Getting kids in on the classical act
Evanston Review
By Dorothy Andries | Classical Music Critic
October 23, 2008
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Mozart, aka Keith Whipple from Institute for Therapy
through the Arts, talks about music to Conner
Beaton and Olivia Popovich as part of the
Music for Life program.
There are serious concerns about the future of classical music. It is said that current audience members are too old and will soon expire, middle-aged people don't show up because they can't find babysitters, and since funding for music programs in public schools has been cut, the next generation won't know anything about classical music.
Like the weather, everybody talks about it, but no one does anything. Until now.
Mozart, aka Keith Whipple from Institute for Therapy through the Arts,
talks about music to Conner Beaton and Olivia Popovich as part of the Music
for Life program.
Gayle Heatherington has come up with an idea so simple that you'll wonder
why no one thought about it before. Gayle knows the concert world. She
is wife of conductor Alan Heatherington, who is music director of the Lake
Forest Symphony, Chicago Master Singers and Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra. She
sings in the Master Singers and is on its board. She does graphic design for
the Lake Forest Symphony and is executive director of Ars Viva. Plus she serves
as treasurer of the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
Idea from church
"It came to me all of a sudden," she began. "At church, the children stay in the congregation for the first part of the service and then leave for age appropriate lessons based on the readings of the day.
"Why couldn't we invite parents to bring their children to a concert and after the first number have the youngsters leave the concert hall and go somewhere else in the building and talk about the music they have just heard. Maybe they could even meet the 'composer!'"
She brought the idea to Sel Kardan, director of the Winnetka-based Music Institute of Chicago, which has been bringing music to the surrounding community and beyond for more than 75 years. "I was all set to sell him on the idea," she said, "but he embraced it wholeheartedly."
Kardan easily found several music theory teachers eager to take part, and he tapped into the expertise at the MIC's Institute for Therapy through the Arts, even enlisting actors to portray composers from the distant past.
"Last year we had 'Sibelius' and 'Beethoven,'" Heatherington said. "Sunday afternoon is our all-Mozart concert, so the children will meet 'Mozart.'"
Music for Life is designed for the 5-to-10-year age group and includes games and creative activities related to the first piece on the concert program, which is usually a short, rousing curtain-raiser. Children are admitted free with a ticket-buying adult, and there is baby-sitting for children 4 and under.
It was initiated last season with Ars Viva's five Sunday evening concerts at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. Even though the concerts started at 7 p.m. and didn't get out until 9 p.m., about six to 10 children came each time.
New start time Sunday
This season the Arts Viva Sunday concerts have been moved to 4:30 p.m. for the express purpose of expanding the Music for Life program. "I believe this will encourage more families with children to come," Kardan said. "I see very few people in the 30s and 40s in concert halls, and now that my wife and I have a small child ourselves, I understand why. It's expensive to get a baby sitter, and besides, couples usually don't want to leave their child on a weekend, especially if both parents work during the week."
Now Music for Life is eliminating such barriers, giving parents and children something to share. "It's win-win," said Gayle. "Parents can come to a full concert and children can have a musically enriching experience at the same time."
The opening number on the 4:30 p.m. Sunday Oct. 26 at the North Shore Center is Mozart's First Symphony, written when he was 8 years old -- right around the age of the children the program hope to attract. Maestro Heatherington will speak from the stage before the number and let the children know the work's history. The run-time of the symphony is about 15 minutes, after which children will be escorted from the hall by Music Institute teachers.
Meanwhile, adults will be able to hear Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18, played on the fortepiano by David Schrader, the composer's concert aria "Ch'lo scordi di te," sung by soprano Michelle Areyzaga, accompanied by Schrader, and Mozart's Symphony No. 36 ("Linz").
"I think we're going to reach two generations with this," said Gayle. "Young parents who haven't been able to get to a concert for years, and children who can be introduced to the music."
Registration is requested, so the Music Institute will know the age range of the children and how many instructors to engage. Call (847) 615-1811 or visit www.arsviv.org.
Copyright ©2008 Evanston Review