Carnegie Hall’s Link Up is FSO’s live, interactive program for 3 – 5 graders across Northern Arizona. This year’s annual culminating concert is on February 28th.
Link Up pairs orchestras like the Flagstaff Symphony with music classrooms to explore orchestral music through a hands-on curriculum. Students participating in Link Up attend a culminating concert where they sing, dance and play recorder or violin with the orchestra from their seats. Students also compose and perform their own pieces inspired by the music.
In the Classroom
Participating school educators experience Carnegie-developed lessons that allow teachers the flexibility to adapt the curriculum according to their classrooms’ needs and goals. Link Up supports state standards and introduces instrumental music instruction with recorders.
The Link Up Concert
In the 2022 -2023 school year, Link Up enters its ninth year, engaging the youth of our community in orchestral music. We will present “The Orchestra Rocks” in 2 concerts to over 2200 children on February 28, 2023. Students in grade 3 will experience the concert in a professional video. Highlights of this year’s program include music by Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Orff’s “O Fortuna”, Rite of Spring, and contemporary composer Jessica Meyer’s, “Go Big or Go Home”, and as a finale, “Johnny B Goode”. Special musical guests are the Flagstaff High School Chorus and Drumline. The annual concert is a time where the orchestra and the children are united in a collaborative concert that includes song, dance , and performance
Student Impact
Before Link Up, fewer than 5% of local children had heard a live symphony orchestra in concert. The in-classroom curriculum allows students to benefit from the cognitive and developmental benefits of arts education, and the concert offers a time of expression, fun, community, and learning. FSO provides Link Up at no cost to participating schools.
“I was excited to play my recorder on stage this year with the orchestra. I liked the way all the instruments came together to make really nice music,” says Madisyn.
“My favorite parts were playing ‘The Blue Danube’ and dancing together to ‘Cidade’ at the end. I want to come back next year.”
A parent writes, “From the mouth of my son, ‘My eyes teared up.’ He was emotionally moved by the music. It’s incredible. Thank you from a mom who believes in its power and so does her kid. Bravo!”
A teacher, Diane Dawson Immethun, tells us, “The children I took from Cromer were amazed. They were excited to rattle off favorite moments and eager to journal about the experience.”
