Without the Future of Music Education, Where Will We Be?

We get excited when we see people taking steps to encourage music education.

This is the reason we were delighted to find the article: San Francisco Symphony Launches Online Education Website, SFSKids.org.

The (updated) website itself (http://sfskids.org/) is a far stretch from the way most of us learned about music.

With fun graphics and easy to use navigation, kids can:

-"Discover" - topics (composers, families of instruments, etc.)
-"Listen" - songs by famous composers in different categories
-"Play" - games that include teaching skills like learning to feel rhythm
-"Perform" - kids are allowed to explore the different sounds of different instruments
-"Conduct" - batons are put in the hands of children, giving them an opportunity to conduct
-"Compose" - lessons in composing is a rich experience and supports all parts of music education

Preview of the SF Kids Home Page

On the website, they also link to their page: SF Symphony concerts for Kids & Families. On this Youth & Families page they describe their Family Concerts, School Group opportunities, their youth orchestra, and their initiative with the San Francisco Unified School District - bringing music education through Music and Instrument Training programs to local, public schools. With these exciting tools, as well as many more websites and programs, The San Francisco Symphony makes the way kids are introduced to music fun. Their tools and websites are designed to be accessible around the world. The internet, radio, and DVD's allow kids access to their tools.

We recognize that organizations, companies, groups, and individuals must go out of their way from their immediate business and day-to-day work to promote, support, and encourage music education. Without our children having the chance at a future in music, or even the opportunity to learn the basics, where will we be? It's refreshing and impressive how much this organization puts into music education. We only hope that they can be a model for other organizations to reach out to their community and beyond, and make a commitment to music education.

If you want more information, please read the article, which provides great details to the updates and uses of SFSKids.org, and the outreach of the SF Symphony:
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwclassical/article/San-Francisco-Symphony-Launches-Online-Education-Website-SFSKidsorg-20140221#yrAitWmUt3CTeQKa.99

Make sure to check back next week to see our next blog post, which highlights the National Association for Music Education's (NAfME) Music in Our Schools Month (March 2014)


Heather (iCA President)
www.InstrumentCareApparel.com