Since 2001, I have been fortunate to work with the one and only Maestro Jon Deak on the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composer program. We recently published our first book on our approach to teaching young kids composition, and, I was the book’s editor!
Principles
1) The VYC is founded on the belief that within the child is contained a creativity
which can revitalize the repertoire of the orchestra and of concert music in general.
2) The VYC takes children’s creations seriously, and allows the child to have his or
her music concept writ large upon the canvas of the orchestra.
3) The Teaching Artist/facilitator (conduit/catalyst) provides an essential link in this
process.
I will post a link to the book soon, but in the meantime, you can find my blog on our recent trip to Caracas, Venezuela, here, where we had the honor of working with El Sistema young composers.
with young composers in Caracas
with my PS 199 crew in Manhattan