DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 25, 2020) — The Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) has been awarded a $6,485 Capacity Grant from the Quad Cities Community Foundation (QCCF) for Teaching Musician training and development. This training will help the QCSO make a more-meaningful impact on the students involved in the QCSO’s educational programs, specifically the School and Community Engagements and the Instrumental Music Programs. This training will support the QCSO’s new strategic vision supported by three essential goals: Open community-access to the QCSO; engaging with the entire community; and leading through artistic and educational partnerships.
The QCSO’s Instrumental Music Programs include the Cello Program at the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley. This partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs provides twice-weekly cello lessons to second through fourth-grade students at its Moline and Davenport clubs. The QCCF Capacity Grant funds will support Suzuki training for the Lesson Program Instructor and QCSO cellist Elisabeth Oar from Suzuki Teacher Trainer Laura Shaw, who is the QCSO Associate Cellist and a faculty member at the Preucil School (Iowa City, Iowa), a music academy who’s instruction focuses on the Suzuki method.
“I am beyond thankful for the opportunities this grant will facilitate,” said Elisabeth Oar. “Among other things, the Suzuki method enables children to learn music at first by ear, play in group settings with their peers, and to retain and remember several pieces at a time all while in a positive learning environment. These are some of the elements I have implemented into the Boys and Girls Club cello program and I am looking forward to integrating more Suzuki ideas into the program with the assistance of method training.”
QCCF Capacity Grant funds will also support training for the QCSO engagement instructors who provide introductory and intermediate-music experiences at Quad City area schools and throughout the community. Dr David Wallace, professor at the Berklee College of Music and author of Engaging the Concert Audience: A Musician’s Guide to Interactive Performance, will train QCSO’s teaching artists over a two-day seminar held in the Quad Cities, set tentatively for late spring 2021.
“I could not have been more pleased to receive the news that the QCSO is going to be a beneficiary of the Community Foundations Capacity Grant,” said QCSO Education and Community Engagement Director Marc Zyla. “A seminar with David Wallace and Suzuki training under the direction of Laura Shaw will go a long way to strengthen the QCSO’s position as a music education leader in our community.”
About the Quad City Symphony Orchestra
Founded in 1915, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) is among the 20 longest-established, continuously-operating orchestral associations in the United States. The QCSO presents a full season each year supplemented by pops and special events. The orchestra has demonstrated steady artistic-growth measured by the depth of the repertoire performed. Iowa and Illinois subscribers to QCSO performances are residents of more than 70 cities and towns. The orchestra consists of an average of 80 players. The QCSO provides programs and community service to a market of more than 450,000 residents of eastern Iowa and western Illinois, staging performances in both Iowa and Illinois.In 1958, the QCSO founded the Quad City Youth Symphony Orchestra and since has added four additional training ensembles: the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Youth String Ensemble, Prelude Strings, and Youth Choir. Music education outreach programming includes dozens of education programs delivered to over 10,000 area students annually and more than 250,000 over the years to students in Iowa and Illinois. The League of American Orchestras has recognized the QCSO Volunteers for Symphony for its role in implementing these innovative educational programs uplifting youth through music and the arts.The QCSO receives contributions from more than 1000 families, businesses, and foundations.
