Wharton Music Center
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| NJYS member and PMP intern Aidan Garrison with CCSP student |
A benefit concert for Paterson Music Project (PMP) organized by New Jersey Youth Symphony member and PMP intern Aidan Garrison is planned for Saturday, May
9 at 7:00 p.m. at the New Jersey Youth Symphony’s Burgdorff Hall located at 570
Central Avenue in New Providence. The concert is free and open to the public.
All proceeds from the concert will be donated to PMP. Based
in Paterson, New Jersey, Paterson Music Project (PMP) is an El
Sistema-inspired program of Wharton Music Center that uses music as a vehicle
for social change by empowering and inspiring children through the community
experience of ensemble learning and playing.
Aidan Garrison, a tenth grader from Sparta who has been a member of NJYS’s Youth Symphony for two years and recently joined the NJYS Advanced String Quartet, as well as serving as a volunteer and intern at PMP’s Community Charter School of Paterson site for two years, studies with Brett Deubner of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Karen Ritscher at Manhattan School of Music.
Q: How did you get involved with PMP?
A: I got involved with PMP through one of PMP's teaching artists, cellist Terrence Thornhill, whom I have known for several years. Since I began playing viola, I have been looking for ways to integrate music with community service, and PMP provided a great opportunity for me to do that. I was a volunteer at the Community Charter School of Paterson (CCSP) last year, and this year I am the CCSP intern. The internship was created in part due to my consistent participation as a PMP volunteer.
Q: What do you think is the most important aspect of PMP?
A: The opportunities it provides the kids to improve and grow as musicians and as people.
Q: What inspired you to organize this concert?
A: PMP is really important to me, so I thought it would be nice to help raise money for the program. It's really great to see the kids grow and to see the effect the music has on them. To see how excited they are to play music and be part of PMP.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peak at a few of the pieces that are going to be performed on the concert?
A: Repertoire for the benefit concert includes Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor; the Handel-Halverson Passacaglia, Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 2 in F Major; and Sarasate’s Navarra. And a few surprises!
PMP provides an intense musical immersion after school for nearly 200 students at the Community Charter School of Paterson and Paterson School 1. Students grade 3-5 study a primary instrument (violin, cello or viola) and participate in six hours of group music instruction, ensemble practice and choir weekly. Students in grade 1 & 2 participate in Pre-Orchestra, a preparatory program which meets for two hours weekly. Pre-Orchestra students sing, participate in paper orchestra, and play the recorder and buckets. Students perform frequently for the school and community.
Paterson Music Project began in January 2013 with 30 students at the Community Charter School of Paterson where it now serves over 100 students. In January 2015, Paterson Music Project partnered with Paterson Public Schools to open a site at Public School 1. This new site serves 78 first through fifth graders from P.S. 1 and P.S. 26. For more information, visit www.patersonmusicproject.org.
