Your students can "perform" together with the Fairfax Symphony!

In partnership with Carnegie Hall, the Fairfax Symphony is pleased to offer our innovative Link Up music learning program, “The Orchestra Swings.” 

"Swing" is many things. It's a distinctive, rhythmic feel; a musical era dominated by big band jazz; a style of dance that grew alongside the music; and that elusive but unmistakable that results when musicians are deeply tuned into each other and playing in "sync" or "in the pocket." Though swing is characteristic of jazz, an orchestra can also swing.

Through the Link Up repertoire, hands on activities, and a culminating, interactive performance with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and jazz ensemble, we will explore the elements that contribute to that magical moment when the orchestra starts to swing. Students will explore what happens when jazz and classical music come together — learning concepts of rhythm, form, improvisation, and how they contribute to the magical moment when the orchestra starts to “swing.”

The repertoire includes:

• Duke Ellington: "Duke's Place"
• George Gershwin: "I Got Rhythym"
• Duke Ellington: "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing""
• Traditional - "Where the Saints Go Marching In"
• Florence Price: "Juba" from Symphony No. 1
• Leonard Bernstein: "Riffs" from Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs
• Courtney Bryan: "Do Your Thing"
• Thomas Cabaniss: "Come to Play"

Teacher and student guides are provided, with customized Lesson Plans for teaching the curriculum. Through active listening, analyzing the music, and a focus on the historical context of jazz, students will put these core capacities to use in a new domain. Link Up is an evidenced-based music learning program developed by the Weill Institute of Carnegie Hall, with curriculum supporting national CORE and Virginia Standards of Learning. The program is ready to implement and flexible, with teachers able to incorporate as much or as little of the Link Up curriculum into their “online” classroom to support their students' learning goals.

Link Up connects the classroom to the concert hall to enhance student's skills including:

• Literacy
• Math
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Creativity
• Confidence