In Sunday’s (9/16) Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith writes, “Baltimore figures substantially in ‘Arts and the Mind,’ a two-hour documentary airing on PBS stations around the country. There is a good amount of airtime for OrchKids, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s ambitious music education program launched by music director Marin Alsop and now offered in four inner-city schools. … The program, with footage of diverse activities from Boston to Los Angeles, sets out to prove the need for the arts in our lives, and the benefits they can generate at any age. … It’s deflating to hear that there is no evidence to support the popularly held notion that children studying music develop better math skills. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection, says Ellen Winner, chair of the department of psychology at Boston College—just the sort of optimistic outlook this program dispenses from start to finish. And why not? It’s really hard to argue with it, especially when seeing the beauty and sensing the promise in shots of teens in L.A. reciting poetry with startling fervor, or seniors in a D.C. choir rehearsing for a concert, or excited OrchKids students heading onstage at Meyerhoff Hall to perform with the BSO.”
Posted September 20, 2012
