About the Concert Curriculum
A Concert Curriculum is a curriculum that culminates in the students’ performance with orchestra. There are currently two versions of the Concert Curriculum: An Orchestra's Guide To The Young Person, and An Orchestra's Guide To The Universe.
The program is the basis for collaboration between a school and an orchestra and, in the case of An Orchestra's Guide To The Universe, a science institution as well. Throughout the year, students work with their teachers, visiting musicians, and scientists if involved, in order to learn and create material for the culminating performances. The performances feature the students, an orchestra, and, in the case of An Orchestra's Guide To The Universe, a multimedia presentation of images from space.
Compared to arts programs in which students observe performances from afar, in the Concert Curriculum, whole grades of students participate in what it is the musicians actually do, learning, rehearsing and performing alongside them. Partnering established arts institutions with low resource schools with the shared goal of producing a fully professional concert at its conclusion provides exceptional opportunities for each.
The performance itself is based on a plot in which a kid on stage goes to sleep and the concert enters his or her dreams. In An Orchestra's Guide To The Young Person, the sleeping kid takes the concert on a journey through his or her imagination. In An Orchestra's Guide To The Universe, the sleeping kid takes the concert on a journey through the universe. During dream sequences, the whole grades of students who participate in the program perform as a chorus and in other roles. Finally, the main kid wakes up so the concert may conclude in its original reality and, in the case of An Orchestra's Guide To The Universe, return to Earth. Culminating concerts are popular, public events and last around 75 minutes, without intermission.
The culminating concert is a hybrid genre, a musical starring elementary school students that emerges from within a symphony orchestra concert. The “outer concert” includes excerpts from masterpieces such as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries, and Ravel’s Bolero, while dream sequences feature original music by Arthur Bloom, a variety of musical styles, from jazz to hip hop, and opportunities for adding original material produced by the students themselves. With the inclusion of the students’ material, and variations related to the circumstances, each production has its own unique character.
Orchestra Benefits
The program benefits orchestras in a number of ways.
Learn more about benefits to orchestras.
School Benefits
The program benefits schools in a number of ways.
Renovation In Music Education
The Concert Curriculum is provided by Renovation In Music Education (RIME).
Learn more about RIME or visit the RIME website at www.rimemusic.org.
