SFS celebrates AIM milestone.(Impromptu: Items of Interest)(San Francisco Symphony's Adventures in Music)

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS)'s Adventures in Music (AIM), the longest running community music education program of its kind among American orchestras, celebrates 20 years of service this year. AIM reaches every student in grades one through five in every public elementary school in San Francisco, and is the result of a partnership between the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). The San Francisco Symphony provides AIM free of charge to schools and its teachers and students.

Each year, the SFS and SFUSD collaborate on a classroom curriculum that links musical experiences to disciplines such as language arts, science, geography, history or social studies. SFUSD teachers are provided professional development workshops to help them integrate music into their everyday classroom lessons. Teachers also receive classroom materials such as books, compact discs, simple instruments and other resources to assist them in implementing the program. Each student receives his or her own workbook journal. The curriculum prepares each student to experience four in-school musical presentations by specially trained AIM ensembles made up ...