We’ve been working with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for more than five years, producing the Meet the Composer series and providing video support for “ASO Symphony Celebration” events and promotional spots for CD releases and the like. This year we added the concert preview package for the Symphony’s Concerts for Young People programs.
This year’s video, “Rhythm: The Heartbeat of Music”, illustrates the theme of this year’s CfYP concert program. An animated character named “Beat” interacts with ASO Associate Conductor Mei-Ann Chen to help illustrate the rhythmic concepts highlighted in the music of Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Orff, Dvořák and others performed in the program.
Creating the Beat character was quite a challenge. The show is for an audience of 3rd to 8th graders, and that encompasses an incredibly wide range of maturity and taste. We wanted something that the younger kids could relate to, but that the older students wouldn’t look down their noses at.
“Rhythm: The Heartbeat of Music” was delivered to over 400 elementary and middle schools in north Georgia and will be seen by more than 30,000 students.