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Music in Schools Initiative

Symposium on Music in Schools takes place this week

Event Focuses on the Role of Music in School Reform

Anne Midgette, keynote speaker

The Yale School of Music is proud to host the fourth Symposium on Music in Schools, honoring public school music educators from across the country, this week. Supported by the Yale College Class of 1957, the biennial Symposium is a core program of the Music in Schools Initiative with a national scope.

From a pool of nearly 300 nominees representing 45 states, a panel of music professionals from YSM and NHPS selected this year’s 50 Distinguished Music Educators. The selected educators hail from 32 different states. These music teachers will travel to New Haven, all expenses paid, to attend the four-day symposium.

Workshops and discussions at this year’s symposium will focus around one main theme: The Role of Music in School Reform. The issue of school reform is a potent topic throughout the country. School districts are having ongoing discussions about what young students should be learning. Often in recent years, music teachers have had to fight to keep their programs off the chopping block. This year’s Symposium aims to bring attention to the very integral role music can play in school reform.

The four-day event will open with a workshop with Richard Deasy, former director of the Arts Education Partnership, on the history of music’s role in school reform. A panel including Scott Shuler, immediate past president of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), will then deliberate current issues in school reform. David Myers, current director of the University of Minnesota School of Music, and Dantes Rameau ’07MM, co-founder of the Atlanta Music Project, will appear to discuss partnership programs between public schools and music organizations.

The 50 teachers will be honored at an awards banquet at the conclusion of the weekend. The keynote speaker at that event is Anne Midgette ’86BA, the classical music critic of The Washington Post who has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and other publications, as well as co-authoring two books.

The Symposium also features a Friday evening performance by The Declassified (soon to be renamed Decoda). The ensemble, whose members include several YSM alumni, will perform music by Piazzolla, Martinu, David Bruce, and  YSM alum Andrew Norman. (Click here for more info about the concert.)

Click HERE to view the event program.