As part of those efforts, MVCMS is leading the Telegraph Quartet on March 5 and Jazz in the Neighborhood on March 20 for performances and chats with students at Marin schools in Mill Valley, San Rafael and Tiburon. The outreach program is supported entirely by contributions and donations designated for the program.
Mill Valley resident Joe Angiulo, who has served as a Mill Valley Chamber Music Society Board Member for 25 years, manages the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society’s Outreach Program. “Even in affluent Marin, many children do not experience live performance,” Angiulo says. “Outreach is a music program that brings chamber groups to the schools. Chamber music includes string quartets and trios, brass and woodwind ensembles and other combinations of instruments. Ensembles are foreign to many young people. It is my charge to introduce them to this body of experience.”
“I have long believed that chamber music is an ‘acquired taste,'” he adds. “By bringing it to children and introduced at a young age, a seed will eventually lead to a flowering of appreciation for the medium in later life.”
Outreach events, which reach an estimated 1,000 Marin students each year, include performances; informative and inspirational discussions regarding musicianship; workshops for students engaged in school music programs; and age-appropriate introductions to classical music for younger girls and boys.
“Music is not simply an aural experience, but a visual one as well. Children love to see how instrumentalists make music, why and how does a flute, trumpet or string instrument produce a sound,” said Angiulo.
San Francisco based Telegraph Quartet will visit four schools on March 5, touring from in San Rafael to Mill Valley and back again. Jazz in the Neighborhood, a Bay Area based non-profit establish five years ago by esteemed Bay Area trumpeter Mario Guarneri, will visit schools in Tiburon, Mill Valley and San Rafael on March 22.
“I have not had a jazz group in our outreach program for many years and felt it was time,” said Angiulo. “Cayce Carnahan, Mill Valley School District band teacher and jazz musician, directed me to the non-profit music group, Jazz in the Neighborhood.”
Jon Herbst, jazz pianist and member of Jazz in the Neighborhood, is helping to coordinate the jazz outreach visits.
“We’ll present at range of jazz styles and we start by opening students’ ears with something familiar,” Herbst says. “There might be traditional jazz, Bebop, Modern and maybe a little Hip-Hop.”
“The term ‘gig’ was named for us jazz musicians. So, the second part of the program will be explaining to students about what is like to be a working musician. It’s a reality that’s constantly evolving, so it’s important that students have a sense of what it really means to earn a living as a working musician,” Herbst says. “The program will end with the opportunity for students to ask questions.”
The influence or inspiration of Mill Valley Valley Chamber Music Society’s outreach program offers education, entertainment and maybe, musical inspiration for the future.
“I watch the faces of youngsters during our performances and have seen real engagement and delight,” said Angiulo. “I’m sure this has led to an interest in playing an instrument, with students saying to themselves ‘I want to do that!’ “
Monday, March 5, 2018 featuring the Telegraph Quartet:
8:30 a.m. Venetia Valley School, San Rafael
9:45 a.m. Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley
11 a.m. Mill Valley Middle School, Mill Valley
LUNCH BREAK
1:15 p.m. Davidson Middle School, San Rafael
Wednesday, March 20, 2018 featuring Jazz in the Neighborhood:
8:25 – 9:10 a.m. Del Mar Middle School, Tiburon
9:55 – 10:35 a.m. Park Elementary School, Mill Valley
11 – 11:50 a.m. Mill Valley Middle School, Mill Valley
LUNCH BREAK
1:20 – 2:10 p.m. Davidson Middle School, San Rafael