Community-School Connections

[nafmeadmin]

Hello, this is Vicki Lind from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I have been reading through the posts and I noticed that the word “community” appears frequently. I have had the pleasure of teaching in Kansas, California, Arizona, Colorado, and Arkansas. With each move, I have encountered rich and diverse community music styles, yet the music in the schools tends to have a common look and sound. I really enjoyed reading about the Maine Acoustic Festival and would like to hear about other programs that connect students to the music around them.

[nafmeadmin]

Hi Vicki! Thank you for bringing this up. I, too, am interested in ways to connect my students with the outside community. I also find it difficult to define what the community is. Is it the town my students live in (not much live music happens there)? Is it the greater Philadelphia area? Is it a question of regional style? I like that you bring up the fact that many school music programs look and sound the same despite location. How did you try to connect your students with the diverse styles you encountered?

[nafmeadmin]

Sarah and Vicki, I also understand this dilemma. I have a youth choir that is a part of the Community School of the Arts, but we struggle to get membership and I think that fact that it’s outside of school is part of the problem. Parents have to make a much larger commitment to get their child to rehearsal at the university rather than just drop them off at school a little early or catch an earlier bus. We wonder, too, when our CSA Christmas and spring concerts are relatively well-attended for a small town of 7000, but I hear regularly that folks aren’t aware of us. We always sing at the Community Christmas Tree event which we find is usually attended by the singers and their families and maybe a few others. Building audience and community is tricky and I’d love some pointers!!

[nafmeadmin]

Some key issues in community music have been raised here. Community programs are wonderful tools for engaging the entire family and larger community. They do require innovative marketing techniques and many of us musicians and teachers are less comfortable with business aspects of marketing and promotion. Besides your own social media sites, you might try to promote your activities on city/town websites and Facebook pages. It might help to appoint a committee to work on those activities for you. Visibility is important and securing performances (no matter how short) at events where people are already together would be a great entry. It may mean offering a free performance of one piece at any major event in the area. Hopefully soon you’d be on everyone’s invitation list!

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