The Cliburn Reaches Out To Over 48,000

CLIBURN EXPANDS EDUCATION PROGRAM TO REACH OVER 48,000 AREA STUDENTS WITH IN-SCHOOL INTERACTIVE CONCERTS

The Cliburn’s signature education program, Musical Awakenings®, will expand this school year to reach 48,000 students in 175 North Texas elementary schools with 250 programs, up from 175 programs last year and 125 the previous year. The program takes the Cliburn’s education piano—a 5’ 7” Steinway grand that travels over 5,000 miles annually—into the schools to present interactive concerts by professional musicians that explore different aspects of music making. Musical Awakenings is presented to second, third, and fourth graders entirely free of charge at all Fort Worth Independent School District elementary schools and touches 10 other districts in the region as well.

Last year’s expansion involved increasing the number of schools visited over the course of the year. This year, a new pilot program will increase the number of programs in 15 selected schools. Typically, the Cliburn presents one program for all second, third, and fourth graders once per year per school. The new concept, being tested this year, will bring programs to each chosen school twice per year and will also separate the audiences by grade level, in order to make a more meaningful impact by seeing students more often and by better catering to different age levels.

The Cliburn produces a study guide for each program in collaboration with the Fort Worth ISD, which reinforces the schools’ core curriculum through classroom activities and research materials, extending the benefits of the program and integrating into state-mandated curriculum (downloadable here: http://www.cliburn.org/education/teacher-guides/).

“It’s an important part of our mission to provide this level of quality arts programming to as many children as we can,” said Jacques Marquis, Cliburn president and CEO. “Early introduction and continuous exposure to classical music and live performance is key to developing what we hope will be a lifelong love. The music is universally inspiring; it teaches excellence and beauty, and we believe all should have access, no matter their age or socio-economic standing. And we always have an eye toward increasing the impact that we have on each student, which is why we’re launching this new program—to reach them in a more consistent and meaningful way.”

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
In 2014–2015 school year, the Cliburn will present What Makes a Piano a Piano? to all students at pilot schools. It introduces the piano at a basic level, examining its parts, why they are important in the music making, and what the piano can do. The students will see pieces played using the white keys only, the black keys only, with the left hand, and not using any “keys” (by plucking the strings inside the piano). The second and third grade students will be presented another program called The Piano Tells a Story, which illustrates how the piano can describe specific characteristics of people or things, and tell stories. The fourth grade students will see a program called Playing with Numbers for their second Cliburn program. It demonstrates the importance of math in music (how it affects rhythm and counting). The program will challenge the students by having them recall multiplication and division skills.

2014–2015 Musical Awakenings sponsors are the Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County, Virginia C. Dorman, ExxonMobil/XTO Energy, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and the Lowe Foundation.

For more information about Musical Awakenings, which began in 2001, visit: http://www.cliburn.org/education/