Composers and Schools in Concert (CSIC) supports youth music education by connecting professional composers with high school music ensembles throughout the United States. CSIC provides high school students with an educational opportunity in the professional field of music composition through composer commissions, composer workshops and a contemporary score library for young performers.

1. CSIC commissions professional composers throughout
the country and introduces high school students to the
creation and performance of new works. Our
commission and workshop programs encourage
creativity and introduce students to careers in the
music-creating industry.
www.composersandschools.com Twitter @csicproject

2. In 2014, the national music education standards changed for
the first time since 1999. They included “creating” as part of the
standards that music educators are encouraged to teach.
These new standards were created by teachers and arts
education experts.

3. What Was Music Education Like
When You Were a Kid?
Did you play an instrument?
– Was the experience creative?
– Did it include improvisation or songwriting?
– Did you ever meet a living composer or discuss them?
– Did anyone mention that composition could be a
career?

4. Traditional youth music education is primarily focused on
getting students to learn the language of music but it rarely
addresses the question of how to encourage creativity.
Nor does it introduce students to career opportunities in
the music-creating industry.
The Problem

5. Youth Music Education
Often Looks Like This

6. www.composersandschools.com @csicproject
Our solution is simple: Provide Hands-on creative work with
living composers.
Our Solution

7. Our Two Programs for
Schools and Students
We are helping students to participate in the “creating”
aspect of music education by providing two programs that
offer teachers and students hands-on creative work with
living composers.
A) Our composer commission program for youth
ensembles where we include students in the process of
the creation of the piece
B) Composition workshops for students. Our professional
composers coach students in the discipline of
contemporary music composition and encourage
students to create.

8. Why Do Teachers and Students
Love Our Programs?
“The process of meeting a
composer, interacting and giving
input for the commission was
invaluable to the education of my
students.” — Armand Hall,
Associate Director of Bands,
May 2015
Music Directors have shared with us that:
• “CSIC’s programs provide a broader picture of what career opportunities
possible beyond teaching and performing.”
• “I had several students approach me after the project to ask about
studying composition in college.”
• “The energy and the special atmosphere that this collaboration created
cannot be replicated by just the teacher. The kids are getting a huge
impact through this connection with the composer, like a jolt of coffee, it
brings them up and then they are that much more enlightened.”

9. In Addition to Serving Teachers and Students, We
Also Serve Composers. Who are They?
Victoria Bond,
award-winning
composer and
conductor
Gabriela Lena Frank,
Grammy award-
winning composer
Steve Kirk, Composer,
Guitarist: the man
behind the Farmville
theme song
Alex Shapiro,
Composer, Board
Member ASCAP
Lou Marini,
Composer and
Performer :
Doc
Severinson,
SNL Band,
Blues
Brothers,
Frank Zappa
• Composers for Jazz Ensemble
• Songwriters
• Composers for Film and TV and
Games
• Composers for Wind Band,
Chorus or Chamber Ensemble
• Every genre of the music-
creating industry is represented

10. What Do Composers Need?
They overwhelmingly told us they need the following:
• Access to commissions
• Tools to develop workshop lesson plans for high
school students to share their craft
• Assistance in reaching educators

11. So We Created This
• A commissioning program that includes students in the
creation process. We’re facilitating a marketplace for
professional composers that follows national music
education standards.
• A workshop development program that helps composers
share their craft and expertise with students in a way
that works in a school setting e.g. lesson plans, learning
outcomes, talking points, print materials, national
standards.
• Teacher professional development program taught by
composers. We help composers share their craft with
teachers who can in turn teach their students.

12. Sales Model
Our sales model is primarily business to business. We sell
our programs to schools, and school districts and we sell
our services to composers.
Across the United States there are 26,407 public secondary
schools and 10,693 private secondary schools. (Digest of
Education Statistics, 2001, Table 89)
Each one of these institutions has a budget for educational
programming.
Across the Unites States there are 77,600 composers in the
United States (Occupational Outlook Handbook, BLS.gov)

13. The Sales Process
When a teacher, school or district goes online to commission
their favorite composer or select a composer workshop to
host, they have the confidence of knowing that CSIC has
vetted this composer to be a good fit for a youth
environment. The composer negotiates their commission and
CSIC provides training services for a fee.

14. In Summary, This is Us.
Watch the Video
At
https://youtu.be/Ur
1fPjfLx3Q
www.composersandschools.com Twitter @csicproject