| Dear Students and Parents of the Conservatory, As I think most of you are aware, our current situation requires adaptability and flexibility at any moment. However, we at the Missouri Symphony Conservatory are committed to turning lemons into lemonade and approaching the semester as an opportunity to provide students with learning experiences outside and beyond their normal musical routines. Therefore, we have decided to focus this semester on chamber music! All students in the Conservatory will be engaged in a small ensemble (anywhere from 3-8 players), and they will work weekly with professional coaches to aide them in learning how to play in a smaller group, most likely without a conductor. As a musician myself, I can tell you that this is a wonderful opportunity for students to grow as people and musicians. Playing chamber music requires teamwork, discipline, and accountability from each member of the ensemble, as you are often the only one playing your part. Therefore communication, attendance, and individual practice will be essential to success this semester. Select students will also play in our signature group, the Chamber Players, under Maestro Trevor, which due to restrictions will have a maximum of twenty students this semester. Because of this change, we request that you register your student as soon as possible. We need to be able to put students into groups based on ability and instrumentation, so we need to know what those groups will be before the first rehearsal. YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO REGISTER AFTER THE FIRST REHEARSAL. Registration can be found here. Auditions In order for Maestro Trevor to be able to group students together of similar abilities, we still require auditions from new students and strongly urge students who feel that they have significantly improved to do so as well. We are currently scheduling auditions via Zoom for August 29th and September 12th. Students need to prepare one short piece or etude plus at least two scales, slurred and staccato. To sign-up for an audition, please send a completed audition request form (available here) to education@themosy.org. Scholarships Scholarships are available for students who would like to participate in the Conservatory but need financial assistance. They typically only cover partial tuition. New this year: Students will be required to apply for a scholarship at the beginning of each semester, even if they already received a scholarship the prior semester. Scholarship applications are available here and are due on September 20, 2020. Rehearsals Because of Covid-19, we are still working to secure a rehearsal space for the semester. We hope to continue our original plan of using the Sinquefield Music Center at Mizzou, and we will let you know if and when things change. Due to Covid-19 policies, parents will not be allowed at rehearsals. |
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| One of the more exciting initiatives planned by Maestro Trevor and myself is an online platform for supplemental music education and literacy. The MOSY@Home program will consist of ten weeks of holistic music instruction, including music theory, history, aural skills, and musician development, which will include webinars about auditions and college admissions, ways to improve practice sessions, how to create and maintain a professional Instagram account, and how to successfully record yourself for online lessons and performances. We are working hard to create a fun and educational experience for students of all ages. As some of you may know, I have taught many courses on these topics at the college-level, and I look forward to working with Maestro Trevor, Brianna and Dustin Frieda, and other local music teachers and musicians to create content for a variety of different ages and experience levels. All students participating in the Conservatory will be required to also participate in MOSY@Home. However, for those of you deciding to be 100% virtual this semester, we are offering access to this content for $100 for the semester. There will be more information on this coming soon. |
| Q&A Session Due to the large number of changes being made, we will be holding a Q&A session for parents and students on Zoom on August 30 from 3-5 PM (Link to be sent out closer to the date). We hope to be able to clear-up any confusion and address any concerns you might have. Thank you all so much for your continued flexibility, optimism, and support. We hope that these changes will bring joy, learning, and the good kind of challenge to you or your students! |
| Take care, Ashley Pribyl, PhD she/her/hers Director of Education & Outreach Web: The Missouri Symphony Email: education@themosy.org Cell: 505-225-5516 |
