Young Persons Concert
Bringing Young People Into the Orchestra
For many students, hearing a live symphony orchestra for the first time can be unforgettable. The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s Young Persons Concert goes one step further by inviting students to become part of the music.
Through an interactive learning experience that begins in the classroom and culminates in a live performance with the HHSO, young musicians discover how an orchestra works, explore great music and composers, and experience the excitement of making music together.
More Than a Field Trip
The Young Persons Concert is the culmination of months of musical discovery.
Participating elementary students prepare in their classrooms with their music teachers, learning about the orchestra, composers and musical concepts while practicing selected songs and instrumental parts. When concert day arrives, they are ready to do much more than listen.
Students sing, play and participate from their seats as professional HHSO musicians perform around them, transforming the traditional concert experience into something energetic, collaborative and memorable.
Learning Through Carnegie Hall’s Link Up Program
The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra participates in Carnegie Hall’s Link Up program, an interactive music education initiative designed to connect elementary students with professional orchestras.
Through Link Up, students explore music throughout the school year using curriculum and classroom activities that prepare them for the Young Persons Concert. By the time they hear the orchestra live, they already know the music and are ready to become part of the performance.
It is a powerful progression: learn it, practice it, hear it and perform it.
Music Comes Alive
A symphony orchestra can seem enormous to a young listener. The Young Persons Concert helps students understand what they are seeing and hearing.
Through live performance and interaction, students can:
- Discover the families of instruments that make up an orchestra
- Learn how musicians work together under the direction of a conductor
- Explore rhythm, melody, movement and other musical ideas
- Sing and perform music they have studied in the classroom
- Meet and learn from professional musicians
- Experience the sound and energy of a live orchestra
The result is a concert hall filled not simply with an audience, but with hundreds of young musicians actively participating in the performance.
