Thursday, March 3, 2005

World's Largest Concert Celebrates Education with Heart

As you know, March is Music in our Schools Month (MIOSM) - and Georgia Public Broadcasting is kicking it off with the LIVE broadcast of the 2005 World's Largest Concert on March 10 at 1 PM. For 21 years, the World's Largest Concert has been one of the highlights of MIOSM. Since 1985, the WLC has reached viewers worldwide with a powerful message from young musicians about the importance of music education.

The theme of the 2005 World's Largest Concert is "Music: The Heart of Education," and the concert program is filled with familiar favorites of school children across the country:
# "Cross the Wide Missouri," a traditional American folksong
# "Down by the Riverside," an African-American spiritual
# "Home on the Range," a traditional cowboy song
# "Music of My Heart," a ballad by Diane Warren
# "The Start Spangled Banner," our national anthem
# "This Land is Your Land," an old favorite by Woody Guthrie
# "Younger Generation," a special tune by Ira Gershwin and Aaron Copland

The program will be performed at the Moran Theater in Jacksonville, Florida, and will feature the Jacksonville Children's Chorus and the St. John's River City Band. To assist teachers in preparing your students to participate, the National Association for Music Education (MENC), the sponsor of the WLC, has created The World' s Largest Concert Teachers' Guide with reproducible students music and piano accompaniments, lesson plans, and activities. The guide may be downloaded from the MENC website and may be reproduced and shared with your students. If you'd like printed music and a rehearsal CD complete with orchestral arrangements, you may purchase those directly from MENC at the site above.

Spend time with your students this month exploring all of the ways that music has touched their lives and enriched their learning experiences. And don't forget to tune in the World's Largest Concert on Channel 420 on March 10!