JAVS Spring 2007

Focus ON OUTREACH: AVS EDUCATIOf'JA~ INITIATIVE

As educators and performers, we all understand that the future ofour field- be it Classical music in general or viola playing in particular- lies in the hands of the young. While many of our members organize educa tional events as part of their reaching, AVS Presidem Helen Callus iniciared a program in Seattle that has now been made available to the general AVS membership for disseminacion and use. Below is the result of a short interview with Callus on the background and goals of BRATS, conducted by JAYS Editor Matthew Dane. HC: When I first joined the Faculty at the University of Washington, it was made clear to me that a significant part of my work load was outreach of some capacity. I decided to go into the high school system to see if I could help and be a resource for the reachers in the community. After visiting about ten schools it became quite apparent that there was much more of a need for viola resources than I had originally thought and I felt that my visits (where I would meet 2 or 3 violists at a rime) was not the best way for me to reach out to the majority of young viola players in the community. Ir was obviousthar the violists in these music programs were not able co be looked after like the other instru mentalists in their classes and they seemed very uncon fidem and a bit demoralized by being choosen to play the viola. So I decided the create the BRATS program. HC: I felt that young violists would benefit greatly from being involved in a group, meeting other violists, professional performers and reachers. I thought we could bring many different high school viola programs together to work in groups and as one ensemble and we would offer classes, creative events and have awards and prizes and r-shirrs so they effeccively felt like they had joined a club or organizacion for students just like them. I felt the university was the best and most inspiring place to do this and that my studio would be trained and prepared to run the day like a congress MD: What is the most fundamental goal of BRATS? MD: How did this develop into a plan?

where they would organize and reach the classes and events. o nor only would the young viola students benefit bur my viola program at the university would also be offering practical training to our viola students.

MD: How was this plan executed to address the par ticular needs in eatde?

HC: I think that there was no special effort to make the program fir the needs ofSeattle but more to suit the needs of the high school system and music programs, which is probably very similar around the counoy at this rime. There was always a lade ofmoney for the music programs and some were being cur. We tried to appeal to all types of pro grams and all types of levels - all types of music pro grams. The idea wasn't to create a competitive envi ronment, but a nurturing one where the one thing we all shared was playing the viola! NUMBER 1