Features

The Accelerando Overture

During the first week of June 2019, the Nashville Symphony hosted the 74th annual National Conference for the League of American Orchestras.

The Musicians of Summer: Rowan University Offers Music Camps that Echo the College Curriculum

For any child, summer camp can be a formative experience: a chance to enjoy the great outdoors, meet new friends, and develop new skills and a sense of independence. But for musicians, camp is also an essential part of their education and training.

United Sound: The Sound of Joy

SBO has featured a wide variety of groups that work with music and music education not simply as an art form to be enjoyed or practiced/performed, but as a tool, a weapon, and a form of life itself to make social and community change and take down barriers.

What We Know About Teaching Music Theory from 4 Million Drills

Finding Practical Solutions for Performance Programs

As a band, choir or orchestra director, it’s your job to get —and keep— kids engaged and bring them together as an ensemble, so they each understand their part and sound good as a group. That’s not an easy task for a multitude of reasons.

And the Winners Are…. The PlayUSA 2019-20 Grants from Weill Music Institute of Carnegie Hall

PlayUSA announced its grant recipients for this next school year, 2019-20, on July 16. Seventeen recipients were named, including five first-time grant partners.

Rhoda Bernard: Creating Resources and Opportunities for Students with Special Needs to Receive Arts Education

As director of the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs, Rhoda Bernard is training the next generation of music teachers to serve a diverse population, including students with learning, developmental, and physical differences.

Instrument of Hope: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s Response to Tragedy and Gun Violence

Art frequently finds its inspiration in the events of despair. The vast majority of these art works focus on the hope that arises out of the horror rather than the pain of the actual event. The few words that follow will focus on that hope and the possibilities that can, and do, and have risen from it.

Percussion Ensembles Are A Hit!

The April SBO editor’s “Perspective” addressed the fact that the vast majority, perhaps 80%, of students are not involved in their school’s instrumental music programs.

Learning Through Relaxing Music: Singer, Songwriter, and Teacher Barbara Milne Proves that Early Education Can Be Musical Education

Parents everywhere sing to their little children at bedtime. It’s a loving ritual that eases the transition from waking to sleep. But educator and singer/songwriter Barbara Milne has taken tender melodies in new directions, exploring the potential that bedtime music has as a learning tool.

The Orchestras of Afghan National Institute of Music: The challenge of re-establishing music, education, and performance in Afghanistan

In a previous article, “School Music in Nepal,” I wrote about how, due to the lack of money, instruments, teachers, and practice time, live music is a rarity in many poor countries.

Nashville Symphony and ALIAS violinist Zeneba Bowers Uses Her Talent and Voice to Inspire Young Musicians

“My family couldn’t afford violin lessons or a violin,” recalls Zeneba Bowers. “My elementary school gave me a free violin and my first year of lessons. But this was back when we actually had music education in public schools.”

Rebuilding the Bands by the Bay

In September the North Bay Haven Charter Academy Marching Band and its auxiliary units brought home the first-ever regional first place of any Bay County, Florida high school.