Day 24: Importance of Mentoring and Authentic Audience in Creating and Making

Tonight I'm heading over to a club in Manhattan to hear some amazing Jazz Music from Mimi and the Podd Brothers.       A little over a year ago I got to sit in the audience of their creating their first LIVE album.


What's even more special about this is that the two young men in the picture are my sons and I've had the privilege of watching them grow up as young creatives. 

There are many factors that contributed to their success, but in today's post I'd like to talk about the importance of providing kids with  mentoring during their creative process and authentic audience for their creations.  And I can honestly say that the most amazing example of this that I've seen is a process that started when my children were in middle school -  The Vermont MIDI project - which has been renamed at Music Comp. 

This project has been providing mentoring to students learning how to compose music starting in elementary school and throughout high school.  Throughout the process professional musicians mentor the students as they create new music using music composition software.   Twice a year Music Comp hosts an amazing authentic audience event called OPUS where the students compositions are played by real musicians and the students are introduced as the composers.

This week will be the 34th OPUS concert - and if you want to witness the power of mentoring and authentic audience in the creative process -and you are anywhere near Montpelier Vermont -  you should definitely attend.

Opus 34 - March 26th at Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier At Opus 34 we will give 24 world premieres of music from students all across Vermont. Opus is an incredible day of music-making and a celebration of the creativity of our youth! The music our young composers have created will amaze you. They will never forget the moment they hear their music being performed live for the first time. The day starts with open rehearsals and workshops at 12:30 and the concert will begin at 6:30. All events are free and open to the public. Workshops will include a discussion for high school students on composing into college and beyond, and Evan Premo will give a workshop for all ages where he will perform John Deak's unforgettable piece for bass and voice BB Wolf and lead a group composition exercise. Opus 34 Facebook Event   Opus 34 Composers Zane del Pozo, Ella Wilson, Lisa Zhou-Hackett, Brynna Swift-Herzog, Penelope deRosset, Jamie Maddox-White, Diya Kulkarni, Otis Starble-Murphy, Callum Robechek, Tatiana Byam, Jonah Sayler, Isabella Bledsoe, Drew Frankenberg, Miles Ellis Novotny, Nancy McNichols, Wanda Sullivan, Theo Novotny, Kyrsten Paroline, Alex Wick, Kai Williams, Jaron Rochon, Katharina Mueller, Alexander Beshay, Ethan Duncan