Bloomingdale School Of Music Participates In New York Philharmonic's Summer Practice Challenge

Bloomingdale School of Music, in partnership with the New York Philharmonic, presents the We Can Do It! Practice Challenge from August 9-20, 2021.

Student musicians are challenged to take out their instruments for 12 days of practice in a closed and safe environment. Similar to Practice 30, the social media challenge first launched in August 2020, We Can Do It! creates community around the often-solitary act of practice, celebrates music-making, and calls attention to the need for support of music education and the arts amongst young people. For more information and to register, visit https://www.bsmny.org/classes/we-can-do-it-practice-challenge/.
Student participants will join a small group with practice mentors and receive prompts each day. Mentors and fellow participants will provide feedback and support.
For 12 days, practice mentors will encourage students to:

• engage in focused practice
• set attainable goals and maintain a practice routine
• give and receive constructive feedback from a community of others working toward the same goal
• use available tech to aid in their practice

i?? "Not only is practice crucial to the success of every musician, but it also helps people of all ages develop skills around critical thinking, time management, patience, and problem solving," said Executive Director Erika Atkins. "We are thrilled to team up with New York Philharmonic to encourage our students to get a head start on the school year and be the best musicians they can be."
"Our team is excited to support art-making with our young audiences, especially as we transition out of this period of isolation and into reconnecting in person," said Gary Padmore, Director, Education and Community Engagement at the New York Philharmonic. "As a former participant in programming at the Bloomingdale School of Music, I understand that working in community - virtually or otherwise - is vital to our success, growth, and health as artists."
Founded in 1964, Bloomingdale School of Music is dedicated to the belief that music changes lives and everyone should have access to high-quality music education regardless of economic status, race, religion, ability level, or gender. Bloomingdale is a music-driven community center where all are welcome to join and learn about music from top faculty. We are dedicated to our mission - to make music education accessible to all who want to learn - and remain focused on supporting this mission through our values. www.bsmny.org/

The New York Philharmonic plays a leading cultural role in New York City, the United States, and the world, and has built a tradition of innovation that has allowed it to adapt and thrive over more than 179 years. Each season the Orchestra connects with up to 50 million music lovers through live concerts in New York and around the world, broadcasts, recordings, and education programs.

In the 2021-22 season, Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the Philharmonic reaffirm their vital commitments to serving as New York's orchestra and to championing new music. The Orchestra presents concerts at two Lincoln Center venues - Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall - during the accelerated renovation of David Geffen Hall, scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2022. With Jaap van Zweden in his fourth season as Music Director, the Orchestra gives World, US, and New York premieres of ten commissions; explores The Schumann Connection, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel; and joins with The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Anthony Roth Costanzo in Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within, a two-week exploration of questions of identity. The Philharmonic also builds on the strong connections with New York City's communities forged through impactful collaborations with local organizations developed over the course of the pandemic.

In the 2019-20 season, soon after the first premieres through Project 19 - which is marking the centennial of the 19th Amendment with commissions by 19 women composers - safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the cancellation of live concerts. The New York Philharmonic responded by creating NY Phil Bandwagon, free, outdoor, "pull-up" concerts featuring ensembles of Philharmonic musicians that brought live music back to New York City, an initiative that has been emulated across America. The Orchestra also launched NYPhil+, a state-of-the-art streaming platform.
Long a leader in American cultural life, the New York Philharmonic has commissioned and / or premiered works by leading composers from every era since its founding in 1842, from Dvořák's New World Symphony and Gershwin's Concerto in F to John Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls and Ellen Reid's When the World as You've Known It Doesn't Exist. A media pioneer, the Philharmonic has made more than 2,000 recordings since 1917; the most recent CDs, released in partnership with Decca Gold (Universal Music Group's newly established US classical music label), include Julia Wolfe's Grammy-nominated Fire in my mouth and David Lang's prisoner of the state. The Orchestra's extensive history is available free online through the New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives, which comprises approximately four million pages of documents, including every printed program since 1842 and scores and parts marked by past musicians and Music Directors such as Mahler and Bernstein.

A resource for its community and the world, the Orchestra complements annual free concerts across the city - including the Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer - with Philharmonic Free Fridays, the low-cost Phil the Hall, and education projects, including the famed Young People's Concerts. The Orchestra has appeared in 435 cities in 63 countries, including Pyongyang, DPRK, in 2008, the first visit there by an American orchestra.
Founded in 1842 by local musicians, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. Notable figures who have conducted the Philharmonic include Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, and Copland. Jaap van Zweden became Music Director in 2018-19, succeeding musical leaders including Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, and Gustav Mahler.