|
Each year over 25,000 inner city and suburban Front Range Colorado children are exposed to symphonic music through two programs presented by the JSG: Tiny Tots concerts (ages three to seven); and Inside the Orchestra, a program for elementary school children.
The Guild approached conductor Tom Jensen in 1986 with a proposal to write a 45 minute program that would capture the interest of students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Tom, an orchestra conductor and radio broadcaster, liked the challenge of coming up with something new and innovative that would involve kids and turn them on to classical music. Inside the Orchestra was born.
Tom hated the conductor having his back to the audience. Wanting the kids to be in the middle of the action, he had the orchestra surround the students, so that the conductor would be eye to eye with them. A 14-piece professional ensemble was put together featuring strings, oboe, bassoon, French horns and percussion. Tom omitted flutes, clarinets and trumpets from the elementary school presentation saying: "Kids all know what those instruments are like-- I want to show off orchestral sounds that they might not be aware of."
Three criteria comprised the music selected: it had to be fun to listen to; it had to fit the instrumentation; and it had to have a "theatre of the mind" component. In other words, there had to be an activity for the students to intellectualize for the piece to work. The program was fast paced with 16 different composititons represented.
Sounds heavy? It is not. In fact, the repertoire is so varied there is something for everyone. Music from Handel to the theme from the Simpsons; from Copland to music from the movies as well as Beethoven's Symphony #5 are served up for an MTV-paced attention span.
In 2007 the Lone Tree Arts Commission gave the JSG a grant to develop a ballet componant to the program. Christina Noel-Adcock, Dance Coordinator at the Arvada Center, was brought in to choreograph Peter and the Wolf using the inside concept. (She has since developed an adapted divertissment from Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikowsky for the Tiny Tots program).
In 1997 the Junior Symphony Guild was recognized by the American Symphony Orchestra League in D.C. for "best in the nation."
The JSG's music education programs are truly the inside scoop on orchestra music!
|