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2016–2017 CLIBURN IN THE CLASSROOM WILL REACH NEARLY
50,000 AREA STUDENTS WITH IN-SCHOOL INTERACTIVE PROGRAMS



For immediate release

Contact:
Maggie Estes, director of marketing and public relations, mestes@cliburn.org, 817.739.0459

Fort Worth, Texas, September 12, 2016—The Cliburn's education program, Cliburn in the Classroom, will go back to school today, September 12, 2016. Previously called Musical Awakenings®, the program presents the excitement of live piano performances to second-, third-, and fourth-grade students and reinforces the basic elements of music through fun, interactive activities within the context of classical piano repertoire. Students will see professional musicians perform pieces composed by Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, and many more.

  • FREE for schools and students.
  • The program reaches approximately 50,000 students in 180 North Texas elementary schools—all Fort Worth ISD elementary schools, plus nine other districts.
  • The Cliburn's education piano—a 5'7" Steinway grand—travels over 5,000 miles annually, visiting North Texas schools.
  • Cliburn in the Classroom programs are written by Dr. John Feierabend, director of music education at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford, and Shields-Collins Bray, principal keyboardist for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Cliburn artistic consultant.

PHOTO OPP: See professional musicians instructing and interacting with local elementary school students. If you would like to attend Cliburn in the Classroom, contact Anna Caplan at acaplan@cliburn.org for more information.

This year's programs will find students listening for contrasts in music and animal sounds, and learning about beats/meters in music, how the piano works with other instruments, and how a pianist becomes a virtuoso. In conjunction with the FWISD, the Cliburn produces a study guide for each program which reinforces the schools' core curriculum through classroom activities and research materials. The study guide integrates into state-mandated curriculum. 

DOWNLOAD the programs here.

 

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

In the 2016–2017 school year, Cliburn in the Classroom will feature five different programs:

Building Music
Childern learn to listen for contrast in music. For example: sustained vs. short; heavy vs. light; quick vs. slow; tense vs. relaxed; bound vs. free. Composers include Schubert, Debussy, Chopin, Mussorgsky, and Saint-Saëns. 

Carnival of the Animals
Composer Camille Saint-Saëns mimics animal sounds or characteristics through music. Students will swim with the fish in Aquarium, jump with Kangaroos, and determine the speed of Wild Horses. 

How Low Can You Go?
Students learn about how the pianist works with other instruments. In this program, the piano and bass work together. How do they start at the same time? How do they decide who will lead and who will follow? Students also discover the bass instrument: How does it make music and how low can it go? It can play with and without the bow. How is it different from the piano?

Many Meters
Children discover the musical "beats" or meters in music. Although most music moves in 2s and 3s, children will also discover pieces with mixed meter and meter in 5s. Composers include Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók, and Mussorgsky. 

Virtuosity
Children explore how one can be a virtuoso. This program showcases piano excellence—virtuosity. The pianist plays etudes by Debussy and Chopin, and finishes with a finale of Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7.


ABOUT THE CLIBURN 

The Cliburn advances classical piano music throughout the world. Its international competitions, education programs, and concert series embody an enduring commitment to artistic excellence and the discovery of new artists. Established in 1962, the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Fifteenth edition, May 25–June 10, 2017) is widely-recognized as “one of the world’s highest-visibility classical-music contests” (The Dallas Morning News) and remains committed to its original ideals of supporting and launching the careers of young pianists, ages 18 to 30.  It shares the transformative powers of music with a wide global audience, through a fully produced webcast and by providing commission-free, comprehensive career management and concert bookings to its winners. Rounding out its mission, the Cliburn also produces the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition for outstanding nonprofessional pianists 35 and older (Eighth edition, June 2020), and held its inaugural Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival in June 2015 for exceptional 13 to 17-year-old pianists (Second edition, June 2019). 

Over a four-year cycle, the Cliburn contributes to North Texas’ cultural landscape with over 170 classical music performances for 150,000 attendees, through competitions, free community concerts, and its signature Cliburn Concerts series at Bass Performance Hall, the Kimbell Art Museum Piano Pavilion, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. It presents 1,000 in-school, interactive music-education programs for 200,000 area elementary students. During the same time period, it garners the world’s attention with over one million visits from 155 nations for live concert and competition webcasts; 300 concerts worldwide booked for competition winners; more than 5,000 news articles about the Cliburn and its winners; regular national radio broadcasts to 245 public radio stations; and a PBS documentary airing in a potential 105 million households. 

Detailed information about the Cliburn and its programs is available at Cliburn.org.

CLIBURN YOUTH ARTS EDUCATION SUPPORTERS
A special thank you to those who make our programming for young people possible:

Arts Council Northeast
Arts Council of Fort Worth
BBVA Compass Foundation
Virginia C. Dorman
Elizabeth L. and Russell F. Hallberg Foundation
ExxonMobil/XTO Energy
Fash Foundation
Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Foundation
Gail A. Granek
Janie Harper
Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas
Melissa and Scot Hollmann
James Avery Craftsman, Inc.
Lowe Foundation
R4 Foundation
Alan Rauch
Debbie Simonson
Rodger Soucy
The Discovery Fund
Texas Commission on the Arts
Texas Women for the Arts
Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust
Wells Fargo

Cliburn Sponsors are:
Arts Council of Fort Worth
Crystelle Waggoner Charitable Trust
The Edith Winther Grace Charitable Trust, J.P. Morgan, Trustee
Sid W. Richardson Foundation 
The Walton Family Foundation
William E. Scott Foundation

Exclusive Print Media Sponsor:
Star-Telegram 

Official Piano of the Cliburn:
Steinway & Sons – North Texas / Houston   

Official Hotel of the Cliburn:
Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel

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