Table Of ContentBevoriD irAdrrioN
Among
Partnerships Orchestras,
i
e Schools, and Communities
Myers
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012 with funding from
in
Member
Boston Library Consortium Libraries
http://archive.org/details/beyondtraditionpOOmyer
onD
TrAduioN
Among
Partnerships Orchestras,
Schools, and Communities
A Project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts
David E. Myers, Project Director
Cynthia Thomas, Research Coordinator
June 1996
Georgia State University
School of Music
Atlanta, GA
national
endowment
for^Wthe
ARTS
Coop. Agreement DCA95-I2
©1996 by David Myers for Georgia State University
and its School of Music. Permission to quote from or reproduce
portions of this document for nonprofit purposes is granted when
due acknowledgement is made. The National Endowment for the Arts
retains unrestricted rights for use for federal purposes, including
reproduction in digital form.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 3
SECTION
I
Introduction: Moving Beyond Tradition 7
A
Partnership Approach to Orchestra Education Programs 7
A Study ofPartnerships Among Orchestras, Schools, and Communities 8
Organization ofthe Report 8
SECTION
II
School Partnerships: Is There a Role for Orchestras? 11
Changing Views ofSchool-Community Cooperation 11
Orchestras and Schools 11
Developing Partnerships 12
What is a Partnership? 14
Characteristics ofEffective Partnerships 15
Support and Sustainability 16
Synthesis 17
SECTION
III
The Orchestra Education Project 21
Purpose 21
Gathering Data 21
Validating Data 22
Survey Findings 22
Reflections on Survey Findings and Telephone Interviews 23
Selection ofPrograms for Site Visits 24
SECTION IV
Orchestra Partnership Profiles 27
Organization ofthe Profiles 27
Pacific Symphony Orchestra 29
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 37
Boston Symphony Orchestra 47
Ft. Wayne Philharmonic 57
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra 65
Chicago Symphony Orchestra 73
Cedar Rapids Symphony 79
New
York Philharmonic 83
Austin Symphony Orchestra 91
Beyond
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SECTION
I
Introduction:
Moving Beyond
Tradition
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Introducti
SECTION
I
Introduction:
Moving Beyond Tradition
A Partnership Approach to
Orchestra Education Programs
School improvement efforts over the last decade and most cases, these partnerships represent a combination of
a halfdemonstrate that community-wide sharing of concern for the presence and quality ofmusic education
agendas and resources holds significant promise for in schools and the orchestra's interest in expanding its
education. Should symphony orchestras be part ofthis audience. In addition, they reflect a belief that orchestras,
attempt to improve our nation's schools? Orchestras like other organizations and institutions, should forge
themselves have to rely on broad community support to integral connections that apply their unique resources to
sustain their own activities. Yet, orchestras also possess meeting the needs ofthe communities in which they
important resources and expertise that can help to enrich reside.
school programs. Forming stronger alliances with commu-
nities through involvement in schools may help orches- Partnerships generally arise because two or more institu-
tras meet some oftheir current challenges. Education tions or organizations share common concerns. Some of
initiatives may be one avenue ofbreaking down percep- the concerns that orchestras, schools, and communities
tions ofelitism and irrelevance, and offostering ex- share include:
panded enthusiasm for orchestral music performance
among diverse segments ofsociety. • Enhancing available music education opportunities
and resources
The traditional connection between orchestras and
schools is the youth concert. Once widely viewed as an • Enriching the quality ofmusic learning in schools
audience development tool, youth concerts have brought through direct and meaningful interchange with
thousands ofchildren to performance halls to hear live professional musicians
orchestral music and to learn something about instru-
ments, composers, and the music being performed. Many • Connecting orchestras more closely with school and
orchestras have generated creative strategies to enhance community life
the appeal and impact ofyouth concerts. Some provide
classroom materials to prepare students for the concerts. • Broadening the base ofsupport for the contributions
Some orchestras perform on local school campuses, or use ofmusic to cross-curricular learning and school
small ensembles to offer programs that encourage environments
interaction between students and musicians.
• Developing diverse audiences for symphony orchestras
Despite the values associated with these efforts, there is
longstanding disagreement as to whether periodic music • Sustaining a pool ofqualified musicians and in-
performance events have a significant impact on learning formed audiences
or audience development. In an attempt to exert more
sustained influence on music education, some orchestras • Creatively maintaining appreciation and support
are moving beyond earlier traditions to establish ongoing for the role ofsymphony orchestras in contemporary
relationships with schools. The motivations vary, but, in society
Beyond
As orchestras, schools, and communities work together Based on the literature review and survey responses, the
on behalfofmusic education, various partnership models project staffconducted an extensive series oftelephone
may emerge. Simple affiliations may allow orchestras to interviews to determine those programs that represented
support music education by providing youth concerts and the most fully developed partnerships. As a result ofthese
in-school ensembles, and to work cooperativly with interviews, nine orchestra education partnerships were
schools to sustain these programs. In other communities, selected for site visits.
coalitions may evolve in which each partner assumes
responsibility for given tasks, such as scheduling or Following the two-day site visits, the project staff
materials preparation, and the partners communicate prepared an in-depth report describing each partnership.
periodically to make sure the tasks are accomplished. In These nine case studies demonstrate that effective
still other communities, collaborations - the most complex partnership principles may be uniquely applied in
type ofpartnership - may emerge. In contrast to affilia- differing community and orchestra contexts. Though
tions and coalitions, collaborations involve extensive each partnership achieves a level ofongoing and system-
working out ofa relationship among partners, with atic relationship among the orchestra, local schools, and
commitments to mutual goal setting, program develop- the community, each also represents individuality with
ment, and evaluation. regard to areas such as program concept, planning and
administration, and implemented activities.
A Study of Partnerships Among Orchestras,
Schools, and Communities Organization of the Report
In April of 1995, the National Endowment for the Arts Beyond Tradition: Partnerships Among Orchestras, Schools,
awarded Georgia State University a grant to research and Communities is organized into seven sections. Follow-
existing orchestra education partnerships and to derive ing the Introduction, Section II reports on the review of
principles that could be helpful in establishing effective literature regarding partnerships and effective principles
programs. The grant called for the identification ofmodel of implementation. Section III outlines the research
partnerships that included teacher training, parent method and gives results ofthe survey and telephone
involvement, and administrative support from schools interviews. Section IV includes the case study reports for
V
and orchestras. Case studies of these partnerships were the nine orchestras that received site visits. Section
intended to reveal approaches that would be useful in presents principles oforchestra education partnerships
other settings, including strategies for curriculum devel- derived from the case studies, along with challenges and
opment, musician training, student assessment, and strategies associated with each principle. Section VI
program evaluation. suggests some considerations for the future oforchestra
education partnerships. Section VII lists information on
The study began with identification ofpartnerships the orchestras visited, related resources, and selected
through various professional organizations, internet references used in the preparation ofthe report.
groups, and a survey ofpublished journals and reports. At
the same time, a survey was developed for the member-
ship ofthe American Symphony Orchestra League. The
survey requested information about each orchestra's K-12
education programs, an indication ofany partnerships in
which the orchestras participated, and a description of
unique features oftheir partnership programs. From
August through October of 1995, the project director
conducted meetings in four regions ofthe country and
presented sessions for a national meeting oforchestra
education directors in Washington, DC. These meetings
provided updates on the project and permitted partici-
pants to share their ideas regarding information that
would help them to develop effective partnership
programs. The project staffalso undertook an extensive
review ofresearch and practice relating to partnerships in
general, education partnerships, and arts education
programs that used a partnership approach. This informa-
tion was used to define parameters ofpartnerships and to
create a framework for later telephone interviews and site
visits.
