eNewsletter December 2023

The Pratt Music Foundation identifies children with talent to excel and who need support in order to pursue their talent. The Foundation selects, nurtures, and provides scholars with music instruction from the Illinois Wesleyan University Music Preparatory Program.
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Our Biggest News: We Have 37 Scholars for 2023-2024.

We recruit applications for our program in the Spring, select scholars in the Summer, and they begin lessons in the Fall. We want to thank you for your help in our recruiting drive, and show off our scholars with the attached Zoom picture.

Music helps build good students: music instruction builds good study habits; it improves memory; it activates both the right and left brains to maximize learning. Music also helps build our community: music nurtures empathy, and helps people express emotions; music soothes and manages anxiety.

This year, we have 37 scholars: 22 study piano, and 15 are studying strings (violin, viola, and cello). Our students are drawn from all across our community: 10 from District 87, 18 from Unit 5, 3 from Private Schools, 1 from the Illinois State University School system, and 5 are home-schooled. They range from 3rd Grade to High School Senior. We have 10 new scholars this year, but some have been in the program for as long as 8 or 9 years.

Share The Music:
Our partner project “Share The Music” has provided instruments to many of our scholars, and also supplies instruments to over 200 students in Unit 5 and District 87 band and orchestra. The Music Shoppe and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra partner with us to make this happen.

Currently, one in 14 public school students uses a Share The Music instrument. Put another way, our public school music programs would be collectively 238 students smaller except for the availability of an instrument loaned through Share The Music.

2023-2024, Violin Scholar