The Dubuque Symphony Orchestra’s Adopt a Musician education initiative, launched in spring 2011, has expanded from three to six schools during the current school year. In the program, which is offered free of charge to participating schools, musicians in the Iowa-based orchestra go into local fourth-grade classrooms, where they lead discussions and music-making; work with music teachers to plan a curriculum; encourage children to play a musical instrument; and answer questions about the orchestra. Last year from February through May, three DSO musicians were “adopted” by the Bryant, Marshall, and Prescott schools; this school year, six musicians will visit those schools, as well as fourth-graders at Audubon, Fulton, and Resurrection schools. The program came into being after DSO Executive Director Jeff Goldsmith and Music Director William Intriligator met with Cheryl Werner of the Dubuque Community School District to discuss how DSO musicians—some of whom travel from as far away as Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin—could make use of available time during DSO concert weeks.
Posted March 5, 2012
