China Project

Here is a podcast of the November 23 "Vermont Edition" on Vermont Public Radio with Host Jane Lindholm and featuring the work of the students in The China Project and YWP Editor Geoffrey Gevalt.

This is Kelly Hermann, a member of the Vermont Youth Orchestra, talking about what she thought of The China Project, a multi-media journal of the VYO performing tour of China in the summer of 2007. The Young Writers Project editors held workshops and then served as mentors and editors during the trip to help students create a multi-media blog of their journey.

The blog was viewed by some 20,000 people in two and a half weeks. Parents, friends and relatives were constantly online checking on the journey and it became something of a local happening, as they used to say, in Vermont and in music circles around the country. Parents were able to vicariously experience their children's tour while musicians said they learned a lot -- through others' eyes -- about what they were experiencing.

This is Steven Tatum, a member of the Vermont Youth Orchestra, talking about what he thought of The China Project, a multi-media journal of the VYO performing tour of China in the summer of 2007. The Young Writers Project editors held workshops and then served as mentors and editors during the trip to help students create a multi-media blog of their journey.

The blog was viewed by some 20,000 people in two and a half weeks. Parents, friends and relatives were constantly online checking on the journey and it became something of a local happening, as they used to say, in Vermont and in music circles around the country. Parents were able to vicariously experience their children's tour while musicians said they learned a lot -- through others' eyes -- about what they were experiencing.

This is Carmen Fifield, a member of the Vermont Youth Orchestra, talking about what she thought of The China Project, a multi-media journal of the VYO performing tour of China in the summer of 2007. The Young Writers Project editors held workshops and then served as mentors and editors during the trip to help students create a multi-media blog of their journey.

The blog was viewed by some 20,000 people in two and a half weeks. Parents, friends and relatives were constantly online checking on the journey and it became something of a local happening, as they used to say, in Vermont and in music circles around the country. Parents were able to vicariously experience their children's tour while musicians said they learned a lot -- through others' eyes -- about what they were experiencing.

This is Suzanne Calhoun, a member of the Vermont Youth Orchestra, talking about what she thought of The China Project, a multi-media journal of the VYO performing tour of China in the summer of 2007. The Young Writers Project editors held workshops and then served as mentors and editors during the trip to help students create a multi-media blog of their journey.

The blog was viewed by some 20,000 people in two and a half weeks. Parents, friends and relatives were constantly online checking on the journey and it became something of a local happening, as they used to say, in Vermont and in music circles around the country. Parents were able to vicariously experience their children's tour while musicians said they learned a lot -- through others' eyes -- about what they were experiencing.

This is Kelsey Calhoun, a member of the Vermont Youth Orchestra, talking about what she thought of The China Project, a multi-media journal of the VYO performing tour of China in the summer of 2007. The Young Writers Project editors held workshops and then served as mentors and editors during the trip to help students create a multi-media blog of their journey.

The blog was viewed by some 20,000 people in two and a half weeks. Parents, friends and relatives were constantly online checking on the journey and it became something of a local happening, as they used to say, in Vermont and in music circles around the country. Parents were able to vicariously experience their children's tour while musicians said they learned a lot -- through others' eyes -- about what they were experiencing.

This appeared in the Sunday Times Argus/Rutland Herald in mid-August. The student work from the China Project was aired on Vermont Public Radio, click here to listen and may also appear, possibly, on Vermont Public Television. Students will be appearing at First Night/Burlington to read their work, share their music and impressions and show the video.

Notes from China
Concert hall to Great Wall, young Vermont musicians chronicle a journey

Compiled by Geoffrey Gevalt

Earlier this summer the Vermont Youth Orchestra traveled to China for a 15-day performance tour, playing in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hong Kong and on The Great Wall of China. The orchestra is comprised of Vermont's finest high school musicians who audition annually for placement, attend weekly rehearsals and perform three concerts at Burlington's Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, in addition to other performances throughout the state.

A total of 92 musicians went on the journey -- 88 current members of the orchestra and four alumni. The trip cost $3,500 per student; the VYO offered scholarship assistance and many of the students worked at odd jobs or fund-raisers to pay for part or all of their trip.