"I learned to express my emotion. Not just through words, but through music playing."

- Sasha Roman, 8th Grader

The lCOA’s Artists of Tomorrow educational program provides youth ages 11-18 with professional musical training. It aims to enhance musicianship and build youth development skills, including effective collaboration, social awareness, and interpersonal communication. The program’s weekly instrumental classes are capped at a maximum of 15 students to allow for more individualized attention; our average teacher-student ratio is 1:5.  Every student in the program receives financial aid.

ICOA Artists of tomorrow Summer Program 2018

Benefits

• Instruction focused on individual development

• Improving musician ship and collaborative skills

• Enhancing skills in instrumental technique 

• Establishing relationships with prestigious faculty and musicians 

• Preparation for conservatory

Program Details

Age

11-17 years old

Sessions

15 two-hour rehearsals 

4 workshops

2 Concerts at Columbia University

Location

Teachers College, Columbia University

525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10025

Application Deadline

Sep 30, 2017

Start/End

Oct 1, 2017 Audition Day

 Oct 15, 2017 - Dec 10, 2016 (Fall 2017)

Jan 28, 2018 - May 6, 2018 (Spring 2018)

Day  

Sundays 2-4pm

Tuition

Fall $660 / Spring $990 | Full year $1500 ($150 discount)

$20 application fee

*Enrollment is limited to a total of 40 Students. Instrumental sectionals will have a maximum of 10 students to allow for more individual attention (average teacher-student ratio 1:8).

Audition/Pre-screening Submission

Option 1. Provide a video that shows your recent playing ability. 

Option 2. Sign up for a live audition, to be held in Teachers College, Columbia University on Sunday, Oct 1st, 2017

Highlights from Past Seasons

• Performance at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center 
• Performance at Columbia University, Milbank Chapel

Curriculum Introduction

Rehearsal

Approach: Rehearsal based on democratic environment and constructivist learning theory. We prompt students to formulate their own questions and allow multiple interpretations and expressions of learning.

Conductor: Lochlan Brown

Faculty: Karen Cueva, Lindsey Castellano

Time (with sectional rehearsal): 2pm - 2:40pm, (break 2:40 - 2:55pm, sectional rehearsal 3:00 - 3:30pm), 3:30 - 4:00pm.

Sectional Rehearsal  

Approach: We encourage group work and the use of peers as resources (collaborative learning) in sectional rehearsal in order to enhance critical thinking and peer learnings. Our faculty will also share insights to the young artists of how to practice efficiently, how to tackle down certain difficult passages, and provide guidelines and suggestions on techniques during the sectional rehearsal.

Faculty: Karen Cueva, Lindsey Castellano

Time: 3:00 – 3:30pm

OPEN REHEARSAL

Approach: Friends and family are invited to attend our rehearsal and get to know more about our constructive and democratic rehearsal approach. There will be a workshop for friends and family during the last 30 minutes of the open rehearsal presenting our missions, philosophies, and progress of the program.

Date: TBD

Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00pm

Master Classes

Approach: Young artists who are participated in the master class will perform in a friendly and supportive environment. The renowned professional guest artists or ICOA faculty will give constructive and positive feedback for the young artists, including but not limited to practicing approach, musicality, interpretations, techniques, etc. All the young artists will benefit from attending the master classes.

Date:    

Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Faculty: Professional guest artists and ICOA faculty member

Workshops  

1. Improvisation for Ensemble Orchestra

Introduction:

In the past hundred years or so, improvisation has become a forgotten art in Western Classical music, it has been taken over by Jazz and other musical genres. In the spirit of the likes of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Corelli, a sizeable number of 'Classical' musicians are rediscovering improvisation through currently available improvisatory genres, giving it a little twist of flavor. One such example is the art of 'conduction', a borrowed term to abbreviate 'conducted improvisation'. It allows non-improvisers a safe space to start improvising by spontaneously giving hand gestures and signals as instructions, and in the meantime allowing them the freedom of expressing their musicality and creativity while playing. The end results are often waves of exotic and colorful sounds, carrying lines and lines of gorgeous melodies and harmonies created at the moment, taking the listeners to a realm they have never been before --- and perhaps never again.

Date: TBD

Time: 4:00 - 5:30 pm

Guest Presenter: Fung Chern Hwei, violinist, violists, composer and arranger, member in Sirius Quartet.

Guest Presenter' Bio

Violinist, violist, composer and arranger Fung Chern Hwei came to the vibrant New York music scene with a head full of music he heard since he was a child growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Through the years, he has been expanding his musical horizon by playing musical genres alien to his chosen instrument, such as hip-hop, rock, Jazz, Middle-Eastern fusion, and etc. After joining the progressive chamber music group, Sirius Quartet, he has been traveling Europe and Asia, performing and teaching improvisation workshops in reputable conservatories such as the Munich Conservatory, Luebeck Conservatory, Stuttgart Conservatory, Hannover Conservatory and Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Having worked with students from various age groups and skill level, he learned that the most importance of having fun while playing music, so that each individual could achieve full potential to express oneself freely. 

Check out Chern Hwei’s website: http://www.siriusquartet.com/bio/fung-chern-hwei/

2. Dalcroze Method for Strings

Introduction: Great musical ensembles, whether large or small, often seem to have an almost telepathic connection with one another. In this Dalcroze Eurhythmics workshop, participants will use purposeful, creative movement as well as improvisation to explore and discover ways of strengthening those connections through dynamic interaction with time, space, energy and their fellow musicians. Please wear loose, comfortable clothing."

Date: TBD

Time: 4:00 - 5:30 pm

Guest Presenter: Michael Joviala

Guest Presenter' Bio

Michael Joviala is a pianist, clarinetist, composer and teacher in New York City. Training: M.A. in Music and Music Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, NY. B.A. in Jazz Performance, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Faculty: Columbia University, Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Music Center, The Diller-Quaile School, American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Dalcroze Certificate: Julliard School of Music. Dalcroze License: Longy School of Music in Boston. Managing Editor, American Dalcroze Journal and Dalcroze Connections. He currently leads the group Primitivo, a trio specializing in the music of early modern composers played in the spirit of bal-musette dancehall music of turn of the century Paris. Michael is a second-year DMA student at Stony Brook University in New York.

3. College Preparation 

Workshop details: This workshop aims toward college preparation, including both music-related degree and music performance degree. We will present you with several options and choices, including requirements of each school, what to expect and what to prepare. We will also discuss in terms of what to prepare for prescreening and auditions. There will be a Q&A answer session in the end.  

Date: TBD

Guest Present(s): Drew Coles, Daniel Feng, Robert Kahn, Katy Ho

4. Constructivism and Effective Practice

Workshop details: Constructivism is the center belief of ICOA’s educational program. We encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist learning environment ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. Students learn how to learn through constructivism. It is a student-centered teaching method. From that, we will lead to the topics of effective practicing. We will introduce ways to practice efficiency while maximizing the performance through self-regulation.  

Date: TBD

Guest Presenter(s): Katy Ho & Lindsey Castellano

Tuition Payment Plan

ICOA Artists of Tomorrow provides tuition payment plan as follow, all checks should be submitted to one of the faculty during the rehearsal. In order to avoid confusion, there are two installments only every semester.

Application & Payment: