Students in Cincinnati participate in a Mindful Music Moments session. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and Columbus Symphony commissioned a Mindful Music Moments score from Brian Raphael Nabors.
“Most new pieces played by the Cleveland Orchestra premiere at Severance Hall. This one, though, is getting its debut in Cleveland public schools,” writes Zachary Lewis in Sunday’s (5/16) Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH). “Inspired by input from students across the state and conceived for the orchestras of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, it’s a piece that’s truly by and about Ohio…. The piece, now airing in schools and slated for release on Facebook on June 10, is the capstone to the 2021 edition of ‘Mindful Music Moments,’ a now four-year-old program that … consists of daily musical excerpts along with related breathing and centering exercises…. Many [Northeast Ohio schools] report marked improvements in behavior and suspect it boosts academic performance, too…. Composer Brian Raphael Nabors [wrote] short pieces showcasing Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, and incorporated reflections by students in those very regions. The piece, consisting of one movement per city and a fourth about all three cities, would then be recorded by four members of each orchestra….’My hope is that this creates a daily habit that kids will carry into adulthood,’ Joan Katz Napoli, senior director of education and community programs at the Cleveland Orchestra, said.”
