Programs for Students  >  Grades K-6  >
ARTS EXPLORATIONS & ENCOUNTERS

MUSICAL IMAGINATION:
ACTIVE LISTENING AS A CREATIVE PROCESS

Grades K-6
3 performing/teaching artists - 3 presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

"What feeling does the music give you?" "What do you see with your mind's eye?" "What colors, creatures and forms?" Say "Goodbye!" to passive listening! In this program, "live" performances, playful conversation and exercises for the musical imagination set the stage for listening which is ACTIVE, CREATIVE AND FUN! Songs from the theater and around the world coax students into the realm of stories and imagination. Students learn to play the ‘snippets' game in which short musical excerpts are explored with a series of questions (as above). Students become detectives deciphering musical clues: "What is the scene, the mood?" "What is happening?" "Are you in the picture?" The emphasis is always on what students find within themselves, helping them gain confidence in the importance of their inner worlds of imagination and feeling.

PERCUSSION AND MUSIC THEATER

Grades 1-6
2 performing/teaching artists - 3 presentations/day
$475 + $350 + $225= $1050

Percussion instruments for music making and sound effects! Interactive music theater! This program introduces students to creative participation in musical theater and the imaginative use of a wide array of percussion instruments. The program opens with musical scenarios from Good Bye Mr. Chips and Oliver Twist involving children and teachers in performing roles. All music is performed on percussion instruments, including marimba, timpani, wood blocks, chimes, claves and a lion's roar. Children are introduced to the instruments in a "hands-on" fashion and then use them in our "live" performance. The program culminates in a dramatized reading of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree with children and teachers as the actors who bring the story to life and the percussion orchestra which sets it to music!

AMERICAN MUSIC THEATER

Grades 4-6
3 performing/teaching artists - 3 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.

INTRODUCTION TO OPERA FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Grades K-6
2 or more performing/teaching artists plus an accompanist - 3 presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

Your students will shout "Bravo!...Awesome!...Cool!" at the conclusion of this vibrant, engaging introduction to opera for grades K-6. 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 opera stories and composers, the various voice categories, as well as basic opera vocabulary. Questions and open conversation are encouraged.

Available in formats with two, three or four singers & a pianist.

YOUNG COMPOSERS

Grades K-5
3 performing/teaching artists - 3 presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

Join our percussion trio for a behind-the-scenes look into the creative process of writing and performing music. Drawing on their experience working with composers, your children will be taught the basic concepts behind performing and creating new music. Children will learn about music notation and structure while exploring the world of science through pitch and rhythm. The percussionists will introduce the building blocks of music such as timbre, tempo, dynamics, silence, contrast, and variation, and guide children in using them to create music. Through games and improvisational activities, your class will get hands-on experience with instruments and learn how to use their own voices and objects found in the home to create new sounds. The resulting pieces will be performed by the trio on a diverse battery of percussion instruments from around the world, “found” sounds, and electronics.

MEET THE ARTIST - INFORMANCES

Grades K-6
1 performing/teaching artist plus an accompanist - 3 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 themes of creativity and lifelong learning. This is something students will remember for a lifetime! (Ask to see our artist roster.)

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

Grades K-8
3 performing/teaching artists - 3 presentations/day
$550 + $350 + $225= $1125

This interactive, colorful introduction to the world of percussion instruments will delight students and encourage creative thinking and imaginative participation. Our percussion trio will present original works as well as rhythmic games designed to show that music is multi-faceted and fun for all. Students will learn some of the basic concepts of sound production through the playing techniques SHAKE, SCRAPE AND STRIKE when they see how they are applied to this enormous family of instruments. Musical instruments from all over the world, including Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Asia will be demonstrated to give the students an appreciation for the history and complexity of one of the most ancient of all musical art forms. Some pieces are created using everyday items such as whisks and washboards, along with a variety of other interesting items from the kitchen cupboard.