Supporting Art, Music, Dance & Theater
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Gallery
Printables: Music Instruction Aids Verbal Memory
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The Division of Music is lead by Ms. Virginia Lam. Ms. Lam is a flutist who graduated from the Peabody Academy. As an educator, she has lead many school vocal music programs and focused much of her energy at the middle school level where she produced many highly recognized school productions. As a celebrated and award winning educator, Ms. Lam was asked to leave her position of over twenty years at the Wanamaker Middle School in North Philadelphia to lead the Division of Music in 2002.
The Annual All-Philadelphia High School Music Festival will be held on Monday, May 2, 2005, at 8:00 PM in 
Verizon Hall of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. The concert will feature the All-Philadelphia High School Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Henry Scott, bassist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Choir is under the direction of Ms. Dorina Morrow, vocal music specialist at High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. The grand finale of the evening will have Maestro Christoph Eschenbach return for a second year to conduct the orchestra and chorus. Tickets will be available in April on a reservation basis.
Annual All-Philadelphia Band Festival will be held in May at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. The concert will feature the All-Philadelphia High School Band and the newly-organized All-Philadelphia Middle School Band.
Seventh Annual Jazz Fest will be held in March at a location to be determined. The District's best high school jazz ensembles will perform selections.
Calvacade of Marching Bands, a festival of the School District's High School Marching Bands will be held in spring, 2005. Dr. Willie Naylor, Band Facilitator is coordinating the festival that highlights the District's emphasis on building and restoring marching bands in Philadelphia's High Schools.
All Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra has had the opportunity to perform last summer and in various Holiday Concerts throughout the city including the Gallery, the Bourse, and the Seaport Museum Hall. The Chamber Orchestra is under the direction of Maureen Brady and Jacquelyn Gilletti. It is comprised of string students from many of our city high school orchestras. The Adelphia Arts Academy is a Summer Study and Work Program for students in Grades 9-11 who are interested in developing their talent and skills in vocal and instrumental music, drama and visual art. The Summer Study and Work Program for music will be comprised of students for the Marching Band Academy, the String Chamber Orchestra Academy, and the Choral Arts Academy.
Students in the Adelphia Band Camp performed at the Gallery, Love Park, and other center city locations.
The times and dates are yet to be announced for the 2005 Summer Camp.
Professional Development is an important part of the Office goals. In September it facilitated a United Arts Conference at which over 400 teachers attended.
Teachers were offered over forty workshops and clinics in music, dance and the visual arts from leading educators. Teachers were offered many prizes from vendors that support the efforts of the Office.
Teacher evaluations were very positive concerning the organization and stimulating professional workshops offered.
In autumn, a professional development session was held for teachers who facilitate computer assisted music labs. This program was facilitated by VH1 who sponsored Sound Tree to lead the program. Dr. James Frankel presented curriculum and classroom tips for excellence in keyboard labs.
Recorders for 2000 Third Graders! The Office of Creative and Performing Arts has provided recorders for 30 elementary schools that have full time music teachers. To help our teachers in facilitating this new program, on October 29, 2004, the Office brought in Ms. Marilyn Davidson to run a half day professional development session for them. Ms. Davidson is a nationally recognized recorder clinician and author on teaching the recorder.
Third graders have begun playing their recorders with books supplied by the Office. The goal is to provide younger students with opportunities to learn to play a basic musical instrument so that they understand the demands of learning band instruments in the future. The District is committed towards revitalizing music education programs citywide in schools.
Harold Jones led a master class for high school jazz students at Lincoln High School on Wednesday, November 17. Harold Jones is a Grammy-winning jazz percussionist who has performed with Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, and Duke Ellington
Conducting Master Classes for Strings will be lead by Maestro David Hayes on February 4th. Maestro Hayes was appointed Music Director of The Philadelphia Singers in 1992. In January 2001, he was appointed to the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Conducting Master Classes for Band will be lead by Dr. Tim Oliver of Temple University. Dr. Oliver is the Band Director at Temple University and he assisted the 2004 Adelphia Band Camp.
Taking the Lead: Using the Arts to Make the Grade Conference. This professional development program is in partnership with the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership. In this conference, the Office will facilitate a two day conference on March 4th and 5th for music and art teachers at the University of the Arts. The program will present to teachers a look at the new Literacy Through the Arts curriculum that is being produced in collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This new curriculum is being underwritten with generous underwriting from the William Penn Foundation.
New Professional Development programs in music are being developed for grade teachers who work in schools without the support of music specialists. These will be presented to the field in late February as an introduction to Music in our Schools Month.
MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH (MIOSM), a national observance sponsored by the Music Educators National Conference will be observed during the month of March to help raise awareness of the importance of music education. The theme of the annual celebration is - Music: The Heart of Education.
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Last Update: February 5th, 2005
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