T H E C R O W D E N l etter
Spring 2015
the Crowden Letter T H E C R O W D E N M U S I C C E N T E R 1 4 7 5 R O S E S T R E E T B E R K E L E Y C A 9 4 7 0 2 – 1 2 5 5 www . crowden . or g
Crowden Expands Chamber Music Training for Youth This summer and fall, Crowden will launch new ensemble training opportunities for young musicians. The goal: to make chamber music, and the benefits of playing it, more accessible to Bay Area youth. Playing chamber music requires more than just technical ability on an instrument. The music rewards close, effective collabora-
tion between players. In Crowden’s day school,
participate in—the art form. Typically, most
beginning string students are immediately
private lesson students leap directly into play-
introduced to playing in small groups. They
ing chamber music (if they play it at all) once
develop a specialized skill set that prepares
they reach the necessary technical skill level,
them to play chamber music with one another,
without the opportunity to develop the needed
without a conductor. By the time they are
collaborative skills. So Crowden’s artistic staff
technically ready to tackle the great repertoire,
decided to fill the gap by offering a trajectory
they also possess enhanced cooperative skills—
of after-school ensemble training, designed to
how to listen and communicate respectfully,
help Crowden private lesson students develop
how to lead and to follow—that enable them
the skills they’ll need to play chamber music,
to more immediately achieve a higher level of
before they begin to play it.
performance together. That kind of specialized
“Since the core of Crowden’s music educa-
group training is not always available to young
tion is rooted in playing chamber music, we
musicians studying in private lessons, limit-
want to encourage all students who take private
ing their abilities to fully experience—or even
lessons to discover the joy and rewards
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