Programs for Students  >  Grades 7-12  >
ARTS EXPLORATIONS & ENCOUNTERS

ANCIENT DIALOGUES:
MUSIC FOR VOICE AND PERCUSSION

Grades 9-12
2 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$475 + $350 + $225= $1050

Primitive in origin. Direct and powerful in their expression. Beautifully simple. Amazingly complex. Infinitely variable in tone color and dynamics... The human voice and percussion instruments are probably humanity's most ancient and widespread instruments of music making. In this workshop, composer-performers Richard Albagli (percussionist) and John Cimino (baritone) share their lifetime enchantment with their instruments and their music. Demonstrating the variety of percussion sounds they have used in combination with the singer's voice, Albagli and Cimino perform inventive original compositions as well as transcriptions of well known works imaginatively re-scored for voice and percussion. "Hands-on" audience participation blends with conversation about careers in music, personal self-discipline, and the meaning of "success". Students deepen their understanding of the voice as well as kettle drums, marimba, vibraphone, chimes, wood blocks, lion's roar, and numerous natural and found instruments. Most importantly, Albagli and Cimino share with students their ingenuity and joy in music making.

AMERICAN MUSIC THEATER

Grades 7-12
3 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

Man of La Mancha, The Fantasticks, My Fair Lady, Carousel, West Side Story, Porgy And Bess and more! This program provides students with information and insights into the American Musical Theater. Songs and scenes are performed "live" by the company's award-winning artists. Many of the excerpts bring students into the musical scenarios. The performers discuss the composers, the books on which the musicals are based as well as the vocal and theatrical training needed to perform this music. The program gives special emphasis to the musicals of Broadway's Golden Age. From its origins in Tin Pan Alley to today's on-stage helicopters and chandeliers, Broadway's ever-changing eras are compared to this defining age of American Musical Theater.

OPERA INSIGHTS & INTRODUCTIONS

Grades 7-12
[3 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125 or E]

Your students will shout "Bravo!...Awesome!...Cool!" at the conclusion of this vibrant, sophisticated presentation of opera for high school choruses, music, drama and language classes. Award-winning opera singers from Associated Solo Artists perform a lively, interactive and very audience-friendly program of opera arias and duets. Each selection is fully introduced by the singer and performed in the original language often with surprising audience participation. The artists discuss the origins of opera and its many contemporary forms, various voice categories, singing styles and techniques, musical terminology and other facets of the art form. The performers also offer guidance related to training, schooling and careers in
music. Questions and open dialogue are encouraged. We suggest a format of 50-90 minutes.
Available in formats with either two or three singers & a pianist

MUSIC AND VISUAL ARTS:
DISCOVERING STYLISTIC CONNECTIONS

Grades 10-12
1 performing/teaching artist plus an accompanist - Three presentations/day
$450 + $300 + $175= $925

In this program students explore the elements of style in music and visual arts. Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Naturalistic, Impressionistic, Realistic, Abstract, Modern? What do these terms mean to the painter? To the musician? What do they feel like to those of us who simply love music and art? Students begin by hearing "live" musical performances and seeing several paintings in contrasting styles. The task? To invent a descriptive vocabulary for their feelings, understandings and interpretations of these works. Students choose which paintings and musical pieces seem to go together. The discovery of stylistic elements common to both music and art will be encouraged: Debussy and Monet, Stravinsky and Picasso, etc. The workshop culminates in students creating their own drawings while listening to "live" music in contrasting styles. Recommended for art classes.

MUSIC AND THE IMAGINATIVE MIND:
ACTIVE LISTENING AS A CREATIVE PROCESS

Grades 7-12
3 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

" What feeling does the music give to YOU?" "What do you see with your mind's eye?" Say "Goodbye" to passive listening! In this program, "live" performances, creative conversation and exercises for the musical imagination set the stage for listening which is ACTIVE, CREATIVE, INTELLIGENT AND FUN! Songs from the theater and around the world coax students into the realm of musical images and evolving stories. Playful, probing questions help students express the creative imagery they discover within themselves Students are also challenged to seek out more formal musical features including form, inflection and phrasing. The performers work with students to validate the importance of their inner worlds and to help them to understand creative listening and inner participation as keys to every intelligent person's playful, imaginative mind.

BOTTLES, CANS, JUST CLAP YOUR HANDS: PERCUSSION AND THE MATERIALS OF SOUND

Grades 7-12
3 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

Percussion instruments are found all over the world and reflect some of the oldest types of music known to man. The members of ASO’s percussion trio will bring the music of Asia, South America, Africa and beyond into your classroom. Your students will learn some of the key elements of these musical cultures and follow the migration of music from one part of the world to another. Using authentic percussion instruments from various countries, the performance will include pieces that draw on both traditional and more contemporary musical styles. Students will gain an appreciation for the complexity of rhythm and learn about how music and art reflect upon different aspects of a particular society. The workshop can be modified to target specific parts of the world that pertain to those being studied in your classroom.

FASCINATIN' GERSHWIN:
AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL

Grades 7-12
3 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

Few American composers have so energetically influenced the music of their time and the generations of composers to follow as has George Gershwin. This program celebrates Gershwin's legacy by bringing to life a diverse sampling of his creative output. Beginning with songs from his early days on TIN PAN ALLEY and progressing through his celebrated work on Broadway, his stint in Hollywood, and the writing of the great PORGY AND BESS, award winning performers will tell the colorful story of George Gershwin and bring the vitality of his music to within arm's reach. Students will also hear exciting excerpts from the famous Rhapsody in Blue and other works for the piano and have the chance to get more deeply acquainted with Gershwin's unique approach to jazz. Friendly conversation and theatrical interplay with students will bring them right into the center of the music-making and their encounter with this American original.

MEET THE COMPOSERS:
COLLABORATION & CREATIVITY

Grades 7-12
2 performing/teaching artists - Three presentations/day
$475 + $350 + $225= $1050

Composer teams are first and foremost collaborative teams who have learned to work together toward a goal. Differences in talent and thinking styles are not merely part of the challenge, they are an essential part of successful solutions. The composer team of Richard Albagli and John Cimino is built on a series of contrasts - one a percussionist, the other an opera singer, one an adaptive thinker, the other an innovative thinker, one an originator, the other a craftsman, one a lyrical thinker, the other a rhythmic and harmonic thinker. What is the glue that holds this team together? How do they choose their projects and work them through to completion? Meet composers Albagli and Cimino, hear their music, their philosophy and what makes them a successful composing team. Together, they have created music based on poems, paintings, scientific essays, children's stories and Cimino's original texts.

MEET THE ARTIST - INFORMANCES

Grades 7-12
1 performing/teaching artist plus an accompanist - Three presentations/day
$450 + $300 + $175= $925

A friendly mixture of performance and lively conversation, MEET THE ARTIST INFORMANCES are ideal events for bringing performers, students and teachers closer together. Performing at the top of their form and at close range, the artists transform classrooms, libraries, lounges and meeting rooms - virtually any location - into impromptu arenas for people and the arts. The goal of this program is simple, but crucial: to grow positive relationships between students and artists. The key to successful informances is "chemistry" - the chemistry of what happens when young people meet grown-up people who love what they do, who are dedicated to their art, and are filled with the life of their passionate pursuit. In this setting, students hear classics of the theater and the concert hall as if for the first time! Q+A often follows along the themes of creativity and lifelong learning. This is something students will remember for a lifetime! (Ask to see our artist roster.)