Artful Learning Celebrates Success © De Rrin B a Tt L E S / P Olara St Udio
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News for Friends of Leonard Bernstein Spring/Summer 2013 Artful Learning Celebrates Success © DE RRIN B A TT L E S / P OLARA ST UDIO Student artists stand proudly with Alexander and Jamie Bernstein in front their glass and light installation during the Jackson Middle School 15 Year Celebration. The project took five months to design and fuse the glass components. Each segment is a metaphoric representation of the Artful Learning model. n May 14 and 15, 2013, The celebration featured a retro- Artful Learning approach. The Jamie and Alexander spective slide presentation, as well entire faculty and staff was trained Bernstein joined The as current and former Jackson extensively for three consecutive OJackson Middle School Middle School students sharing years. This inspirational method of in Portland, Oregon for a two- how Artful Learning transformed teaching and learning continues to day event to honor and celebrate their lives. The students show- thrive at the school, enthusiastically 15 years of implementation of the cased an ambitious glass and light supported by the Jackson PTA and visionary Artful Learning program. installation which they designed community. Jackson Middle School The dedication ceremony was and created with mentoring from has been transformed into a living attended by Jamie and Alexander, Artful Learning Master Trainer and gallery of creative learning by a whose father's educational phi- Classroom Practitioner, Ann Ott- visionary team of educators and losophy was the inspiration for the Cooper, in collaboration with local leaders who use imagination and Artful Learning model. Alexander glass artist Tracy Paquin. innovation — always in concert expressed the wish that his father In 1998, Jackson Middle School with rigorous academic standards could see how his vision had come teachers received a grant to initiate — to engage all students. to life at Jackson Middle School. a pilot program implementing the (continued on page 2) 3 West Side Story Film with 6 New York Philharmonic 8 Berlin to Celebrate 10 In the News Inside... Live Orchestra: Creating Archives Update Bernstein 13 MASS the New Orchestration 7 Leonard Bernstein 9 Leonard Bernstein 14 Some Performances and Score Scholar in Residence Young People's Classics Artful Learning Celebrates Success, continued © DE RRIN B A TT L E S / P OLARA ST UDIO mong the many noteworthy Bernstein Aactivities covered in this issue, we are paying special attention to Artful Learning. As a teacher, Leonard Bernstein was his most complete self. Everything he did — from rehearsing an orchestra to telling a good Jewish joke to explaining the link between tonality and Chomskyan linguistics — incorporated his unique process of sharing, asking questions and connecting ideas. Over the past two decades, Alexander Bernstein and his colleagues have been Patrick Bolek, Jamie Bernstein, Ann Ott-Cooper, Alexander Bernstein. patiently developing the Artful Learning school model, based on Leonard Bernstein’s The extraordinarily high student the combined communities of vision of learning as a creative expression of engagement — combined with the teachers, learners and parents one’s own inborn curiosity. fervent commitment to the Artful have become mutually curious, It is thrilling to see Artful Learning Learning model from educators, inspired, and ardently engaged. thriving in so many schools around the parents and the artistic commu- Artful Learning empowers United States. In May, Jackson Middle School nity — has yielded powerful, long- educators to redesign their in Portland, Oregon celebrated its 15th wished-for outcomes: thoughtful, curricula and daily instruction to anniversary of employing the approach. A empathetic, resourceful and intel- deliver a culture of creativity in the visit to that school reveals the fruits of the ligent young citizens with impressive school that resonates far beyond model, gloriously visible for all to see. First, academic achievement. In a review the students’ school experience. there are the astonishing works of art on of academic data collected over a The elegantly simple yet power- every wall space in the building — each of decade, Jackson Middle School met ful Artful Learning model employs which expresses a specific process of inquiry or exceeded academic standards, four elements: Experience, Inquire, in the students’ classes, from history to with consistent results in reading, Create and Reflect. Artful Learning science to math. Then there are the teachers, writing and mathematics. classrooms systematically employ bursting with enthusiasm and creativity as Artful Learning has already these four quadrants to strengthen they devise ever new connections to explore inspired over 150,000 students understanding, retention, transfer with their students. And then there are the nationwide, who have demonstrated and application. students themselves: surely the most excited, the kind of creative thinking and engaged, un-self-conscious middle schoolers responding that experts agree is the The Artful Learning® to be found in the land. The parents, too, key to success in the 21st century. Sequence: are working closely with the school to help keep this visionary approach to education EXPERIENCE gloriously alive; looking at their kids, What is they “get it.” Artful Learning? Students experience and respond Let us hope that from wherever he is now, to a large Concept using a Prelude, Fugue & Riff Prelude, Leonard Bernstein can look down and see Artful Learning is an education pro- Masterwork: anything from The the nimbus of creative engagement glowing gram and transformative learning Declaration of Independence, outward from Jackson Middle School. system that empowers educators to to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” use the Arts and the artistic process to Picasso’s “Guernica,” to the J.B. ■ to awaken and sustain a love of Periodic Table of Elements. The learning in all students. Masterwork awakens ideas, s Spring/Summer 2013 Established in 1990, this inno- emotions and new understandings vative educational model has been through visual, auditory and developing for nearly two decades, kinesthetic paths. Students leave using intensive collaborative analy- this phase curious and wanting to sis, field research and implementa- know more. tion in schools. The result is that 2 INQUIRE West Side Story Film with Students begin a substantive investigation, triggered by a Live Orchestra: Creating the Significant Question; they employ a variety of research techniques and explorations to investigate the New Orchestration and Score subject more deeply. CREATE The first page of "The Rumble" from Students design and complete an Sid Ramin and Irwin Original Creation — a tangible, Kostal’s manuscript artistic manifestation that Full Score from synthesizes and demonstrates 1961. No complete full score of the their understanding of their newly 1961 film has ever acquired knowledge. They design been located. a prototype, which leads to the final product, their Original Creation, which they can present to the rest of their community. REFLECT Students ponder their journey of discovery; their teachers ask them further thought-provoking ques- tions about what and how they learned. The students then docu- ment this process through detailed narratives, maps, metaphors or whatever they devise. Along the way, students have discovered new ideas and connections that will continue to resonate and gain meaning throughout their lives. Schools throughout the United States have adopted the Artful Learning approach, and more are on the way. Current participating schools are: Jackson Middle School (Portland, OR), Salvador by Garth Edwin Sunderland the theatrical twenty-eight piece Elementary School (Napa, CA), orchestrations as the foundation, Meadow View Elementary School est Side Story is the most expanding them to a sometimes (Castle Rock, CO), Hillcrest W sophisticated orches- enormous orchestra approach- Community School (Bloomington, tral score ever created for the ing one hundred musicians, with MN), Wright Elementary Broadway stage. Bernstein brought flourishes that could only exist School (Des Moines, IA), Howe his background as a symphonic within the limitless bounty of an Elementary School (Des Moines, conductor and composer to every MGM recording studio, at some IA), Hillside Elementary School aspect of his work; this is particu- points featuring six saxophones, (West Des Moines, IA), Danville larly apparent in his astonishing eight trumpets, and in one partic- High School - Academy of orchestrations for the show (cre- ularly thrilling passage, five xylo- Fugue & Riff Prelude, Creative Experiences (Danville, ated with Sid Ramin and Irwin phones, doubled by five pianos! IL), Fairview Elementary School Kostal), which are staggering in In adapting the film (Bloomington, IN), West Newton their unprecedented detail, com- orchestrations for live performance, Elementary School (Indianapolis, plexity and transparency. the challenge was to find a IN), Decatur Middle School balance between Bernstein’s Bernstein’s conducting obliga- (Indianapolis, IN), Decatur s tions forced him to turn over to original orchestrations and the Spring/Summer 2013 Central High School — ICE his collaborators the process of film’s elaborations upon them. Community (Indianapolis, IN) and adapting the score from stage to This was necessary for both Midway Elementary — School of screen. When Ramin and Kostal musical and practical reasons. the Arts (Sanford, FL). ■ began work on the film, they used (continued on page 4) 3 West