Dear Families, 

As we enter the season of Learning Through Music Exhibitions, holiday serenades, and the Winter Concert, each of our performers has adopted the intensity of one about to unveil months of work to the joy and critique of an expectant audience.  Performance provides focus for our work and brings us together as a community.  It is one of the five foundational processes of our Learning Through Music curriculum.

The anticipation of a performance encourages us to see ourselves in the mirror of our audience.  We must examine ourselves from the perspective of those who will see our product for the first time without full knowledge of our process.  A performance needs no explanation; it speaks for itself.

Yet as we examine ourselves in this mirror, we also see that we are not alone on stage.  We stand surrounded by an orchestra of friends, family, teachers, and students who share the credit, the anticipation, and the thrill that comes with sharing ourselves out loud with the world.  We are inspired by one another, we are validated by our audience, and in that moment of performance we are truly alive.

This is what we offer our children when we put an instrument in their hands and invite them to join an orchestra.  Whether or not we are performing musicians, our lives are full of moments when we must share who we are and what we have done without knowing ahead of time how we will be received.  In our ensembles, we learn to treasure these moments as opportunities to rejoice with our community in all we have accomplished.

Warmly,

Diana Lam

Head of School