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Educational Programs

Our Educational Programs

Our educational programs serve over 8,000 children a year, and we are recognized nationally for our innovative approach and high impact. We all know of the documented benefits of children learning music, and we firmly believe that by introducing classical music to a new generation of students through our programs, we are helping them to make critical connections between music and their everyday lives, making their NBSO experience enriching on multiple levels.

With innovative and exciting musical programs like Learning in Concert, Symphony Tales, Pathway to Performance, Music and Literacy, Parenting Teens, and the Southeastern Massachusetts Youth Orchestras, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra continues to provide authentic and engaging musical experiences for the children in our local schools. We believe educating young people is a central part of our mission.

Education Director

Education Director Terry Wolkowicz’s innovative and creative approach to designing music education curriculum has made the NBSO a leader in educational programming. Now in her ninth season with the NBSO, she continues to create innovative programming that connects classical music to our South Coast children’s lives and to encourage learning by exploring concepts that are authentically shared between classical… 

Educational Programs

Learning in concert

This program is designed as a unified, comprehensive, three-phase curriculum project spanning an entire school year. LIC uses a concept-based arts integration model where a musical concept is explored alongside other art and academic areas that authentically… 

SEMAYO

The Southeastern Massachusetts Youth Orchestras (SEMAYO) program was established in 2008 under the auspices of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra for students from beginners to advanced college players.

symphony tales

The Symphony Tales program is a music and literacy educational program geared to children ages four through seven. In the Symphony Tales program, children attend a reading of a popular children’s book while being accompanied by a live musical performance by a New Bedford Symphony Orchestra musician.

PATHWAY TO PERFORMANCE

The NBSO has introduced Pathway to Performance, a free private lesson program in partnership with New Bedford schools, erasing another barrier preventing all our young people from having equitable access to instrumental performance instruction. Educating and enriching the lives of children is a central part of our mission. By offering a Pathway to Performance to children who love music and want it to be a big part of their life, we are expanding and deepening this commitment to our community.

PARENTING TEENS PROGRAM

The NBSO has partnered with the New Bedford Parenting Teens program to offer a weekly music course to teen parents. In the course, students explore the benefits of a creating a bedtime routine for their child and throughout the semester composed their own lullaby.

Lullaby

by the Students in the New Bedford Parenting Teens Program

Pre-K Music and Literacy

The Pre-K Music and Literacy program is designed to explore the connection between the rhythmic features of words and the rhythmic sounds in music. The NBSO is partnering with New Bedford elementary Schools through classroom visits where the children explore the syllable number and stress patterns through rhythmic drumming and speaking. The program is based on the NBSO’s new children’s storybook and new musical composition entitled, “A Concert at the Zoo.”

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