The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Mansfield Independent School District have forged a partnership to showcase a new district arts education program. The FWSO will travel to the Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 19 to perform two concerts for band students from across the district. The district is developing a children’s education program that will bring more performing arts groups from the North Texas area into the Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts.
“These education concerts teach students about symphonic music and are integrated with the core curriculum in unique and fun ways. We even provide study guides in advance of our concerts to help teachers prepare their students for the performance,” said Lindsey Branch, FWSO’s director of education and community programs. Sixth grade students will attend a performance called Musical Math, which explores tempo, meter, note values and time signatures and their relationships to mathematics. Students in seventh and eighth grade will hear a performance of Caminos del Inka. This program takes the listener on a journey along the Incan Trail in South America through music from ancient to contemporary times. Both concerts are part of the FWSO’s Adventures in Music education program that shares symphonic music with nearly 60,000 children each year. Last school year the Mansfield ISD Center for the Performing Arts added the Fort Worth Opera and Texas Ballet Theater to the line-up with Symphony Arlington. Betty Dillard bdillard@bizpress.net