Stamford school district third-graders are collaborating with the Stamford Symphony in a music education program provided by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, with support from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which also receives support from the federal National Endowment for the Arts.
Link Up pairs orchestras across the country with schools in their communities, inviting students to learn about orchestral repertoire through a yearlong, hands-on music curriculum. Each year focuses on specific concepts, including rhythm, melody, tempo, orchestration and composition. Using materials provided by the Weill Music Institute, teachers guide Stamford third-graders in exploring music through a composer’s lens. Students participate in active music-making in the classroom;. They perform their repertoire on recorder, violin, voice or body percussion and take part in creative work such as composing their own pieces inspired by the orchestral music they have studied.
“Through the Link Up program, our music teachers have been given the opportunity to share new and adaptive materials with their third-grade students,” said Annamaria Gamberdella-Gagliardi, the school district’s teacher/district content leader of music. “This music literacy-based material not only assists in teaching the fundamental goals of musicianship and quality music education to the children of Stamford, but also is allowing them to experience the excitement of the symphony orchestra.” The culmination of the yearlong program is a live performance in which students from Stamford’s 12 elementary schools have the opportunity to sing and play the recorder along with the Stamford Symphony. This performance often serves as students’ first concert experience and provides them with the opportunity to apply the musical concepts they have studied.”
“The Link Up program for third-grade students is a perfect complement to the current American Experience concert, which is presented to fourth and fifth graders in the district,” said Stamford Symphony CEO Barbara Soroca. “We are dedicated to ensuring all students are made aware of classical and orchestral music.” The Stamford Symphony is one of more than 70 national and international organizations chosen for this program. Link Up’s national partnerships grew out of the program’s ongoing work with New York City schools, through which Carnegie Hall has engaged hundreds of thousands of students in musical learning since its inception in 1985.
