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Kids Compose!
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Imagine the impact
on a young mind if a melody dreamed up by a local elementary student,
or a student’s classmate, was turned into a composition performed
at one of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music concerts for
youngsters next school year.
What better way to
send an important “you can do this” message to young and impressionable
minds, to help make fine music real to this young audience?
That’s the idea behind the Kids Compose! project.
Started here in Bloomington in 2006 by Debbi Ponella and Ruth Boshkoff,
here is how it works:
• Elementary School children from grades two through six are invited
to submit original melodies that fit on one page and are less than one
minute in length. Students invent a melody and learn the simple tools
needed to get it written in musical form. (Our local teachers are particularly
enthusiastic about this project because it adds an important element to
their curriculum).
• Talented IU Jacobs School of Music composition students will turn
the melodies selected by a panel into orchestra or band compositions.
• The selections will be performed to over 1,600 local 3rd and 5th
grade elementary students who visit the Musical Arts Center each school
year for youth concerts given by IU Jacobs School of Music ensembles.
During the concerts each student melody contributor and the IU composition
student will be honored. Recordings and CDs will be produced to document
the project.
Our unique Bloomington community offers everything needed to work this
magic: a world-class music school that has pledged its support for the
Children’s Composition Project, a collaborative school system with
highly-qualified MCCSC music teachers, and a sponsoring community groups
in the form of the Community Chamber Music Association and Bloomington
Community Arts Commission.
For more info contact
Ruth Boshkoff at ruth.boshkoff@gmail.com or Debbi Ponella at dponella@gmail.com
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