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What is Everyday Etudes?
Everyday Etudes is a rich partnership between the Symphony and local schools seeking to provide children with more complete music education instruction in accordance with California State Content Standards. Integrating a music-listening curriculum with existing Symphony music education programs, Everyday Etudes is based on two core values:
- the value of allowing students to hear and discuss classical music every day
- the value of hands-on music experiences and live performances
The in-class listening for Everyday Etudes is derived from the Brummitt-Taylor Music Listening Program, and takes just five minutes per day to meet many of the state standards set for music education in our public school classrooms. (State standards for music may be found on the Department of Education website at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/mumain.asp). But the live, hands-on "extension activities" are key to the partnership's success. In this world of Nintendo DS, myspace.com, cell phones, and iPods, children are living their lives more and more in the realm of the virtual, the tuned-out, the disconnected. Live music experiences are the link that show young students that music doesn't come from a machine; it comes from a person!
Extensions such as the Symphony Children's Concert at the Christopher Cohan Center for the Performing Arts, resident String and Brass Quartets, the Music Van and the Symphony Musical Petting Zoo are as integral to Everyday Etudes as the daily classroom listening. These extension activities are the link between the recording played on a CD player and a performer who plays beautifully, skillfully, right there in the classroom, and who says “I was once 8 years old, just like you.” | 
