space accompany the concert, which includes Holst's The Planets, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra (the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey), and music from Star Wars. Sixteen-year-old cellist and Sphinx Competition winner Lev Mamuya will perform a movement from Lalo's Cello Concerto. Tony England, retired NASA astronaut, will emcee the concert and an Apollo space suit will be on hand for up-close viewing. This concert will also be performed at our Family Series on Sunday, March 23 at the Michigan Theater. Contact us by calling (734) 994-4801, replying, or emailing education@a2so.com about bringing these engaging programs to your child's school. If you'd like to help support the A2SO's Music Education Programs, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today.