"The
end-result was a wonderful experience for fifty of our students who learned
much about abstract art, elements of music including composition, creating
instruments, and the discipline, joy and accomplishment of performing."
--Tim Callahan, Principal, Helen Keller School
"Steven Smith is a master at the creative process. He developed a genuine rapport with each child, personalizing the process to meet individual learning styles. Students who previously were introverts, those with special education needs, or students with behavioral concerns each rose to the challenge."
--Heidi Pace, Principal, Pioneer Elementary, Award Winning National School of Excellence
Get ready for an exciting journey into the creative world of the eyes and ears! It's an adventure into the artistic world that connects the visual and musical arts. Funded and facilitated by the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration, composer Steven Smith was in residence at four elementary schools exploring "Creative Eyes and Ears."
Beginning with the stimulus of our natural surroundings, the students developed their powers of observation and a sense of cooperative effort while exploring the concepts of visual abstraction and musical improvisation. Along the way, the children learned about terms such as composer, conductor, abstraction, improvisation, graphic notation, aleatoric music, and realization of musical sound. Ultimately, they worked together to compose a final piece, while developing their own system of graphic musical notation, establishing musical guidelines for realizing their composition as a group. Each class performed their visual/musical compositions in their own schools, building their own "orchestras" out of natural objects, simple homemade instruments and other sound sources, including instruments in the music room or that they themselves were studying. At the Colorado Springs Symphony's April, 1995 Young People's Concerts, "The Language of Music," the classes were each featured, performing their works in front of 1800 of their peers. Furthermore, the Colorado Springs Symphony then performed a realization of the children's works as well!
The major goals of this project include exploring the connections between our various senses, developing awareness of the relationship between visual images and musical sound, awakening imagination and concepts of abstraction and enabling the children to develop and perform their own musical compositions, regardless of previous musical experience. Another goal of the residency was to build on-going relationships between the students, teachers and Smith; therefore, he visited each school 5-6 times for a total period of 12-15 hours, plus performances and planning sessions. The major benefits of this project include children learning about and participating in creative artistic communication, the opportunity for collaboration within the school, and the chance for the children to be featured as performers in their own school and in the community.
Steven Smith is a composer and performer, with numerous performances and commissions by major, regional and youth orchestras, as well as smaller ensembles across the country. His work has been featured on NPR and at the Kennedy Center. He has served as Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Springs Symphony. Steven is currently the Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony and is a member of the violin section of the summertime Chautauqua Symphony in New York. He has received music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Smith is very interested in presenting this and other residencies in new locations, and is happy to travel to involve interested parties. Further information can be received about his residencies and compositions through Elexit Music: e-mail: elexit@mindspring.com or phone/fax: (816) 361-1720.