SEATTLE SYMPHONY’S LINK UP PROGRAM INVITES STUDENTS TO SING AND PLAY ALONG ON MAY 21 WITH INTERACTIVE ONLINE BROADCAST

Seattle, WA – Every spring since 2012, Seattle Symphony’s Link Up education program, a partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, sees over 10,000 students from more than 100 Puget Sound schools arrive at Benaroya Hall to play along with the orchestra. The hands-on Link Up curriculum culminates in a concert where students are invited to sing and play along with the orchestra, performing selections students have practiced throughout the school year. This year, the Seattle Symphony is taking Link Up online to bring students in the Puget Sound region and across the country musical exploration and engagement with an interactive broadcast on Thursday, May 21, 2020, at 11 a.m. PDT. While Benaroya Hall cannot host the annual event this year due to COVID-19 closures and gathering restrictions, the Seattle Symphony invites students, teachers and families to make music alongside Symphony musicians by singing or playing along to this special broadcast.

Now in its 8th year, Seattle Symphony’s Link Up program has enriched music education at schools throughout the Puget Sound region by augmenting existing programs or filling gaps at schools without music funding. Carnegie Hall’s Link Up, provides a highly participatory music curriculum for 3rd to 5th-graders and has 119 partner orchestras around the world. Students learn about orchestral repertoire over the course of the program, focusing on concepts such as rhythm, melody, tempo, orchestration and composition. The Symphony provides all participating schools with curriculum materials developed by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Link Up brings active music-making to the classroom and gives students the opportunity to engage their creativity through music; participants learn to perform repertoire on recorder or voice and even explore writing their own composition inspired by the orchestral music they have studied. The culminating performance at Benaroya Hall provides students the chance to apply the musical concepts they learned throughout the year and is the first concert experience for many.

This year’s Link Up concert, Link Up: The Orchestra Swings, was originally set for May 6­–8 with six performances scheduled; all performances were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite not being able to provide the usual interactive experience for students in-person, the Seattle Symphony remains committed to making musical enrichment accessible for children, many of whom cultivated their newly acquired skills throughout the school year, especially while schools remain closed.

“I am hopeful that the current environment has helped illuminate the importance of arts education,” says Amy Heald, Seattle Symphony Interim Director of Education & Community Engagement. “Music and the skills I developed as a student through school music programs aid me in navigating each day during this period. If we think of school as preparing our children for their adult life, we must provide them the opportunities for creativity. During this uncertain time, the musicians of the Seattle Symphony have poured their hearts into continuing to create and connect with our community, and I am incredibly grateful to be working alongside them.”

John Turman, Seattle Symphony Horn and education programs host, shares, “Many of us in the orchestra would not be here were it not for school programs like Link Up. I want to pay it forward and help create access to music in a way I never had. It's such a tough time to be a kid — not getting to go to school, not getting to see their friends. To viewers out there young and old, we see you. We are a part of the same community, and this is for you.”

Link Up: The Orchestra Swings Online features an interactive exploration of swing and jazz in next week’s broadcast with orchestra members. Hosted by Seattle Symphony Horn John Turman, viewers will be invited to play or sing along with the musicians in standards such as C Jam Blues. Turman and fellow musicians will guide those tuning in through key music concepts, a review of recorder notes, the different lines of each piece, and performing together with the musicians onscreen. Link Up: The Orchestra Swings Online will air on Thursday, May 21 at 11 a.m. PDT. Audiences can join in on YouTube or Facebook. Link Up is a national program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.

MEET THE INSTRUMENT: BASS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, AT 11 A.M. PDT

LINK UP: THE ORCHESTRA SWINGS ONLINE
THURSDAY, MAY 21, AT 11 A.M. PDT

TINY CLIPS FOR TINY TOTS: THE BASSES
FRIDAY, MAY 22, AT 11 A.M. PDT

MEET THE INSTRUMENT: BASSOON
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, AT 11 A.M. PDT

TINY CLIPS FOR TINY TOTS: THE BASSOONS
FRIDAY, MAY 29, AT 11 A.M. PDT

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