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Play On, Philly!
Building a Sustainable and Prosperous Philadelphia
As we finish our second season, we look back at the hard work of our teachers, dedication of our staff, and faith of our supporters. With the opening of our second site at Freire Charter Middle School this year, POP grew from a pilot program of 110 students at St. Francis de Sales School into an organization serving over 250 children. We take pride in the accomplishments of the past two years as we strive to increase our impact with every student and family that we serve.
With the introduction of the POP Creates program next season, our curriculum will expand to include composition, jazz, and additional general music classes aimed at improving problem solving skills. Our peer-to-peer mentorship program (POP Ambassadors) will increase from 7 to 20 high school students who return to our current sites on a weekly basis to mentor our younger students. Through our partnerships with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute of Music and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society we will host more guest artists and offer enriching performance opportunities. Most importantly, our independent evaluation partner, WolfBrown, will produce its first report on the impact of our initiatives, allowing us to further fine-tune the POP experience and offer our students the tools to discover their capacity for progressive growth, personal achievement and value to the community.
We need your continued support to create new opportunities for the children and families who gain so much from POP. With vital supplies that cost as little as $2, no gift is too small. Click here to learn more about the ways you can help. We're proud of our success and wish to share it with you. Please attend a future concert or schedule a visit to a POP site!
Let's Play On!
Stanford Thompson, CEO
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Guest Artists Enhance Summer Session: Students from The Jubilee School and West Catholic High School joined those from St. Francis de Sales School and Freire Charter Middle School in full-day music activities. We had visits from talented guest artists such as Joseph Conyers, Assistant Principal bassist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, who treated the string students to a stimulating and thought-provoking master class. Troy Peters, Conductor of The Youth Orchestra of San Antonio (YOSA) and Director of Orchestral Studies at Texas State University, stopped by to conduct an orchestra rehearsal. Lori Lahnemann, Founder and Director of The Philadelphia Dance Academy, spent a morning introducing our younger students to ballet. We were privileged to have Syrian-born cellist, Kinan Abou-afach perform captivating Arabic music alongside our percussion Teaching Artist, Gabe Globus-Hoenich. Kinan also taught an improvisation master class. The visit from violinist Adrian Anantawan, who was born without a right hand, inspired us all! His magnificent playing was an invaluable lesson in overcoming adversity.
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Summer Interns: We were lucky to have had exceptionally talented interns bring their creative energy to POP this summer. From helping with teaching, site coordination, administration and social media, these devoted individuals have enriched POP and endeared themselves to our students and staff (L-R): Miku Shiota-Rosenbaum, Alex Barnett, Sean Emery, Meghan Brust, Seth Hanes, Sam Schreiber, Annalisa Boerner, Carlos Javier (Ashley Vines not shown).
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POP presents Beethoven Alive! at Please Touch Museum: To ring in the summer season of Target® First Wednesdays at Please Touch Museum on June 5, 2013, POP was invited to present Beethoven Alive! with students from St. Francis de Sales School, Freire Charter Middle School, and West Catholic High School. The evening began with 5 interactive activities conducted throughout the Museum by POP Teaching Artists and culminated with a concert showcasing Beethoven's works, including Symphony No. 5, First Movement and Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9. The final piece was a spectacular group performance of the theme from the movie Rocky, featuring all of the students (over 200). The event was so impressive that Please Touch Museum has already invited POP back. Mark your calendars for June 4, 2014!
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World Music Focus: Dancing, singing and improvising to music from around the world was the theme this summer in Naomi Gonzalez's creative class. Naomi introduced our students to Middle Eastern, Indian, Latino and Spanish music. Naomi hails from Puerto Rico (and played in the Puerto Rico Symphony) so she was thrilled to share her native music. Students danced to Jamaican Calypso, Mento and Reggae and the Arabian Debbke, played the casaba and guiro and feasted on specialties from Togo and Tobago prepared by a student's mother. The String and Full Orchestras will perform pieces from Puerto Rico and Cuba at the Summer Large Ensemble Concert on July 25.
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