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Beginning in 1991, at the request of Charles Calmer,
Education Director of the Cleveland Orchestra, Dr. Woodson was asked
to present his first play-along concert in 1991. Other concerts
followed with that orchestra and have continued to the present with
many musical groups around the country. A composition called "Shake,
Rattle, and Roar," written for the Orchestra by a graduate student
named Steve Smith, became the first of many orchestral compositions
written for Dr. Woodson's simple instruments.
The idea is to have audience members be able to more actively
participate in the performance. By making a simple instrument before
or even during the concert, people of all ages are able to
play-along with the professional musicians on stage at a family
concert.
This program concept was picked up by many orchestras, one being the
National Symphony orchestra, where 25,000 students made instruments
for 10 concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra. For these
events, Dr. Woodson produced a video describing how to make the
instruments; it went out to 400 schools for teachers to help make
the instruments in advance.
Another organization to begin this program was the Kronos Quartet,
with whom Dr. Woodson has worked since 1995, across the United
States and in Europe.
In the play-along approach, Dr. Woodson has carefully design
instruments that produce considerable sound, represent the main
sound families of the orchestra, and yet are easy to make. He has
devised a way of conducting the audience from the stage with a
series of large sign boards and large conducting dots.
In the end, students are able to take away both the experience of
listening to an orchestra and that of playing along in a
synchronized way. In addition they are led by a conductor and in
certain sections have fun improvising.
These concerts have been performed for many thousands of people
across the U.S. and in Europe. Recently Dr. Woodson performed with
Kronos at Carnegie Hall.
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