CDAL

“(This event) made me realize what kids can accomplish when given the necessary support from role models in their community. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to enrich the lives of…youth in my own community.”

Bassoonist Sandra Bailey understands the value of outlining goals to help achieve one’s dreams. Wanting to share this message with younger students in her hometown, she visited a 6th and 7th grade music class at the Atlanta Preparatory Academy, where her younger sister is a student.

After challenging the students to write down their goals, Sandra talked about the steps she took to make her own dreams become a reality, from getting her first bassoon, to appearing on From the Top and being selected as a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist (she was on Show #232 and will be part of our upcoming gala!).

Sandra dazzled the students with a range of musical selections, from Bolero to the SpongeBob theme, and encouraged them to explore their own musical potential. She created a special pamphlet with musical opportunities in Atlanta for the students to take home and share with their parents.

We asked Sandra to share more about her experience:

FTT: Was there a memorable moment? 

Sandra: After explaining the orchestral music that sometimes plays behind cartoons, I played a bassoon excerpt that occasionally plays on SpongeBob – it was enlightening to see how captured they were after I played it.

FTT: What do you think the students took away from your presentation?

Sandra: I believe they left inspired knowing that their goals are possible, and that they have many opportunities right in their hometown.

FTT: What did you take away from this experience?

Sandra: I learned about how children can be unaware of the many things they can accomplish. It made me remember the many things I had been unaware of at their age, like future careers and goal setting. I also became aware of the parental encouragement that is needed (another reason for sending home the pamphlets). There were moments where I had to change the order of my program, just to captivate the audience a little more.

FTT: What does being an arts leader mean to you?

Sandra: Being an arts leader is a very unique title. You have to be aware of the many different music opportunities and have the passion to express it to someone who is unaware of the subject. Above all you have to be willing to express your passion to anyone in any situation because we can all be helped and inspired by the art of music.

Feedback from Justin Bartley, Music Director at the Atlanta Preparatory Academy:

“Good News! Several of the kids did take away from your presentation…A few young ladies are now interested in not only becoming singers, but actually studying voice as a major!!! Thank you for being such an inspiration to the kids!”

When From the Top is out on the road taping our radio broadcasts, we make it a community experience. In addition to filling concert halls, we bring our performers to visit schools and community centers to share the power of music. Our performers are wonderful role models for the value of hard work, focus, and determination.

We’ve heard from our alumni that visiting schools with From the Top has left a deep impression and many continue to offer their own outreach programs when they return home.

Since January, From the Top has visited Kalamazoo, Michigan; Boston, Massachusetts; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Brunswick, Maine! Check out these highlights:

After taping a broadcast before a sold-out crowd at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, we visited with a group of nearly 40 middle school music students at the Maple Street Magnet School. The program featured Johannes Gray (cello), Marissa Uchimura, (piano), Jackie Tso (violin), and Eric Goldberg and Shuya Gong (marimbas). They played works by Bach, Chopin Wieniawski, and ended with a riveting marimba duo, performed on two massive five-octave marimbas that took almost an hour to assemble. Each performer also shared helpful practice techniques they use in their own playing, such as different metronome exercises, storytelling though music, and bowing techniques. We had such a blast, and the students at Maple Street were a wonderful audience!

In Boston, we were happy to host a group of students from James J. Chittick Elementary School at our hometown taping in early February. These students are all participants of musiConnects — a music education program that provides instruments, private lessons, and chamber music instruction at the Chittick School. The Chittick group got a special VIP pre-show talk with From the Top producers and the young performers. musiConnects has been a partner of From the Top in our Year-Long Intensive Arts Leadership Program in Boston, and we were happy to highlight its founder Betsy Hinkle during the broadcast!

In Pittsburgh, we visited with high school music students at the Barack Obama Academy of International Studies. The Temple Honor’s Quartet performed Schubert’s “Death and a Maiden” and then gave several mood variations on the opening measures, taking cues such as “happy” and “sad” from the audience, to demonstrate the intensity this work requires. Daniel Orson, a violist from Pittsburgh played an extremely technical solo sonata by Hindemith, and then demonstrated different techniques he used to practice the piece. Ending the program was pianist Sasha Voinov, who improvised pieces using theme and composer suggestions from the audience (including “Sponge Bob Square Pants” in the voice of Mozart!) Both groups of students we met at the Obama Academy were fabulous!