Orchestra of Life: Expanding Awareness with Music

Program Overview

The Orchestra of Life: Enhancing Awareness Through Music is an immersive exploration of the masterpieces of the symphony orchestra. Not your usual music appreciation class, this course leads students through a series of activities designed to enhance their awareness of what they hear and how they experience music. Each class session will focus on one major orchestral work and one minor work. Students will discover how to develop their own music library and how to create playlists. This journey will help students create a connection to music that can release stress, restore balance within the body, enhance creativity and promote productivity. Class activities will include lectures, visualizations, discussions and journaling. Students will be “conducted” as they sit in the places of orchestral musicians!

Learning Objectives

• Explore the symphony orchestra as a microcosm of the universe we live in and how our senses participate and are influenced by what we hear and feel
•  Be more aware of the environment we live and work in through heightened listening
•  Understand the difference between active and passive listening
•  Understand the cultural and historical influences of orchestral composition and their relevance to us as listeners
• Understand how different elements of orchestral pieces, e.g., instrumentation, treatment of harmony and melody, affect us as human beings
•  Develop playlists of orchestra music for passive listening with defined circumstances/purposes
•  Understand concert programs and recording labels
•  Identify composers’ styles
•  Identify when compositions were composed

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

Schedule:

Early Registration Deadline: Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Last Day to Register: Monday, May 5,2025

• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, May 8, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, May 15, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, May 22, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, May 29, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, June 5, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, June 12, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, June 19, 2025
• Thursday 1:00 -3:00 PM EST, June 26, 2025

Instructor:

Benjamin Weschler

Ben Wechsler studied horn, piano and pipe organ from an early age. He served as choir director and pipe organist for 22 congregations over 47 years. Ben holds three degrees: Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Master of Music Education from Indiana University at Bloomington, and Master of Music in Opera and Musical Theater Accompanying from Souther Illinois University at Carbondale. He has a horn studio in Chapel Hill and is an active member of the Duke University Chapel Choir and Schola Cantorum.