Classical Music Workshops Warm the White House

Last Wednesday, the White House welcomed 120 middle and high school music students from all over the country to participate in four different engaging workshops.  From the Blue Room to the Map Room and the East Room to the Diplomatic Reception Room, beautiful music and instructors' guiding voices echoed through the halls of this historic home.  Aspiring students plucked their bows and strummed the strings of their guitars, while picking up tips and queues from their instructors, renowned classical musicians Awadagin Pratt on the piano, Joshua Bell on violin, Sharon Isbin with classical guitar, and Alisa Weilerstein on cello.

In her session, Ms. Weilerstein posed a question to her students. "How do we get someone excited about classical music?" she asked.  Bright young minds quickly offered up a number of ideas. "Use classical instruments to play modern pieces," said one young lady. "Play Classical music for people who've never heard it," said another. As the students listened to each other’s ideas, they also talked about the opportunities they had to discover magic through music; they discussed the importance of keeping music education in schools and communities, where all children would have an opportunity to discover these great art forms just like they did.

As the workshops concluded, everyone gathered in the historic East Room for a concert put on by their four instructors.  First Lady Michelle Obama made a special visit, and told the students that through music, "You'll learn that if you believe in yourself and put in your best effort, that there's nothing you can't achieve; and those aren't just lessons about music, these are really lessons about life."

It was a privilege to welcome so many young musicians living such talented and full lives on a beautiful fall day at the people's house.  The White House is honored to share these experiences with all students. Check out all the video:

Classical guitarist Sharon Isbin performs Isaac Albeniz's Asturias and Agustin Barrios Mangoré's Waltz Op. 8, No. 4:

Concert pianist Awadagin Pratt performs J.S. Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582:

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein performs Zoltán Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 and III. Allegro molto vivace:

Cellists Alisa Weilerstein and 8 year-old Sujari Britt perform Luigi Boccherini's Sonata for Two Cellos in C Major, 1st movement: Allegro moderato:

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein and 16 year-old percussionist Jason Yoder perform Camille Saint Saëns' The Swan:

Joshua Bell and Awadagin Pratt perform Maurice Ravel's Tzigane:

Joshua Bell and Sharon Isbin perform Niccolò Paganini's Cantabile:

Joshua Bell, Awadagin Pratt, and Alisa Weilerstein Perform Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 and the finale, Allegro assai appassionato:

Kalpen Modi and James Schuelke are with the Office of Public Engagement 

"If You Ask a Kid To Dream, He'll Dream."

(First Lady Michelle Obama congratulates an award recipient during the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities Coming Up Taller event in the State Dining Room of the White House, Nov. 4, 2009. Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Yesterday afternoon in the historic State Dining Room, First Lady Michelle Obama, honorary chair of the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities, presented 15 programs from around the world with the Coming Up Taller Award. Given to arts and humanities organizations that reach underserved youth, the award is a reminder of the meaningful role cultural activities play in the lives of our children. This year's recipients include the Shakespeare Remix program in New York, where inner-city teens adapt and perform Shakespearean texts to reflect their own lives, and the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, which provides free music instruction to at-risk children.

Speaking to a crowd of teachers, program workers, and students, the First Lady highlighted the positive impact these programs have in the lives of children around the world:

Because of you, teens in Arizona are publishing their own magazine, and children in central and south Los Angeles are learning to play instruments and performing in orchestras.  Because of the work that you do, students in New York City are mastering Shakespeare.  And in my hometown of Chicago, there are students learning traditional Mexican art forms.  There are young people in Egypt who are learning basket weaving and storytelling, calligraphy and photography. 

And you're not just connecting young people with music, dance, poetry and drama.  But because of your work, you're connecting people, these young people to mentoring, to tutoring, to social services, and college counseling. You don't just show them the power of their imagination, but you show them the power of discipline and hard work and of teamwork, as well. 

And these young people don't just become accomplished singers and painters and authors.  They also become better students, they become better leaders, and they become better citizens, enriching not just themselves but their communities, teaching younger children the skills that they've learned, beautifying neighborhoods with murals and lifting their communities with their performances.

Ultimately, each of your programs is using achievement in the arts as a bridge to achievement in life.  And you see all this every day, each and every one of you working so hard.  You see this in your students as they become more confident and more engaged and more willing to take risks and to take responsibility for their futures.  You see it when their academic performance improves, when you see improving attitudes and higher GPAs.  And you see young people who never saw themselves as college material, you see them getting those acceptance letters and you see them going on to pursue their degrees.  So we all know in this room the power of the arts to change young people's lives.  

The Greatest Joy

Ed Note: Watch an Evening of Classical Music live at 7:00 PM EST on WhiteHouse.gov/live or watch and discuss it with other classical music fans on Facebook.

The greatest joy that this job affords – and there are many – is the chance to throw open the doors and invite Americans into the White House and expose them to the talents of their fellow Americans. One of the ways that the First Lady has been doing is this is through the White House Music Series. This series was conceived as a way to celebrate the arts, demonstrate the importance of arts education and encourage young people who believe in their talent to create a future for themselves in the arts community be it as a hobby or as a profession.

We kicked off the series by celebrating the uniquely American art form of jazz. Our next event in the series was the day-long celebration of country music, followed by our Fiesta Latina, which showcased Hispanic musical heritage. Through student workshops and evening concerts, each event enlivens the White House with the sounds of music from dawn till dusk.

Music’s ability to inspire has never been more visible to me than during these events. When I see young students play with the masters of their craft, when two musicians jam together for the first time and manage to perfectly complement each other, when young and old learn from each other – that’s when true harmony happens.

So I hope you’ll join us today for the Classical Music Concert and watch our latest installment of the White House Music Series. The performance will feature the best and brightest of their fields: violinist Joshua Bell, classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, pianist Awadagin Pratt and Alisa Weilerstein on the cello. These acclaimed artists will be performing solo and together playing music by Bach, Ravel, Paganini, and Mendelssohn among others. It’s a performance not to be missed and I do hope you’ll join us at www.WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Desirée Rogers is the White House Social Secretary.

A Challenge for America

Today, President Obama addressed a group of 750 students and faculty members at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In his remarks, the President spoke about the spirit of progress that has always driven the American people to seek out new frontiers, imagine new technologies, and build a better America for their children and grandchildren. If we harness that spirit once again, the President said, we will ensure that the United States leads the world in clean energy in the 21st century:

This is the nation that harnessed electricity and the energy contained in the atom, that developed the steamboat and the modern solar cell. This is the nation that pushed westward and then looked skyward. We have always sought out new frontiers and this generation is no different.

The President noted the investments the administration is making to transform this vision into a reality. The Recovery Act invested $80 billion in our clean energy future, investments that will put tens of thousands of people to work weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, and modernizing our electric grid. The impact of those investments is already being felt in Massachusetts – because of a $25 million investment made through the Recovery Act, hundreds of people will be put to work constructing a new Wind Technology Testing Center in Boston, not too far from the MIT campus.

Investments like these enable us to take control of our energy future and create the jobs of tomorrow. More than ever, the American people understand and agree on the need to achieve these lofty goals. Members of the armed services know our dependence on fossil fuels poses a threat to our national security. Young people in our country recognize that they will bear the future impact of the energy decisions we make now. And more and more of our lawmakers – Democrat and Republican – recognize that transforming the way we generate and use energy is an objective that people of all political persuasions can agree on. For all these reasons, the President expressed confidence that America can continue in its greatest traditions:

This is the nation that has led the world for two centuries in the pursuit of discovery. This is the nation that will lead the clean energy economy of tomorrow, so long as all of us remember what we have achieved in the past and we use that to inspire us to achieve even more in the future.
 

Heather Zichal is Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change