• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • New Jersey Youth Symphony
  • Paterson Music Project
  • Performing Arts School
DONATE
DONATE
Enroll
Login
Wharton Insitute for the Performing Arts Logo
  • Contact
  • Enroll
  • Login
  • About
    • Board & Administration
    • Our Space
    • Patron Services
    • Gallery
    • Our Partners
    • Employment
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Support Us
  • Home
  • Policies
  • Master Calendar
  • Blog
  • Online Courses

Blog

Notes from the Train: AmeriCorps Member Danielle Lefebvre

August 27, 2018 by Alice Hamlet

Notes from the Train by Alice Hamlet | September 2018

“The Midtown Direct to Dover has been suspended until further notice due to a disabled train in the tunnel.”

Some of the most dreaded words in a commuter’s lexicon. Stranded at Penn Station for an indefinite period of time, the crowd gathered around the NJTransit monitor slowly disbursed to find alternate modes of travel or simply gave up on reaching their destinations altogether. Luckily, one can take the PATH at 33rd Street to Hoboken, and at Hoboken one can take the Gladstone train—which is exactly what I did this morning.

Surviving erratic commuter service may at times seem like the work of super heroes, but you may be unaware that we have an actual super hero amongst our staff at Wharton–AmeriCorps member, Danielle Lefebvre. Hailing from Leominster, Massachusetts, Danielle recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Maine at Farmington, where she studied Visual and Performing Arts with a concentration in music exploring experimental composition and performance. During her last semester of college, she applied to serve in AmeriCorps, a voluntary civil society program engaging more than 75,000 Americans in intensive public service each year supported by the U.S. federal government, foundations, corporations, and other donors with a goal of “helping others and meeting critical needs in the community.”

Danielle with Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh

Says Danielle, “I was drawn to AmeriCorps as a national network of service programs designed to improve lives and foster civic engagement. Ultimately, I chose to serve after my first-hand experience of the kindness showered on my family and myself from our community as I battled cancer in 2014. I wanted to pay forward the same kindness I received by serving others. After applying to join AmeriCrops, I discovered that the Paterson Music Project was seeking an AmeriCorps member and shortly after I had an interview with Shanna (Shanna Lin, PMP Director of Education). Within a few weeks I arrived in Paterson, ready to serve.”

Danielle has been serving PMP since January 2018, first working as a liaison for P.S. 15 transporting PMP’s new band students across town to the band site at Norman S. Weir, followed by accompanying middle school students from the Community Charter School of Paterson to Norman S. Weir. Danielle prepared folders and music for the Saturday orchestra and choir rehearsals, as well as largely managing PMP’s social media accounts to help the world see the success of PMP’s students. Seriously, you should check out their newly minted Instagram page: search IG @patersonmusicproject.

But it’s not just PMP that has benefitted from Danielle’s service in AmeriCorps. She has also served at the Paterson Habitat for Humanity, worked with a high school internship program, and co-managed the construction of Paterson’s future Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park. The park, across from the AME Baptist Church, is the location of one of Dr. King’s final public speeches—a message about economic opportunity and economic parity—eight days prior to his death.

So what’s in her future, you may wonder? “I plan to continue in Paterson as I join the PMP team as the String Site Coordinator once my service comes to a close; I am grateful for the opportunity to continue doing such important work.”

And we’re very lucky to have her.

When not commuting, Alice Hamlet is the Director of Marketing at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and is also on the faculty of the Performing Arts School, teaching cello and music theory.

Filed Under: Notes from the Train, Paterson Music Project

Notes from the Train: Introducing Tim Hatcher

August 1, 2018 by Alice Hamlet

Notes from the Train by Alice Hamlet | August 2018

Some of you know me as a faculty member at the Performing Arts School, one of a dying breed who live in the City and make the reverse commute by train to Berkeley Heights—and occasionally New Providence and Paterson—a post I have happily rendered since we were the Suburban Community Music Center in days of yore. Truth be told I have not perhaps always enjoyed commuting but let’s gloss over NJTransit (remember last summer when we were all taking ferries to and from Hoboken and stuff? Thanks, Amtrak!) as this blog isn’t about the pros and cons of public transportation. I’ll try to keep complaints about delays and spontaneously cancelled trains to a minimum.

As a member of Wharton’s administrative staff, I get a rare glimpse at the inner workings of an organization that has grown exponentially in a relatively short period of time…from adding a musical theater department to embracing the New Jersey Youth Symphony in 2012 and founding the Paterson Music Project in 2013. We’ve seen name changes, new logos, re-branding, and welcoming new artistic and administrative staff to The Family.

And speaking of family, I’m using my first Notes from the Train to introduce a new—but in some ways not new—member of the New Jersey Youth Symphony family. Last spring, NJYS hired Tim Hatcher as Assistant Manager of Orchestras to support the ever-growing youth orchestra and ensemble program in New Providence. Hatcher…hmm…those of you familiar with NJYS might recognize the name. Tim is the younger son of Miki Hatcher, conductor of Primo and Concertino Strings. Miki can be found every Thursday at 570 Central Avenue instructing some of the program’s youngest musicians in the art of orchestral playing. But back to Tim—a little background in his own words:

“I went to Hofstra University where I majored in Public Relations and minored in Fine Arts (Photography). I play cello and I sing. Fun fact: I am an alumnus of NJYS—after one year in kindergarten in 2000, I was in YS for 4 years in high school from 2008-2012. Before joining the NJYS team in June, I was working as Site Coordinator for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. I jumped right in with the audition season at NJYS and it’s been a fun ride so far!”

Tim can be found at NJYS Mondays through Fridays and when asked what style and genre he sings, Tim responded, “Anything with a good jam to sing in the car!”

Favorite food: Hickory smoked dry rub ribs
What he’s listening to right now: Pray for the Wicked by Panic! At the Disco, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme by Simon and Garfunkel

When not commuting, Alice Hamlet is the Director of Marketing at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and is also on the faculty of the Performing Arts School, teaching cello and music theory.

Filed Under: New Jersey Youth Symphony, Notes from the Train

Campy Clips: The Piano Teacher

July 30, 2018 by Alice Hamlet

Filed Under: Campy Clips, Performing Arts School

Performing Arts School recognizes graduating seniors

June 15, 2018 by Alice Hamlet

On Monday evening, Wharton recognized 15 graduating seniors for Senior Night at the Performing Arts School (PAS) located at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights.

Eight students performed for the event: Katherine Buchan of Summit, who has been studying flute at PAS for 13 years and will attend Carnegie Mellon University; Bridget Lynn of Berkeley Heights, who has been studying voice at PAS for 7 years and will attend New York University Tisch School of the Arts; Andres Marquez of Millington, who has been studying piano at PAS for 5 years and will attend Northeastern University; Megan Pan of New Providence, who has been studying voice at PAS for 5 years and will attend Princeton University; Carter Rosen of Long Hill, who has been studying violin at PAS for 11 years and will attend Stevens Institute of Technology; Shruti Sagar of New Providence, who has been studying piano at PAS for 11 years and will attend Tufts University; Sanjay Subramanian of Warren, who has been studying alto saxophone at PAS for 3 years and will attend the University of Maryland; and Victoria Zhou of Berkeley Heights, who has been studying flute at PAS for 5 years and will attend Princeton University.


Seven seniors were unable to attend the event: Julia Baldacchino, cello, of Summit will attend The College of New Jersey; Sarah Lalevee, guitar, of Berkeley Heights will attend Georgetown University; Annamaria Newmark, violin, of Warren will attend Lithuanian State University for Health Sciences; Michael Raman, piano, of Millington will attend Georgia Tech; Matthew Shih, violin, of Scotch Plains will attend Princeton University; Theo Stephen, clarinet, of Summit will attend George Washington University; and Nika Zaslavsky, violin, of New Providence will attend Carnegie Mellon University.

Says Student Services Manager Kristen Wuest, who organized the event, “As an alumna of the organization, I think it is important to recognize the commitment and dedication the seniors have demonstrated through the years. I can only hope they will come back to visit the Performing Arts School!”

Filed Under: Performing Arts School

Social change through music education

June 15, 2018 by Alice Hamlet

Filed Under: Paterson Music Project, Resources

My 11-year-old son auditioned at Juilliard, and we both learned a lot about how top performers practice

June 4, 2018 by Alice Hamlet

Reprinted from Business Insider Penelope Trunk, Penelope Trunk’s Blog May 30, 2017

The first round of auditions for Juilliard’s pre-college program is by video.

From December to March, my son practiced for three hours a day to prepare. At the end of March, we recorded him playing “Cello Concerto in A minor” by Saint-Saëns, and we sent it off to Juilliard.

The results of the first round came quickly. He made the cut.

The art of practicing is finding a process for repetition without boredom

Then he practiced three hours a day for two more months. The piece he played is about four minutes long. So it’s probably hard for you to imagine how he spent three hours a day for six months working on that one piece. But practicing — for anything — is a science.

When he told his teacher, Amy Barston, he was bored, she told him boredom in practice comes from a lack of engagement. She showed him how to recognize disengagement. Then she taught him to look more closely at each note and listen more deeply with his ears and his heart.

He learned to practice by changing the rhythm of the piece. He learned to play one note at a time with a tuner. He learned to play each measure with a different metronome timing, and then he played the piece so slowly it took 20 minutes instead of just four.

During these insane lessons where Amy and my son spent one hour on five notes, the more we worked on the art of practicing the more I saw that practice is a method to do anything ambitious and difficult. He learned to create a system and process instead of just focusing on the goal itself.

The best processes speed up the cycle of frustration and recovery

The first 3,000 hours of cello lessons are learning how to recognize a wrong note and stop and fix it. And now he has to learn how to recover from failure, very quickly, so when he plays a wrong note in competition he can move on immediately. Even though I don’t know if he’s sharp or flat, I do know that if he’s sulking about making a mistake he can’t focus on not making the mistake.

Resilience is about being able to get back up on your feet on your own, so I teach him not to rely on other people to prop him up. “You don’t need a teacher to tell you how great you are. Tell that to yourself. Right now.”

It’s a hard concept. On different days I tell it to him differently. And then I watch hopefully, because I tell that to people I coach all the time and I know it’s hard, even for adults.

Last Thursday was the big day.

My son is on a mission.

j1
The author’s son. Penelope Trunk

 

I am on a mission, too. I want to hug him and high-five him and tell him he blows me away with his hard work. But I don’t want to embarrass him, so I take pictures instead.

Until he says, “Mom, put your phone down! You’re embarrassing me.”

j3
Penelope Trunk

Breaking things down into small steps isn’t enough. Make them smaller.

It’s impossible to put all your energy into something really difficult if everything is riding on the result. The people who are the best at reaching big goals have an obsessive drive toward the goal, but also, they are able to break down the process of meeting the goal into tiny, bite-sized pieces and then take pleasure in completing each part.

When someone is unable to relish the small steps, they just stop, because process starts to seem hopeless if you constantly focus on the end. You have to have a proclivity for hard work (which might be as crucial and inheritable as talent) combined with the ability to take joy in the process itself.

He practices facing the accompanist so they can see how each other will play particular parts.

Then he turns his back to her because that’s how it’ll be at the audition. She watches his arm and his head for cues. They don’t have to talk. They both just know that this is what will happen.

He has been eating carefully and sleeping carefully for a week. He reminds me of how I used to work to peak for the beach volleyball season and recover over the winter. And he reminds me of everyone who has ever worked hard for something that is a long shot: He is nervous.

No process works without a coach who deeply understands the goal

Amy has been training him for nerves as well. We scheduled five competitions prior to this audition so he would get used to playing this concerto under pressure. People perform better — in any circumstance — with a little bit of stress. Top performers self-regulate to generate the optimal amount of stress.

At Amy’s suggestion, he’s run up and down our street to get his heart rate up and then sat down to play his piece while his pulse was still racing. And the other day when he came home from a basketball game he wiped his hands all over his face and played his piece with sweaty palms.

Now he gets dressed and he waits. I can’t read music and I can’t tell what’s in tune, but I do know what it’s like to have focus, so we have practiced waiting. In this outfit. I made him stand by our front door, where there is nothing to look at. And I didn’t tell him how long he’d be waiting. And he practiced controlling his thoughts and his nerves.

Finally, here we are, and he looks so grown up to me. The door opens. He goes into the room, and he plays. I wait. The kids in the other practice rooms are too loud for me to hear him. So I just think good thoughts.

And it’s over.

We won’t know the results for another two weeks. But we already know that he worked incredibly hard and he grew from each step of preparation.

So he already won, because now that he’s done this for cello, he can do it for any part of his life in the future.

Filed Under: Resources

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 46
  • Go to page 47
  • Go to page 48
  • Go to page 49
  • Go to page 50
  • Go to page 51
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • In the Media: Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts Offers Free Audition Workshop Series February 21-April 30
  • In the Media: Wharton Celebrates Black History
  • In the Media: Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts Celebrates Black History with Month-Long Free Jazz Listening Series
  • In the Media: WIPA’s PAS Presents Virtual Master Classes
  • In the Media: WIPA-PMP MLK Celebration Concert
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Top Footer Widget

Select Your Interest:

  • Wharton Arts is Wheelchair AccessibleWharton Institute for the Performing Arts
    60 Locust Avenue
    Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922
  • Tel. 908.790.0700
  • Email: info@whartonarts.org

NJYS

  • About
  • Contact
  • Ensembles & Programs
  • Concerts
  • Playathon
  • Member Portal

PMP

  • Who We Are
  • Teaching Artists
  • FAQ
  • Programs
  • Current Students
  • Contact

PAS

  • Who We Are
  • Courses
  • Current Students
  • Contact
Privacy  |  Site Map

© 2021 Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts | All Rights Reserved
Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization and is committed to being accessible to all patrons, students, parents and visitors. All programs, classes, events and concerts are accessible ensuring that everyone can participate in a diverse range of arts programming and classes.