Concert Programming Counts!

A busy year is winding down, and (doctoral degree in hand!) I have a few moments to reflect on a series of concerts I played this term.  Over the last couple of months I played children's concerts with my brass quintets and Columbus, Anderson and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras.  It is a pleasure to play for students and engage them through music!  It has been interesting to see what strategies work best to get kids excited and learning.  Some of the things that worked best were short pieces for short attention spans, recognizable tunes where stories were well known or easily told and instrument demos that featured instruments in their best light and in their most diverse sounds! Students love hearing how high and low we can play, what makes our instruments unique, and where in our day to day lives we might recognize them.  For example: an excerpt from a Disney tune was more engaging than a challenging orchestral excerpt!  I had a great response from students when I asked them to guess "how many 4th graders would it take to be as long as a horn?" Students were found the next day lying on the floor end to end! 
With that in mind, I challenge my students and readers to always have a little something handy that they can play to inspire young hornists! Keep it fun, short and remember the age and interests of your audience!  And most of all - enjoy! They are watching and they will see that we are having as much fun on stage as they are in the audience!