Youth Series

Music at Eden’s Edge brings Classical musical experience into the classroom

Program for 2008

Music at Eden’s Edge (MEE), The North Shore’s resident chamber music ensemble, has conducted Youth Chamber Concerts since 1990. The Concerts are presented in partnership with North Shore public elementary schools. Provided at no cost to the schools, the program is designed to teach music appreciation skills while giving students a chance to experience live chamber music and work with professional musicians in a classroom setting.

Designed to assist public schools in deepening students’ experience with and understanding of the arts, the MEE program uses chamber music performances and literature to teach four topics of music fundamentals – musical structure; motion in music; approaches to listening; and uses of music. By putting music and instruments into a cultural and historical context, the MEE curriculum also supports the requirements of the Massachusetts Frameworks Curriculum.

"We initially introduced the Youth Chamber Concerts in 1990," said Maria Benotti, founder and Artistic Director of Music at Eden’s Edge. "Since that time, we have exposed more than 30,000 elementary school students on the North Shore to music they might not otherwise have heard. By starting at this early age, we hope to instill in students enough understanding of classical music to open them to an appreciation they may carry with them their whole lives."

Explained Laurie Fabiszewski, music teacher at the Winthrop School in Ipswich, "It’s a wonderful way to explore classical music. The students really look forward to the performances because hearing the music live is more engaging and interesting than listening to it on a CD."

Each segment of the curriculum includes a plan for an annual Residency Day when MEE players visit the schools and perform for each grade. Keeping the groups small allows students to participate in interactive games and improvisations as well as hands-on activities and a question and answer session. This format also gives students a chance to feel close to the music making and share in the excitement and involvement of the musicians themselves.

Funding for the Youth Chamber Concerts is provided in part by the Cultural Councils of Councils of Ipswich, Salem, Beverly, Newburyport, Gloucester and Lynn and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Generous support has also been granted by the following businesses and foundations: DanversBank, Institution for Savings, McCarthy Family Foundation, Varian Semiconductor Technologies, Marion L Decrow Foundation, General Electric Foundation, John H. and  Naomi Tomforhde Foundation, Neal Rantoul Foundation, Medtronic Foundation, New England Biolabs Foundation and the Harpley Foundation.

 

 

 

 

. The  Youth Chamber Concert Series is funded in part by Danversbank®.

This organization is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency