GCCA arranges for its artists to visit schools in the Adams County-Hanover area.
Artist School Visits: For the 2023-2024 Season, Ching-Yun, pianist, ensemble132, and the Hyperion String Quartet, will present Student Outreach Programs in Adams-Hanover area schools.
September 28, 2022
Cellist Sophie Shao introduces selections that she and pianist John Blacklow are about to play, providing insight into early modernist music composed for cello for New Oxford High School and Middle School orchestra during a Student Outreach program presented by the Gettysburg Community Concert Association (GCCA) with grant support from the Adams Electric Cooperative, Inc. and the Adams County Arts Council Star Grant.
Cellist Sophie Shao and pianist John Blacklow on stage at New Oxford High School. Orchestra students were riveted by the physicality in her expressive performance during a Student Outreach program presented by the Gettysburg Community Concert Association (GCCA) with grant support from the Adams Electric Cooperative, Inc. and the Adams County Arts Council Star Grant.
April 22, 2023
The San Francisco Bay area’s Telegraph Quartet presented a mini-concert featuring selections by Classical composers Haydn and Beethoven, as well as a Latin American influenced modernist piece by Gabriela Lena Frank, to the orchestra, band and music students at Gettysburg Area High School. Orchestra Director Krista Kriel’s string students – including an astounding number of cellists (18) and violists (17) – and J.T. Hofmann’s band students were wowed by the quartet’s energetic physicality which was likened to playing an endurance sport and the combination of brilliance and subtlety in playing, during a Student Outreach program presented by the Gettysburg Community Concert Association (GCCA) with grant support from the Adams Electric Cooperative, Inc. and the Adams County Arts Council Star Grant
PIANIST JOEL FAN STUDENT OUTREACH PROGRAM – BERMUDIAN SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021
Pianist Joel Fan chats with piano students following a Student Outreach Program at Bermudian Springs High School for 225 high school music and 4th grade elementary students. Fan made frequent references to the similarities of athletic training to developing mastery on the piano utilizing Chopin etudes, essentially exercises for pianists, to showcase how each targeted areas for improvement: right hand only, both hands for coordination, dexterity, mental acuity or body awareness. Students had a lot to share after the concert: “I learned I should practice every day-engage your brain 110% in what you are doing” and this delightful comment from a 4th grader: “His hands were moving so fast that my brain melted into the shape of a piano!
Pianist Philip Thomson played and answered questions about his career as a musician for 600 students at a pre-assembly piano class at the New Oxford Middle School. Various questions revealed that his love of piano had started very young with him demanding a piano at age 4 (his family got him a second-hand upright), starting lessons at 5 with a 17 year-old fresh out of conservatory for 25 cents (he did not like to practice scales!), and his lack of regrets- he had none (despite his devotion to the piano at so young an age he also found time to play sports and be a kid). When asked how long it took him to memorize a short lyric piece by Grieg he had just played, he paused a moment then said, “about two hours and a lifetime”: a lifetime of study had made it easy for him to memorize new music for his repertoire. It was a perfect example of the value of education in any field!
Good Vibrations- Enthusiastic 3rd graders crowd around Helen Rifas’ 80-pound, six foot harp, following an all-school student outreach program by Silver and Strings Quartet. The quartet shared musical selections from around the world and included info on their instruments, violin, viola, harp and flute. Students were encouraged to take up a musical instrument as most of the quartet players began instruction at ten or eleven years of age.
Seraph Brass Quintet lead Biglerville High School’s award-winning band members and 7-12th grade music students in a breathing lesson during a student outreach program presented by GCCA with grant support from the Adams Electric Coop. The all-female quintet shared valuable tips on how to maximize educational opportunities afforded by participation in instrumental music programs, from winning scholarships to picking the best teacher.
Europe’s “hottest string quartet”, the Armida Quartet from Berlin, Germany, showcased their stunning artistry in selections from Prokofiev, Smetana and a contemporary German piece complete with clicking, tapping and shouting- foreshadowing the ultimate demise of the cellist. Two hundred instrumental and music students enjoyed the concert and a brief Q &A period (Top question-“Why the red shoes?”) at the Gettysburg Area High School. The program was supported in part by the Adams County Arts Council Star Grant program, the GCCA membership, and the Adams Electric Cooperative, Inc.
The Gettysburg Community Concert Association awarded family memberships and a certificate of merit to five talented young musicians during the opening concert of the 74th GCCA Concert Season featuring Silver and Strings Quartet.