Caravanserai Music
Why We Exist
Caravanserai brings people together through shared emotional connection to classical music by providing equitable access to classical music for families with young children and individuals with special needs.
What We Do
We provide accessible classical music to the Blue Ridge community. Our concerts are affordable and relatable in a child-friendly format. Our free Little Lunch Music concert and Open Sight-Reading sessions presented music in unconventional concert spaces with children activities and audience interactions. We also supplement education programs by promoting music appreciation as a common experience that brings people together. Our education presentations at the YMCA and Montessori school introduces musical instruments, basic musical concepts, and emotional responses to music to children ages 3-12.
We perform classical music that emphasizes diverse emotional content and is relatable to listeners of different backgrounds. For example, as part of the ShenFringe festival, we performed an unconventional piece, Pierrot Lunaire, with pre-concert lecture to help make sense of expressionistic music. We also help enhance the emotion in the music by collaborating with actors in our performance of Stravinsky’s soldier’s tale. These collaborations between musicians and other performing/visual artists help extend the influence of the arts. Our question and answer session at the end of performances encouraged interaction between performers and audiences through a shared emotional response to classical music as a common experience to build community.
Who We Serve
We provide equitable access to classical music for families with young children and individuals with special needs.
Where We Serve
Why Community Members Support Our Work
There are members of our community, especially families with young children and individuals with special need, with little or no access to classical music, due either to physical limitations, or the perception of classical music concerts as unwelcoming, costly, and difficult to relate to, or both. Caravanserai seeks to break these barriers to make classical music accessible by offering concerts in family-friendly format with free-will admission and free child-care, creating an environment in which all members can connect to the music’s broad emotional content, and to one another.
For families without means to access independent music classes, there remains only limited music instruction in the public schools where, for example, elementary students have music classes once every other week for a total of only 17-20 hours per year. Caravanserai’s interactive concerts supplement public school music education by creating a safe environment for young audiences to respond emotionally and physically to classical music. When we can teach children to see the shared appreciation of classical music as a common ground, they are more likely to show compassion towards each other.
The last barrier for classical music to cultivate future audiences is the lack of connection between musician and audience. Currently, the two
How Volunteers Contribute to our Work:
There are members of our community, especially families with young children and individuals with special need, with little or no access to classical music, due either to physical limitations, or the perception of classical music concerts as unwelcoming, costly, and difficult to relate to, or both. Caravanserai seeks to break these barriers to make classical music accessible by offering concerts in family-friendly format with free-will admission and free child-care, creating an environment in which all members can connect to the music’s broad emotional content, and to one another.
For families without means to access independent music classes, there remains only limited music instruction in the public schools where, for example, elementary students have music classes once every other week for a total of only 17-20 hours per year. Caravanserai’s interactive concerts supplement public school music education by creating a safe environment for young audiences to respond emotionally and physically to classical music. When we can teach children to see the shared appreciation of classical music as a common ground, they are more likely to show compassion towards each other.
The last barrier for classical music to cultivate future audiences is the lack of connection between musician and audience. Currently, the two
How You Can Offer Your Charitable Donations:
We welcome gifts in-kind, including:
art supplies, photography service, audio-recording service, video-recording service, music-related children's books, noise-reduction headphones, foam blocks
How Volunteers Contribute to our Work:
There are members of our community, especially families with young children and individuals with special need, with little or no access to classical music, due either to physical limitations, or the perception of classical music concerts as unwelcoming, costly, and difficult to relate to, or both. Caravanserai seeks to break these barriers to make classical music accessible by offering concerts in family-friendly format with free-will admission and free child-care, creating an environment in which all members can connect to the music’s broad emotional content, and to one another.
For families without means to access independent music classes, there remains only limited music instruction in the public schools where, for example, elementary students have music classes once every other week for a total of only 17-20 hours per year. Caravanserai’s interactive concerts supplement public school music education by creating a safe environment for young audiences to respond emotionally and physically to classical music. When we can teach children to see the shared appreciation of classical music as a common ground, they are more likely to show compassion towards each other.
The last barrier for classical music to cultivate future audiences is the lack of connection between musician and audience. Currently, the two
Contact Information:
Yi-Ping Chen
403 W Beverley St.
Apt 2
Staunton,
Virginia
24401