JUST FOR U MUSIC PROGRAM

The woodwind quintet WindSync performed the music of American composer David Maslanka for 5th graders at Collins Elementary School.

When we listen to music, we're not only using our ears, we're using our imagination. We hear the music, but we also feel it by engaging the whole mind and body. Those feelings can be cultivated, through guided listening, into stories and images, like symbolism in a literature. Imagination is crucial for children's development and plays a key role in the learning process. This year in JUMP, we will be exercising our imagination by listening to music and allowing students to create their own ideas about the stories going on in it. They will also make mental pictures of the characters that encourage creativity and thinking out-of-the-box. Can engaging the imagination while listening to a piece of music change how we listen to it, what we listen to, or what we listen for? To shed some light on these questions, JUMP invites the audience to join the collaborative, creative process of musical imagination and expression, by exploring basic elements that help us decide how and why we feel the way we do, and the imaginative, story-telling nature of chamber music performance.

Each year two graduate students coordinate JUMP! as an independent study course. In the process, they learn such valuable skills as concert programming, production, promotion, presentation and peer mentoring.

All concerts are free of charge, but by reservation only. All six inreach concerts are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoons. For questions or reservations, contact us: jump@rice.edu

The inreach (in-house outreach concerts) concept was conceived by students and faculty from the wind chamber music class at the Shepherd School. Student coordinators soon expanded the program to include student performers from all departments at the school.

Rachel Buchman, head of the Young Children’s Division at the the Shepherd School, teaches participating students the special performing skills needed to create a fun and informative classical music experience. Other Shepherd School faculty coach the chamber music groups and advise student leaders on planning and administration.

Student coordinators find many benefits come from the JUMP! program. Sharing music with children is exciting, energizing, and brings a fresh perspective to their art. In addition to attending a free concert in the intimate setting of Duncan Recital Hall, some school groups include a campus tour in their visit to Rice.

For many, it is their first experience on a college campus. As one faculty member observed, “Who knows what dreams can come from these experiences? If even one or two children can be inspired to go to college, it will be worth it.”