Education

The El Sistema movement has swept the American orchestral world, with a considerable number of the almost 120 after-school programs affiliated with a professional symphony orchestra. Polyphonic has written frequently about some of these orchestra-sponsored El Sistema programs. The Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA program are perhaps the best known, […]

File this one under the category of “fascinating music school history.” According to Vincent Lenti’s 2004 book, “For the Enrichment of Community Life: George Eastman and the Founding of the Eastman School of Music,” the famed Finnish composer Jean Sibelius very nearly became a faculty member of the Eastman School to teach music theory and […]

Every couple of years or so, someone in the mainstream media decides that Orchestral Auditions Are Interesting and does a story on them. This better-than-most iteration, written by Janelle Gelfand, appeared online at cincinnati.com, the website of  the Cincinnati Enquirer: “If a candidate has made it to the final round of our audition process, they […]

The summer issue of Symphony magazine had an article by Michael Stugrin about the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation’s Education and Community Envestment grants, awarded to 22 orchestras in 2014-15. The grants rage from $13,000 to $27,500, and are granted to orchestras of all budget sizes. Mr. Sturgin’s article focuses on four recipients: The Central […]

While the Fall 2015 issue of Symphony magazine (the publication of the League of American Orchestras) contained a range of interesting and positive articles, one particularly caught my interest. Titled “New Notes on the Autism Scale,” it was about concerts given for people on the autism spectrum by a number of American orchestras and the […]

This summer, Polyphonic.org welcomes a new Editor-in-Chief, James Doser. He takes over for Ramon Ricker, who led Polyphonic.org since its inception in 2006. Welcome, Jim! Polyphonic: Jim – one thing that readers will find really interesting is that you actually studied with Ray Ricker, which means you are both saxophonists and that you know the […]

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? 1. You perform with the symphony in the afternoon, then change out of your formal black, throw your music stand in the trunk, and head straight to a gig with your rock band. 2. On Sunday morning, you accompany a gospel church service, then have an intense chamber […]

Recently I attended a presentation by Mitchell Korn, who conducted an in-depth analysis of my orchestra’s educational programs. He had many critically interesting ideas to convey to us musicians, and kept coming back to “professional development.” I think, for most of my colleagues, this conjurs up a vision of a truly boring session with some consultant […]

With the closing of the “Spring for Music” festival in NYC this past year, the Kennedy Center has announced that it will create a similar festival of American Orchestras. The new festival will take place during late March and early April 2016, and will feature the Boulder Philharmonic, the North Carolina Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony […]