The 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition and Festival will welcome a very new and different audience this summer as 50 young children participate in PianoKids at CIPC. This special, all-day version of the in-school PianoKids will involve several artists from the ArtsConnect program, including Andris Koh, Aniela Eddy, and Natsumi Shibagaki – the original PianoKids teaching team.
Aged between 8 and 12 years, the children are older than the pre-schoolers taught during the school year and able to enjoy several hours of a “day camp” experience. CIPC is working with the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland to offer the program and help provide supervision. The event will be held at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The children will enjoy a learning program similar to PianoKids in the schools, tailored to their own age group. There also will be an “instrument petting zoo,” where they can see and touch a variety of instruments while musicians demonstrate how they are played, a drum circle, and a “make-and-take” where they each will create a simple instrument such as a drum or shaker. After a break for lunch, they will watch a performance of the competition on a large, closed circuit monitor and then meet some of the contestants. The day will end with an ice cream social.
“The idea behind PianoKids at CIPC is to bring music to a child’s level,” said CIPC President and CEO Pierre van der Westhuizen. “They will be able to see, touch, and hear instruments right in front of their eyes, instead of on a far away stage; they can meet people who they just saw perform; they can create an instrument and then make their own music. It’s all very interactive, fun, and engaging. Plus, who doesn’t like ice cream at the end of a long day?”
Generous funding for PianoKids at CIPC is provided by the Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund Foundation.