Music & Letters
This program features letters by famous composers, including Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Shostokovich. Carpe Diem will introduce students to the writings of these great composers, and tie portions of these letters to excerpts of the composer’s music in a way that makes the music seem more personal, and more interesting, to the students. Students of all ages can respond to the idea of using music as an expressive device, in a way that parallels the expression of ideas in writing.

Musical Mapping
This program focuses on map and symbol reading. A comparison between maps and scores shows students how symbol reading is the key to understanding a document. Then, a musical score is examined in detail, and the students not only get to see the symbols that effect how the music sounds, but in addition, the students are given opportunities to change markings in the score, and then listen as the quartet plays the changed passages again with those differences. This interactive approach lets the students become fully involved in the program.

Elements of Style
Carpe Diem has developed a new student concert program that introduces students to the distinction and differences of musical style. We speak briefly about clothes, food, language and writing, to give the students concrete examples of style that they see and experience everyday. We then turn to music, with examples from the classical, romantic, contemporary, and jazz. However, to bring musical style into focus for the student who may not be studying music, we have created our own arrangement of the TV theme song, “The Simpson”, in each of the musical styles that we will be discussing, so that the students can really follow the changes in the musical language. This will enable the students to approach listening to the concert with context, and with a much clearer understanding of the differences between Beethoven, for instance, and Shostokovitch.

The Underground Railroad
This is a program that Carpe Diem is developing to be held in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, and we intend to use this program in school educational concerts as well as traditional concerts. The program will incorporate music arranged by Carpe Diem, including spirituals and work songs, and may include a commission from a black composer like Daniel Avorgebor, Robert Tanner, Adolphus Hailstork or Cecil Bridgewater.

The program will trace geographically as well as culturally the role that music played in history of African Americans, with a particular focus on the time of slavery and emancipation. The overall theme of freedom from oppression will also be examined, and a few composers from the European tradition who wrote on this topic may be briefly discussed as well.

Comments
The Carpe Diem String Quartet performed last Friday at Cassingham to rave reviews. They played the theme to “The Simpsons” as Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven would have played it. The students loved it and learned something, too. Thank you for playing for this wonderful program. — Deborah Forsblom, Bexley Music Parents, Bexley City Schools, OH

Thank you for sharing your joy of music with our children last week! The quartet was wonderful and the children were quite engaged throughout the performance. It is refreshing to experience child-centered programs. I hope the quartet returns next year! — Eric Acton, Cassingham Elementary School, OH

Both your performance for the class and your work with the students on the Mozart were very professional and perfectly geared to middle school students. Each member of the quartet was an energetic and inspiring role model for our young musicians.
— Kathryn Lakiotis, Gregory Middle School, IL

The students thoroughly enjoyed your visit with them and were engaged throughout the program. It was a pleasure for us to present a quartet such as yours, with its strong musicianship and eagerness to connect with young children. — Christie Miller, Northeastern Illinois University, re: program for Trumbull Elementary School, IL