Our Pulse Program guides Boston Music Project’s fifth-grade musicians in becoming youth leaders and music mentors to younger musicians in our program, a key facet of the El Sistema model. The program, led by BMP teaching artist Melany Piech, has evolved over the course of several years, and has been adapted for fall 2020 to respond to the needs and opportunities arising from virtual learning. This semester, participants will develop online musical games for our 1st- and 2nd-year musicians; connect with city, business, and arts leaders on topics ranging from civic engagement to career pathways connected to music; and co-plan our December BMP showcase. Over the course of the entire year, students will develop their skills as musical mentors, participate on an advisory council, improve their public speaking, and engage in activities designed to increase their self-confidence as a youth leader in the BMP.
To kick off this year's program, on November 9th, the Boston Music Project welcomes author and educator Eric Booth to speak to our youth musicians in the Pulse Program about Teaching Artistry and his pathway in education and the arts.
This session is free and open to the public. Click here to register for our Pulse session, taking place on Monday, November 9th from 8am to 9am.
In 2015 Eric Booth was given the nation’s highest award in arts education, and was named one of the 25 most influential people in the arts in the U.S. He began as a Broadway actor, and became a businessman (his company became the largest of its kind in the U.S. in 7 years), and author of seven books, the most recent being Playing for Their Lives and Tending the Perennials. He has been on the faculty of Juilliard (12 years), Tanglewood (5 years), The Kennedy Center (20 years), and Lincoln Center Education (for 40 years). He serves as a consultant for many arts organizations (including seven of the ten largest U.S. orchestras), cities, states and businesses around the U.S. He is a frequent consultant to El Sistema-inspired programs around the world, and the founding publisher of The Ensemble and The World Ensemble, the newsletters that are the main communications vehicle for the El Sistema movement around the world. A frequent keynote speaker, he founded the International Teaching Artist Conference, and ITAC Collaborative, the world's first network of artists who work in communities and schools. For more information about Mr. Booth and his work, check out his website here.
Dubbed the “father of the teaching artist profession,” Mr. Booth explores what it means to be a Teaching Artist in today’s world. He lays out his ideas on the subject in this short video sponsored by Carnegie Hall.
In 2012, Mr. Booth gave the commencement address for the New England Conservatory’s graduating class. In this address, he contrasted four ways of preparing a speech about a poem, each engaging the audience differently. He equated the poem he read with a piece of music performed in a recital.
Watch this excerpt from the NEC Commencement Speech below: