The Beethoven Project is a 5- to 9-week music composition workshop and lecture series, where the symphonies of Beethoven serve as a guide for the students’ creative output. The classes take place once a week for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Each session will include (1.) a lecture / presentation on one of Beethoven’s nine symphonies; (2.) a lively discussion and presentation on one music concept demonstrated by that week’s symphony, for instance, rhythm and syncopation or thematic development; (3.) and discussions and suggestions concerning the music that each student is composing.

Damon Ferrante, a composer and university professor, will break down each symphony with a clear, but poetic analysis, which will include a dynamic lecture, roundtable discussion, performance at the piano, Power Point demonstration, and DVD / CD selections. This college- and graduate-level material is presented in a fun and engaging manner that is appropriate and inspiring for elementary-, middle-school, and high-school students.

Each week, as we are learning about Beethoven’s music, life, and influence on later composers, each student (or pair of students) will be writing a short, one- or two-minute variation for piano trio (violin, cello, and piano) on a musical theme from Beethoven’s sixth symphony (called “The Pastoral Symphony”). The sixth symphony is a piece inspired by the natural world (streams, woods, storms, and country dances). Over the course of several weeks, the students (with the help of Damon Ferrante) will refine and polish each variation. Near the end of the course, we will link each variation together to form a 10- to 15-minute piece. The piece will be performed by a top-flight piano trio composed of graduates from the Master’s and Doctoral programs at the Juilliard School. We will record and videotape the concert.

Here are the two, interrelated objectives for the course:
1. To study the 9 Beethoven Symphonies
2. To have each student (or student group) write a 1-2 minute variation for piano trio (violin, cello, and piano). The variation will be based on a theme from Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (“The Pastoral”), which is about nature. Near the end of the series, the students’ variations will be performed by a top-flight piano trio from Juilliard.