CONCERT CURRICULUM > For Students > For Schools > For Orchestras > For the Community > How it works > Concert > Curriculum > History > Accolades > How to Participate

"An extraordinary year that culminated in an event so spectacular, it brought together families, teachers, and students, and rallied the whole community."

- Thomas Rabone, Principal, Maple Hill Middle School, Castleton, N.Y.

For students, the Concert Curriculum
is a life-changing experience.

Through the extraordinary journey that summits in a performance with a professional-level orchestra, students realize that their most ambitious dreams are possible, and that hard work is the key.

While the program provides a musical experience second to none, the journey is about more than just music. Professional musicians are highly-trained experts, frequently surpassing medical doctors in terms of years-of-study. By providing the means for “learning specialists” in the attractive guise of musicians to guide the students through the rigors and rewards of mastering a significant body of material, the program is ultimately not about learning what is a trumpet, it is about learning how to learn.

Indeed, a growing body of research indicates that students involved in the arts perform better academically than students not involved in the arts. While the greatest boost occurs for students from disadvantaged circumstances, access to the arts is typically pursued by, or provided to, those already excelling or otherwise advantaged. Through partnering professional-level orchestras with low-resource schools, the Concert Curriculum is able to provide one of the richest arts-learning experiences in the nation to some of its neediest students.

From a fifth grade girl in Albany, New York, who had to be released from meetings with her parole officer in order to attend orchestra rehearsals, to Philippe Entremont conducting a legion of young people on Florida’s largest stage, the Concert Curriculum brightens young lives and tells them – through experience, not words – “you are capable of great things.”