| Anna Bennett Interns at Lincoln Center and the Hartford Symphony
 Anna Bennett '06, a flutist and music major from West Hartford, CT, says that music has always been a part of her life, but it wasn't until she interned for Jazz at Lincoln Center this past semester that she realized how many different ways there were to work within the music world.
"There are so many departments at Jazz at Lincoln Center," she says. "But everyone is there for the same reason: because they love the music. You could be a graphic designer but still working with music. For me, it was a way to explore music in a different way that wasn't just ear training from a book."
With so many opportunities there, Bennett was able to find an internship that perfectly matched up with one of her primary interests: music education for young people. For five months she helped organize the Center's Essentially Ellington program, for which 15 high school bands--350 students--from around the country come to New York to compete against one another. Bennett was responsible for many logistical arrangements such as coordinating the 60-70 volunteers, catering and other event planning duties. She admits that the job did have administrative tasks, but that the culmination of all the work--the long weekend when the students were in town for the competition, films, workshops and showcases--made all of it worthwhile.
"It was incredible to see the kids and remember why I did it. For them," she says. "Everybody in that whole room loved jazz and that's why they were there. We love the kids and we love jazz and it's so important to remember Duke Ellington."
Bennett says that working with such a dedicated, passionate team of people also enhanced the experience. And although the program just ended in mid-May, she misses being there already. But, she says, " I know it wasn't goodbye forever. I know I'll be in at some points during the year. And I'll always volunteer."
This summer, Bennett is further building on her experiences by interning in the education department of the Hartford Symphony, as she did last summer. This year she's doing the internship with funding from the Susan Weis Mindel '66 and Dr. Joel S. Mindel Internship Fund and last summer she received the Esther and Morton Rose Memorial Arts Internship Fund.
While there, Bennett helps organize pre-concert education activities for children at the Symphony's Talcott Mountain Music Festival. The activities, which are for kids 5 - 12 years old and often involve arts and crafts, are all music themed, like making Mozart paper bag puppets or constructing their own musical instruments. She also assists kids in their exploration of the "Instrument Zoo" where they can have a go at orchestra instruments.
"It's the loudest, craziest thing ever," Bennett says, "but I love it."
In addition, Bennett has and will help write education booklets with musical tidbits and games that are distributed to the children. The organizers of the Talcott Mountain Music Festival would also like to have a place for kids to perform before each actual concert this year, so Bennett will be working to put that into place and develop more curriculums.
"In our society, so many kids are prevented from partaking in music," Bennett explains of her passion for teaching children. "But it has been proven in numerous tests that the students who have music in their lives achieve the highest goals and the utmost personal success." After graduation, Bennett hopes to become a music education teacher.
Click
here to see past featured internships.
If
you would like your work as an intern featured on the Barnard web site,
please send an email to Suzanne Stein, Internship Program Coordinator,
at sstein@barnard.edu.
Indicate where you are interning, what you are doing, and
why you would like to be considered.
|
